Back from Nicaragua

Alex Svenson

Just got back yesterday and the trip was great. Saw lots of folks: Jaimie Garcia (Pepins son), Carlos Oliva (Oliva Cigar), Jose Olivas (Latin Cigar - makers of CAO and Torano), Abdel (AJ) Fernandez, Nestor Plasencia (maker of tons of brands and biggest cuban see leaf grower), Victor Calvo (Tabacalera Tambor - makers of Bahia, Bucanero and several other brands) as well as the guys at Drew Estate.

I smoked the two versions of the forum blend and have to say, you guys really did a great job. i wont spoil anything for you, but one thing I will say is that you are going to be amazed how much the wrapper changes a cigar. Despite having the same fillers and binder, the wrapper totally changes the cigar. Both versions had an extremely sweet and rich flavor that is extremely unique. I have not smoked many blends like it. My hunch is that people are either going to love it or hate it.

I ordered some samplers that will be here in July. They will feature 10 toro cigars, 5 of the arapiraca and 5 of the sumatra ecuador. They will be $29.95 each (the factory gave us a deal since I explained the project to them). I only ordered 50 so I will create a sku item and you guys can call one of our cigar consultants starting monday to reserve your sampler. Once the 50 are gone, I am not sure I can get more so be sure you lock in.

I am working on the video of the cigars being made and abdel talking about the blend. I will try to get it up as soon as I can.

PuroFreak

Oh I will be placing my order ASAP! This sounds great and thank you VERY much Alex for taking this project on. It speaks volumes about how much Ccom care about their customers! I will be a lifelong Ccom customer!

Vidarien

Very interesting. I know you said that you havent really had anything quite like it, but are there any brands we're aware of that might have reminded you even slightly of it?

bigharpoon

I can't wait to try these! Thanks for all your hard work and taking this project from idea to fruition, Alex. They really sound good. Glad you had a great trip, sounds like you saw just about everybody.

Luko

Love it or hate it, it's awesome to be involved in something like this...thanks for the opportunity, I'll definitely be ordering one or two.

thizzcore

this sounds great i read all the topics on it and must say i really want to try this ill have to order a box!

alienmisprint

Thank you for all the work put into this Alex, it truly is appreciated. As soon as it is a go, I'll be reserving mine.

laker1963

Thanks for the heads up Alex. I'm so excited about trying these cigars. I just hope my man Jeff can come thru on time before the 50 run out !!

kuzi16

its cool. im pretty excited about it. ...even though it isnt the blend i would have chosen myself...

however, after hearing a bit of the flavor of them, my hopes are high.

Matt Marvel

Thanks for the heads up, and thanks for going through all of the trouble to put this together. I'll be giving you a guys a call to reserve mine. It sounds like it's going to be a pretty good smoke!

madurofan

kuzi16:

its cool. im pretty excited about it. ...even though it isnt the blend i would have chosen myself...

however, after hearing a bit of the flavor of them, my hopes are high.

This is my opinion of the project also. Its not exactly what I would have chosen but then again I'm no blender so what I would have chosen may have sucked, lol.

Thanks Alex I don't think we can express how much this means to us. Let us know when the video is up!!

j0z3r

kuzi16:

its cool. im pretty excited about it. ...even though it isnt the blend i would have chosen myself...

however, after hearing a bit of the flavor of them, my hopes are high.

I don't think this is necessarily the blend any of us would have chosen given full, executive authority of it. I'm excited to try it all the same to see if a forum wide collaboration will work out to be something good.

gmill880

Can't wait to try it ...

betasynn

So wait, did you say AJ is the blender, here?

Alex Svenson

Well, we were the blenders actually, AJ is just making the cigar. We used his materials and he is rolling the cigars. I had him speak on camera as he was going through the materials so he could explain a bit about each tobacco you guys picked and what you can expect from it. Also, what he likes about the blend. I told him about the project and the collaboration on the forum and thought it wasa very cool idea. IMHO, AJ is the best tobacco guy in the biz bar none. Best blender, best fermenter, simply the best.

Fourtotheflush

So the CCom forum chose the blend.
We roughly chose the % of the tobacco.
What is the critical importance of how these tobaccos are put together into the cigar?

