I just had the privelege of spending 4 days in Esteli, Nicaragua touring the My Father cigar operation with Hal Rubin and a group of great guys from Empire Cigars in Raleigh, NC. After 5 hours in the air, 2 hours with customs in Miami, and a quick opportunity to meet and share a cigar with Danilo (who was nice enough to pick me up and get me back to the airport in time to make it home) :thumbsup:I finally got back to Charlotte last night at midnight!
There are alot of guys on this board that have made the trek to Nicaragua and I would be willing to bet that every one of them would agree that the trip and the experience were amazing. I was also fortunate enough to meet and talk with some great people in the cigar business including Jaime garcia, Pete Johnson, John Drew, Eddie Ortega, Erik Espinosa, Danny Ditkowitch (La Sirena), and Matt Booth (Room 101). The amount of experience and knowledge these guys have made the trip exceptional. Not to mention the opportunity to smoke some absolutely amazing cigars that havent quite hit the street yet (La Casita Criolla, Fausto, Jaime Garcia Reserva 6 x 66, and the new Mexican leaf wrapped La Reloba to name the few I can)
What I didnt do was take a bunch of group people pictures, but rather a series of pictures at the My Father factory and farms to give you an idea of the flow and process required to make a cigar. My thought was to give those that havent seen it in person the scope of the Garcia family's impressive operation. Keep in mind as you look through the pictures that there are on avg 250 people that will touch the tobacco or the cigar in its journey from the seed to the box. I certainly hope you like looking at them as much as I enjoyed taking them to share with all of you.
A final thanks to Hal, John, and the entire group at My Father for their exceptional hospitality and the amount of time they gave up to make our trip as good as it was.
http://www.botl.org/community/forums/album.php?albumid=674
There are alot of guys on this board that have made the trek to Nicaragua and I would be willing to bet that every one of them would agree that the trip and the experience were amazing. I was also fortunate enough to meet and talk with some great people in the cigar business including Jaime garcia, Pete Johnson, John Drew, Eddie Ortega, Erik Espinosa, Danny Ditkowitch (La Sirena), and Matt Booth (Room 101). The amount of experience and knowledge these guys have made the trip exceptional. Not to mention the opportunity to smoke some absolutely amazing cigars that havent quite hit the street yet (La Casita Criolla, Fausto, Jaime Garcia Reserva 6 x 66, and the new Mexican leaf wrapped La Reloba to name the few I can)
What I didnt do was take a bunch of group people pictures, but rather a series of pictures at the My Father factory and farms to give you an idea of the flow and process required to make a cigar. My thought was to give those that havent seen it in person the scope of the Garcia family's impressive operation. Keep in mind as you look through the pictures that there are on avg 250 people that will touch the tobacco or the cigar in its journey from the seed to the box. I certainly hope you like looking at them as much as I enjoyed taking them to share with all of you.
A final thanks to Hal, John, and the entire group at My Father for their exceptional hospitality and the amount of time they gave up to make our trip as good as it was.
http://www.botl.org/community/forums/album.php?albumid=674
