Trinidad Mini Belicoso

For nearly a century the name Trinidad has conjured up the richest, boldest flavor you could find in a cigar. The brand harks back to 1905 and Santa Clara, Cuba where two brothers, hardware traders Diego and Ramon Trinidad, bought their wares. They then travelled to remote villages on the outskirts of the city to sell them. One day, as they hauled their empty wagons back home, they noticed—truly noticed—the magnificent tobacco crops around them. Apparently it was a eureka moment from which we cigar fans are still benefiting. They filled their wagons with the bountiful crop and, upon their return to Santa Clara began selling this lush commodity. Suddenly they were in the tobacco business. The Mini Belicoso consists of a rich blend of aged Dominican, Nicaraguan, and Peruvian long-filler tobaccos, anchored by a broadleaf binder and finished with a handsome medium-brown Ecuadorian Sumatran sun-grown wrapper. Note the cap is cut perfectly. The cigar lights easily and evenly; the draw is a bit tight initially but loosens up. Look for consistent, grey ash. This full-bodied stogie is a hearty—even gutsy—smoke, without a hint of harshness. Expect a complex flavor profile that’s earthy and woody with a bit of sweetness. On a chilly winter's eve, sit by a fire with this cigar and a snifter of Appleton Estate Distilled 21-year-old Rum (or a similar well-aged dark rum) and find yourself transported to early twentieth century Cuba!

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.