Once these tobaccos are chosen, who and how is it actually constructed??

PuroFreak

Fourtotheflush:

So the CCom forum chose the blend.
We roughly chose the % of the tobacco.
What is the critical importance of how these tobaccos are put together into the cigar?

Once these tobaccos are chosen, who and how is it actually constructed??

It's already done. The forum members chose the tobaccos and Alex went to Nicaragua and had the samples made by AJ Fernandez.

Smoky the Bear

Alex, I am fairly new to the CCOM family and I have to say that I have been extremely impressed with the level of attention the members of this forum get from you. This project is like nothing I have seen in any business, not just the cigar industry. Kudos to you for keeping the thoughts and wishes of the customers at the forefront and thanks for giving the forum members the first crack at this exciting project. Jason

Krieg

I can't wait to try these cigars. How old is the tobacco being used?

Alex Svenson

Krieg:

I can't wait to try these cigars. How old is the tobacco being used?

I will have to get the individual ages, but everything is 3 to 5 years old.

phobicsquirrel

Alex Svenson:

Just got back yesterday and the trip was great. Saw lots of folks: Jaimie Garcia (Pepins son), Carlos Oliva (Oliva Cigar), Jose Olivas (Latin Cigar - makers of CAO and Torano), Abdel (AJ) Fernandez, Nestor Plasencia (maker of tons of brands and biggest cuban see leaf grower), Victor Calvo (Tabacalera Tambor - makers of Bahia, Bucanero and several other brands) as well as the guys at Drew Estate.

I smoked the two versions of the forum blend and have to say, you guys really did a great job. i wont spoil anything for you, but one thing I will say is that you are going to be amazed how much the wrapper changes a cigar. Despite having the same fillers and binder, the wrapper totally changes the cigar. Both versions had an extremely sweet and rich flavor that is extremely unique. I have not smoked many blends like it. My hunch is that people are either going to love it or hate it.

I ordered some samplers that will be here in July. They will feature 10 toro cigars, 5 of the arapiraca and 5 of the sumatra ecuador. They will be $29.95 each (the factory gave us a deal since I explained the project to them). I only ordered 50 so I will create a sku item and you guys can call one of our cigar consultants starting monday to reserve your sampler. Once the 50 are gone, I am not sure I can get more so be sure you lock in.

I am working on the video of the cigars being made and abdel talking about the blend. I will try to get it up as soon as I can.

fantastic news Alex, so monday the 15 we can start calling? is payment due or is it working like a pre-order?

zoom6zoom

I know what I'm going to be doing first thing Monday morning!

My paycheck is already set up for direct deposit, I guess I just need to change where they send it!

Alex Svenson

this is just a preorder. We will take your info but not charge until the come in and ship out.

Fourtotheflush

Puro,
I was in on the decision making process.
But I know how the tobaccos were chosen,
But once chosen, Im curious about the actual stick blending.
How it is made, two leafs of this etc. folded into 1 leaf of that.

xmacro

Smoky the Bear:

Alex, I am fairly new to the CCOM family and I have to say that I have been extremely impressed with the level of attention the members of this forum get from you. This project is like nothing I have seen in any business, not just the cigar industry. Kudos to you for keeping the thoughts and wishes of the customers at the forefront and thanks for giving the forum members the first crack at this exciting project.

^ What he said ^

So what is an SKU item? Are you gonna post a number on the forum or something? I'm a bit confused and I really don't wanna delay on this :-)

bbc020

ordered via phone this morning. Tim made it too simple.

brc81

My wife called and pre-ordered mine for this morning as well. Can't wait!

xmacro

Can someone tell me what an SKU item even is?!

rmccloud

xmacro:

Can someone tell me what an SKU item even is?!

The SKU number is a way for Cigar.com to track the item in their warehouse. It isn't something that the customer is generally concerned about. Just call the guys up and tell them that you want the forum blend. They will take care of the rest.

Thewelder

Just ordered mine Jim made it easy as pie. Just say that you want the forum blend. Can't wait to try these.

rwheelwright

A SKU is basically a part number used by a company to note a product.