Padilla Single Batch Select Reserve Box-Pressed Toro

Sometimes special lots of tobaccos are too small to produce a full-fledged blend but the leaves are too good to pass up. This is where Single Batch—a limited production gem from Padilla—comes into play. The Padilla brand is built upon high quality, low volume handmades that utilize rare, very expensive materials. It continues to earn high ratings, receive top honors, and wow enthusiasts at the same time. Single Batch, Ernesto Padilla's lowest production creation to date, only 50,000, is a medium-bodied cigar crafted with Padilla’s signature combination of substance and swagger. What makes this cigar so special are the hand-selected best crops used for the Dominican filler and binder, and the Dominican Habano wrapper. Handmade at the Tabacalera Palma in the Dominican, this medium to full bodied stogie features notes of wood, roasted nuts, and leather. We’re sure you’re going to love it as much as we do; try accompanying it with a full bodied cabernet.

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.