Don Lino 1989 Connecticut Toro (Club Exclusive)

We are very excited to share this cigar as it is exclusive to you, our members and won’t be found anywhere else! The Don Lino 1989 Connecticut Toro is handmade in Santiago, Dominican Republic and is chocked full of long-fillers from Cameroon, Brazil, and the Dominican, held together with an Indonesian binder and all wrapped up in a Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper leaf. Filled with classic Connecticut notes of nuts, toast, and cream, this medium-bodied smoke is perfect for any time of day. Our panel experts said they would accompany this cigar with a hazy IPA after lunch.

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.