Vanerpaddel
Well-Known Member
My first cigars made in the wooden 2-stick mold, Ecuador Maduro are the wrapper. Thanks WLT, what a difference to roll cigars now.
Pics of your sticks!!
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greenmonster714
Well-Known Member
That looks great. Nice job.
Thedbs999
Well-Known Member
Looking good. Hope they taste and smell great.
Dan
Dan
Vanerpaddel
Well-Known Member
Thanks
Vanerpaddel
Well-Known Member
Thanks, I leave it to rest for a week before I smoke them.
I took a chance, and rolled a puro of WLT's new Cibao Valley Corojo viso leaf. Yum! Most of the leaf is the same smooth, reddish brown as the one I used for the wrapper.
"This tobacco is from the 2015 crop year. The difference in this tobacco is that is has been fermented for a full 12 months."
As Dominican leaf, (from El Cibao, a rich and fertile valley in the northwest of the Dominican section of Hispañola), I expected it to be milder than Central American Corojo viso. It is not. The rich aroma and flavor of this leaf is just as full as any other Habano or Corojo viso. The aromas are not as earthy as Nicagaruan leaf, but more so than Honduran leaf. It tastes as though it has been aged for longer than its tender two years. So this is a prety stout and complex stogie. I would categorize it as "full-bodied". The burn is excellent. I think it would be fun to blend this with most varieties of seco leaf, and wrap it in Ecuador or CT Shade.
With my curiosity piqued (see my previous post on ODW's Bolivia leaf), I zoomed in on the burn margin.
Sure enough, you can identify charred trichomes at the ash edge. Maybe they really are there on all cigars.
As a geographical curiosity, the westward extension of El Cibao runs south of Cap Haïtien, and into the equally rich and fertile Limbé Valley of Haïti, where sugar cane and other crops are grown...but no tobacco. Northern Haïti should be capable of producing equally excellent tobacco. But the language is different (French and Créole, rather than Spanish), and Dominican's just don't go there (which has been true for the past 230 years).
Bob
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OldDinosaurWesH
Well-Known Member
Bob:
The Corojo viso you talked about has piqued my interest. How do you think it would go with my Bolivia?
Wes H.
The Corojo viso you talked about has piqued my interest. How do you think it would go with my Bolivia?
Wes H.
Not a clue. I guess I'll have to give it a try, and get back to you.
Bob
Bob
Tutu
Well-Known Member
Not owning a pipe meant I had no other option but to use the Cavendish as a filler for a cigar. Whilst playing around I made a few more blends.
Truly unique, Tutu. A Cavendish cigar! (I know somebody in Malaysia who might just trade you a homemade pipe for some of that Cavendish brick.)
Wes, your Bolivia goes nicely with the Corojo viso.
Order a pound each of the Cibao Corojo viso and ligero, as well as a pound of the Cibao Criollo ligero. Then get a free pound of something seco, during the Black Friday sale. But you have to post pics of your cigars, as penance for off-topic questions in the Pics of your Sticks thread.
Bob
Wes, your Bolivia goes nicely with the Corojo viso.
Order a pound each of the Cibao Corojo viso and ligero, as well as a pound of the Cibao Criollo ligero. Then get a free pound of something seco, during the Black Friday sale. But you have to post pics of your cigars, as penance for off-topic questions in the Pics of your Sticks thread.
Bob
OldDinosaurWesH
Well-Known Member
Hey! I was still talking about cigars. And besides, I was seeking advice from the deluxestogie man.
If I buy all that tobacco, then I'll have to spring for a mold also...
Wes H,
If I buy all that tobacco, then I'll have to spring for a mold also...
Wes H,
Tutu
Well-Known Member
A deal may be on hands, yes. Curious to see what it will taste like in a cigar too. It smells good, for starters
...and an FTT ballcap! Don't forget the cap.
http://wholeleaftobacco.com/Fair-Trade-Tobacco-Ball-Caps-Ballcaps.htm
Just today, a manager at Walmart struck up a conversation over my FTT cap. He grew up in North Carolina, growing tobacco.
Bob
The filler of this truly homely stick is mostly long scrap, supplemented by 1-1/2 leaves of WLT's new Cibao Valley Criollo ligero. I used a WLT Besuki double binder. The wrapper, which is the subject of these photographs, is Cibao Valley Criollo ligero.
As you can see, I paid very little attention to the cosmetics of this cigar. I did trim the back edge of the wrapper, to reduce the overall thickness of the wrapping, but did not bother to tidy up the outer (visible) edge of the wrapper.
Pondering how to describe the wrapper's color, which would be a description of the general color of Cibao Valley Criollo ligero, I kept the cigar in my mouth, as yet unlit, while I drove to run a couple of errands. I scanned the autumn leaves still clinging to trees, as well as leaves windswept into the road shoulders. I looked at the bark of white oaks, black oaks, and poplars, maples and hawthorn. Nothing doing.
