Toraño Noventa Santiago

The Toraño family has been around for over a century making some of the most luxurious cigars. It all started in 1916 when Don Santiago Toraño immigrated to Cuba from Spain. He immediately started working with the tobacco leaf and became a broker for the prized crop. His growing family all became involved with the tobacco and eventually became one of the most well known and respected growers of the Cuban tobacco leaf, owning over 17 farms. One of Don Santiago’s sons, Carlos Toraño, took his knowledge and passion for the tobacco leaf to the Dominican Republic where he is credited as one of the driving forces of the country’s tobacco growing industry. Making the shift into cigars a few decades ago, the Toraño clan has been making premium cigars that are available throughout the world. The Carlos Toraño cigar lines have all been highly rated, achieving scores consistently in the high 80’s and low 90’s in Cigar Aficionado, Smoke and other industry trade magazines.

The Noventa had been off the market for sometime; it was only intended as a one-time release to celebrate the family’s 90 years of tobacco growing. It was widely believed that there were no more of these cigars available, until Charlie Toraño (the current leader of the company) let it slip that there were indeed more. This is a truly special cigar; a Nicaraguan puro, the Noventa is blended using a vintage mixture of premium five year old Nicaraguan long leaf tobaccos from four growing regions. Once it’s wrapped in a thick and oily Habano Nicaraguan leaf it is then aged further to give this medium bodied cigar an excellent and luxurious smoke. Don’t let the aroma fool you with its sweetness, the flavors are not. The flavors are complex, starting with notes of nuts and leather with occasional flashes of vanilla, really opening up towards the middle of the cigar with hints of wood, and finishing off with cedar. The draw is smooth and the burn is razor sharp. We find that this cigar pairs perfectly with a single malt Highland scotch, such as The Dalmore.

The Nicaraguan cigar industry originated when Cuban cigar makers escaped the revolution and re-established their livelihood in Nicaragua with Cuban-seed tobacco. Blessed with dark, rich soil, their new home was ideal for tobacco cultivation and Nicaragua quickly became known for cigars that rivaled Cuban quality. Unfortunately, revolution and war came to Nicaragua in the 1980s and devastated the industry, but it’s rebounded dramatically and is once again producing tobacco considered by many to be the finest in the world.

The Esteli Valley is in many ways the heart of Nicaraguan production and is known for its very powerful and spicy tobacco. The Jalapa Valley produces arguably the finest tobacco in the country: somewhat sweeter and less intense than Esteli, but extremely complex. The tobacco of the Condega Valley is often described as a blend of the other two regions.