Heat Corojo by J. Fuego Toro

The Fuego family has been in the cigar business for five generations. Starting out in 1876, they had a leaf growing company in “El Cojoro” farm, Cuba. In 1995, the Fuego family packed their bags, headed to Central America and started making cigars for other companies. When 2006 came around, Jesus Fuego launched “Tobaccos S.A.” with their first release of the “J. Fuego” brand. The Heat Corojo is a fiery stick that employs a bevy of Nicaraguan and Ecuadorian long-fillers that are hugged with a Nicaraguan Corojo binder and are blanketed with a flawless Honduran Corojo wrapper leaf. This medium to full bodied smoke has some heat with a kick of black pepper but is balanced with creamy sweetness that results in a smooth and complex smoke from start to nub. Cigar Aficionado gave this cigar a 90 point rating, and our panel recommended pairing it with a Stinger – brandy with crème de menthe.

Honduras has been a tobacco growing and cigar manufacturing area for hundreds of years, but it was the Communist revolution in Cuba that really put Honduras on the map. In the 1960s, many Cuban cigar makers fled their homeland and arrived in Honduras to re-establish their way of life. The immigrants took advantage of the climate, soil, and geography, which were well-suited to tobacco growing, and began producing high quality cigars. The center of the Honduran cigar industry is the city of Danli and the nearby Jamastran Valley. The majority of the world’s pure Corojo tobacco is grown here, now that Cuba has stopped production of this iconic, spicy, and rich variety in favor of Corojo hybrids. Other important areas of Honduran cigar production include the Talanga Valley, Copan, and Trojes.