The Second Day Of Puro Sabor
Don’t wear nice shoes to Puro Sabor. In my haste packing for the Nicaraguan cigar festival, I forgot to throw a pair of boots in my luggage. Sneakers aren’t exactly the best choice for touring tobacco fields, which tend to be dusty and muddy, but by the time I realized my footwear was inadequate, it was too late. Pro tip: if you decide to come to this festival, or any tobacco field, be sure to bring a pair of boots that can handle the terrain.
I tried not to slip and slide in the mud or trip in the trenches at A.S.P. Enterprise’s San Pedro farm in Estelí, which was my first stop on Day 2 of Puro Sabor. The field workers would have probably gotten a laugh or two watching some tourist take a spill in between rows of tobacco, but I managed to stay on my feet. You may not know the name A.S.P., but you’ve most likely smoked the company’s tobacco. It’s owned by David Perez, who is better known in the industry for growing Connecticut-seed wrapper in Ecuador.
In Estelí, he grows 500 acres of filler tobacco from a hybrid seed that’s proprietary to his company. The varietal is a cross between an old Cuban seed brought over here more than 50 years ago and one of the native Nicaraguan seeds. Perez believes that his tobacco is more full-bodied than typical tobacco grown in Estelí, which is already known for strength. “I’m used to growing wrapper so for me, this is kind of easy,” he tells me. With wrapper, appearance is everything. One blemish, and the leaf is degraded to binder. With filler, appearance doesn’t matter as much, so ugly leaf can still make the cut.
A.S.P. stands for Alfredo Silvio Perez, named for David’s father Alfredo and grandfather Silvio. It’s a family business and Perez says that he sells this Nicaraguan filler to mostly other family-owned businesses. One of those companies is J.C. Newman, who I visited on the same day. The way the festival is organized, you get to see two companies per day, one before lunch and one after.
J.C. Newman is another multi-generational company in the cigar industry, and has a few facets. You have the machine-made operation in Tampa; then there are are cigars like Diamond Crown and Cuesta-Rey made in the Dominican Republic; and then you have the Nicaraguan factory, PENSA, short for Puros de Estelí Nicaragua S.A. This is the place where they make a bundle cigar called Quorum and cigars such as Perla del Mar, El Baton and Brick House, which contains some of A.S.P.’s tobacco.
I lit up a Brick House first. The smoke is bold and mouth-coating and everything that David Perez said his tobacco was. Leading the tour at PENSA was Eric Newman, the company’s third-generation owner. His son, Drew, didn’t make it to Nicaragua this year, but I noticed him depicted on a huge mural overlooking the rolling gallery. He’s in a suit with a giant smile on his face. I wonder if he was part of the original mural or added later. I didn’t ask, but no matter.
After Brick House I lit up a Yagua, but it was unfinished. Finished Yaguas are packed in tight bundles while the tobacco is still fairly wet, giving each cigar a characteristic, unevenly pressed look. No two cigars look alike. The one I smoked hadn’t been pressed and was still in the round. Oddly, it didn’t taste the same. Perhaps it’s mental.
I met some Serbians at the factory who traveled almost 30 hours with multiple layovers in many countries to get here. That’s dedication.
At the end of the night, the entire festival converged for dinner. This is typical festival form: fields and factories by day, party by night. That evening, the dinner was held outside Victor Calvo’s factory, which makes a namesake cigar. People tend to get a bit more dressed up for dinner, but not everyone. The attire ranges from t-shirts and guayaberas to collared shirts and sports jackets. As usual, the women were dressed better than the men. As for me, I lit up one of the Joya de Nicaragua cigars handed to me as soon as I walked in—this time, I was wearing the right shoes.
