Pinar del Rio Small Batch Habano Double Magnum

Pinar del Rio is made in one of the best small factories in the Dominican Republic. PDR cigars are known for boutique charm and, more importantly, flavor. The PDR Small Batch Habano Double Magnum features a complex blend of Dominican and Nicaraguan Corojo leaves which is secured by a Dominican Criollo 98 binder with a silky Brazilian Habano wrapper. This medium bodied smoke is rich and powerful in flavor, starting with spice, followed by notes of leather, cedar, and cocoa. Look for that initial spicy note to intensify as you smoke it down. Enjoy this slow and cool burning smoke with a cream soda on a cool fall afternoon.

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.