New Gran Reserva From PDR Cigars
There's a new brand coming to PDR Cigars' Gran Reserva portfolio called the A. Flores 1975 Gran Reserva Desflorado, and it's set to debut at this year's International Cigar & Pipe Retailers trade show in Las Vegas. The cigar is named Desflorado because its wrapper comes from the second growth of leaves that sprout from the top of a tobacco plant after it has been deflowered.
"This wrapper leaf comes from a deflowered plant. When you deflower the plant it makes a second growth, making the leaves a higher priming," PDR Cigars brand owner Abe Flores told Cigar Aficionado.
Gran Reserva Desflorado is enrobed in a Connecticut-seed Ecuadoran wrapper and a double binder composed of Ecuadoran Habano leaf and Nicaraguan tobacco from Jalapa. The fillers are from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.
"I prefer a darker, spicier Ecuador Connecticut as opposed to the yellower wrappers," Flores said.
The cigar will launch in the same sizes as the original A. Flores 1975 Gran Reserva and will have matching retail prices which include: Half Corona, at 3 1/2 inches by 46 ring ($5.09); Robusto, at 5 by 52 ($12.35); Torpedo, at 6 1/2 by 52 ($14.95); Grand Toro, at 6 by 54 ($14.10); and Double Magnum, at 6 by 60 ($15.80). Similar to its predecessors, the Half Corona will ship in both 50-count boxes and five-count metal tins. The remaining vitolas will ship in boxes of 24.
Whereas the original Gran Reserva line wore a red-and-gold cigar band and the Sun Grown wore a black-and-gold band, the Deflorado will wear a predominantly white-and-gold band. The cigars are rolled at the PDR Cigars Factory in the Dominican Republic.
This article first appeared in the April 5, 2016 issue of Cigar Insider.
