Rocky Patel ITC Emerald Toro

Rocky Patel has a well-earned reputation for uncompromising quality. He has received so many stellar ratings and awards from industry groups and publications, he's in a class by himself. Every cigar he makes undergoes rigorous quality control measures to ensure that only the best cigars from the rolling table make it to a consumer's hand. No wonder his sticks are some of the most sought after in the world! You may have noticed the Indian Tabac Company (ITC) all but disappeared for a few years, but it was brought back by popular demand. Better than ever, one of the first releases of the revival is the ITC Emerald, and just by looking at it you can see how it got its name. Candela wrappers are green and used to be extremely popular from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, but now they are somewhat of an oddity. We could go into a long explanation of how these carefully cured wrappers remain green but we won’t. Instead we’ll just say that it’s a very long, hot, and laborious process where the chlorophyll is locked in the leaf to give it the emerald color after several days of curing in temperatures upwards of 165 degrees Fahrenheit, and then the leaves are slowly rehydrated. Obviously, it’s way more complicated than that but you get you the idea. Underneath the emerald wrapper is a Honduran binder and long-fillers. Mild to medium in body, this smoke delivers notes of black pepper, earth, and some natural sweetness from the candela wrapper. Enjoy this smoke with a raspberry iced tea.

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.