Mark Twain No. 1

Mark Twain once said, "Eating and sleeping are the only activities that should be allowed to interrupt a man's enjoyment of his cigar." Anyone who is acquainted with Twain through his legacy of literature knows he was a man for whom cigars were as important as the written word. He’s also famous for declaring: “If smoking is not allowed in heaven, I shall not go!” In the history of cigars, no one has been a bigger fan or a more dedicated smoker, so it’s fitting he should have a stogie named after him. Mark Twain was rarely seen without one. In fact, it’s reported that he regularly smoked 22 cigars a day and sometimes as many as 40. The man’s list of positive attributes doesn’t stop there. He was a humanitarian, a novelist, a humorist, and scholar. Similarly, Mark Twain cigars bring an extensive list of positive attributes to the table—all smooth and mild, all tasty. The Mark Twain is generously filled with an aged blend of Nicaraguan long-fillers, draped in a silky Connecticut shade wrapper. Expect a flavorful, mild to medium-bodied experience. Notes of oak, cream, and white pepper add to a rich tobacco core and make for a mellow but eventful experience that will last a good hour or more. Enjoy it with a caipirinha – Brazil’s national drink made with cachaça (sugar cane hard liquor), sugar, and lime.

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.