MonthlyClubs.com 30 Year Aniversario San Andrés Churchill Gordo

Recently we celebrated our 30th Anniversary in July and we wanted to find a way to share our excitement with our Premium Cigar of the Month Club members, whose loyalty and enthusiasm make everything we do in this club possible. An exclusive, custom-made smoke seemed just the ticket. So, our panel set about smoking their way through countless cigar samples in order to come up with a cigar worthy of our 30th Anniversary. (In fact – we came up with two: one for our Original Premium Cigar Club members, and a second for our Rare Cigar Club members. We hope to have both in our online store by the time you’re reading this – while supplies last.) We couldn’t be more thrilled with the final result. It’s our pleasure to introduce the MonthlyClubs.com 30 Year Aniversario San Andrés Churchill Gordo, created by legendary cigar master blender Yuri Guillen.

The MonthlyClubs.com 30 Year Aniversario San Andrés Churchill Gordo was crafted in the legendary El Credito factory in the Dominican Rebulic, considered the world’s oldest, true boutique factory in handmade cigars. Here, master blender Yuri Guillen tasked El Credito’s most experienced artisans to craft a hefty, 7” x 56 vitola that sits heavy in the hand and delivers bold, powerful flavors and complexity while maintaining a modest medium-bodied strength. To help them, Yuri sorted and selected El Credito’s highest graded Mexican San Andrés wrappers that have been slowly fermented to rich, maduro perfection, then patiently aged for optimal maturity in flavor and smoothness. Beneath this leaf, extensively aged Nicaraguan long-fillers for richness and Dominican long-fillers for tameness are secured inside a bold Nicaraguan binder – all of which are top priming tobaccos blended to deliver ample flavor. After several trials by fire (as is normal in the cigar industry), the finished product was spot-on. Bold, rich flavors blanket the palate with earth, sweet tobacco and leather from start to finish. A dank earthiness combines with subtle spices after each puff. The aroma is zesty with a charcoal influence, and the strength hangs in the middle allowing enthusiasts of all levels to enjoy this cigar down to a finger burning nub. Pair this stellar cigar with a Weller Antique Bourbon.

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.