My best attempt is that it is a flat, dull, medium brown. It's not as red or as light as these two photos. But it's a good match for the dried Red Maple leaf, as well as the underside of Silver Maple bark. I played in Photoshop, trying to manipulate the colors of the photos to coincide with what I held in my hand. I failed. So I left them as the (damnable) camera saw them.
Thirty minutes of the unlit cigar in my mouth was a joy. Deep earthy flavors and a slightly pungent aroma. But it is quite a bit more potent than my average cigar wrapper. When smoked, this non-puro was not bashful about its Criollo content. The burn of the criollo is on the sluggish side of good, which is just fine when mixed with most viso or seco.
In general, my cigar blending goes light on the ligero, regardless of the variety. I think 1/2 to 1 leaf of Cibao Valley Criollo ligero would be about right for a generous toro-size cigar. It expands and deepens the flavor profile of milder fillers, and definitely adds some punch. Used as a wrapper, it is a bit strong for me, but only after it is lit. A high proportion of the leaves in the pound I examined are intact enough to use as wrapper. BUT...this is filler leaf. Used as a binder, under an easy going wrapper, it would reduce the intensity, while providing the wonderful flavor. It is sturdy enough to work well as a single binder.
My own home grown Cuban criollo leaf is about the same dull and flat, medium brown color, and is equally as sturdy, for wrapper or binder, but is less aggressive in flavor and strength. So a Caribbean climate adds some fullness and flavor that is not available to leaf grown here in Virginia.
I would class this as an excellent condiment tobacco, that will turn otherwise uninteresting filler into a flavor party. A puro of this leaf would surely set my head spinning.
And the rumor is that Dominican tobacco is mild and bland. Don't believe it.
Bob
mwaller
Well-Known Member
Sound like my kind of cigar!
How does the flavor of the Cibao Criollo compare to the Cibao Corojo viso you reviewed recently?
How does the flavor of the Cibao Criollo compare to the Cibao Corojo viso you reviewed recently?
MarcL
Well-Known Member
wow Bob. that was great sounding. can hardly wait to get in that leaf.
The Cibao Corojo is viso leaf, so it is, of course, milder. The Criollo offers a deeper, earthier aroma.
Bob
Thanksgiving Build of a Cibao Valley Corojo ligero robusto: a guided tour
The new WLT Cibao Valley Corojo ligero appears generally lighter in color than the Cibao Criollo ligero, and smells less earthy in the bag.
I didn't want to chance another ligero wrapper, so I used a leaf of WLT Dominican Binder, half for the binder and the other half trimmed for a wrapper. Being an impatient and lazy torcedor, I did not grant enough time for the binder to fully hydrate, so I split it as I approached the head.
Reaching into my bag of in-case wrapper scraps, I pulled out a nice size wedge of something or other, and used it to shore up the head, beneath the wrapper.
As you can see below, the wrapper strip could have used another hour or so to hydrate, so it will not fully smooth out, when wrapped around the bound bunch.
And, drat, there was a small hole in my chosen wrapper, right at the head again. So I used the remainder of that same Dominican Binder strip to add another reinforcement. I do that sort of thing without giving it much thought.
And finally, the moment of truth.
This is a delicious, medium-to-full bodied robusto. The burn is good. As a fan of Corojo leaf in general, I find this to be a richly flavored, complex and delicious cigar. It is strong, but not too strong for me.
Comparing it to the Cibao Criollo, the Cibao Corojo is milder, smoother and less earthy. Rather than a condiment, it is a meal. Once I'm not in a tasting and evaluating mode, I'll wrap some of the Cibao Corojo in various other (legitimate) wrappers. I expect it to blend well with just about anything.
Bob
The new WLT Cibao Valley Corojo ligero appears generally lighter in color than the Cibao Criollo ligero, and smells less earthy in the bag.
I didn't want to chance another ligero wrapper, so I used a leaf of WLT Dominican Binder, half for the binder and the other half trimmed for a wrapper. Being an impatient and lazy torcedor, I did not grant enough time for the binder to fully hydrate, so I split it as I approached the head.
Reaching into my bag of in-case wrapper scraps, I pulled out a nice size wedge of something or other, and used it to shore up the head, beneath the wrapper.
As you can see below, the wrapper strip could have used another hour or so to hydrate, so it will not fully smooth out, when wrapped around the bound bunch.
And, drat, there was a small hole in my chosen wrapper, right at the head again. So I used the remainder of that same Dominican Binder strip to add another reinforcement. I do that sort of thing without giving it much thought.
And finally, the moment of truth.
This is a delicious, medium-to-full bodied robusto. The burn is good. As a fan of Corojo leaf in general, I find this to be a richly flavored, complex and delicious cigar. It is strong, but not too strong for me.
Comparing it to the Cibao Criollo, the Cibao Corojo is milder, smoother and less earthy. Rather than a condiment, it is a meal. Once I'm not in a tasting and evaluating mode, I'll wrap some of the Cibao Corojo in various other (legitimate) wrappers. I expect it to blend well with just about anything.
Bob
OldDinosaurWesH
Well-Known Member
Section 229 - 232 of Hammurabi's code covers that one.
Wes H.
Wes H.
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