Cusano LXI Sun Grown Robusto

In 1995, business took owner Michael Chiusano out of his Wall Street investment firm and to the Dominican Republic. Loving the cigars he had tried down there, he thought he'd have a thousand made for clients, but as word spread, he soon had orders for 10,000. Thinking "Cusano" would be easier to say than "Chiusano," Michael called his company Cusano Cigars and they are the only manufacturer that uses more than one wrapper in each of its premium blends. The Cusano LXI Sun Grown begins with double wrapper leaves that are a sun-grown crossbreed of Habano-seed Ecuadorian and Dominican tobaccos. Filled with various Dominican long-leaf ligeros, the resulting cigar is an impressively blended offering with loads of complex and smooth flavors. Starting, you will find heavy toastiness, with hints of earth, spices, and damp wood. Towards the halfway point, the flavor will become richer with the wood and earth tones really coming through, ending with a dry subtle sweetness. Now that the weather is beginning to warm up, we find that sitting on the patio with a nice lager is a perfect way to enjoy this medium to full bodied cigar.

Though tobacco is indigenous to Hispaniola, the tobacco industry in the Dominican Republic existed in the shadow of Cuba’s dominance through the 1960s. When the exodus of Cuban cigar makers began in the wake of the revolution, many decided the Dominican Republic would be ideal for the resumption of their livelihoods. Unrest in Nicaragua in the 1980s fueled the Dominican cigar industry further. The country now makes more than half of the premium cigars imported into the U.S. The Cibao Valley and the nearby city of Santiago are the center of cigar production in the Dominican Republic. Three main varieties are grown here: the mild and native Olor Dominicano; the intense Piloto Cubano, brought from the Vuelta Abajo of Cuba; and San Vicente, a milder and more acidic Piloto hybrid. Dominican puros were once unheard of as it was widely thought impossible to grow quality wrapper leaf on the island, but new growing techniques are now allowing some exceptional puros to be produced.