Today I visited my favorite neighborhood cigar factory: El Titan de Bronze.
One of my goals was to get a Christmas gift for a lapsed cigar lover. He had never heard of the El Titan de Bronze brand, and I thought an introduction to them might be a good way to help him reconnect with his former vice.
They had a 4-pack gift set*, nicely arranged with a transparent cover and a festive bow wrapping - with one each of four different sticks. I thought the problem with an arrangement like that was if he liked one of them that was it: it was gone with no second chance to enjoy. I convinced my wife that it made more sense to get a few pairs of cigars, and that's what we did. I planned to send them in a Ziplock with a mini Boveda, but that idea didn't sit well with my wife. She was aghast that I would put a gift in a Ziplock. She asked the lady at ETDB if we could have a box. They offered one on hand that was slightly too big, and also offered to pack some tobacco leaves around the cigars to keep them from rattling around. The result was a custom gift pack.
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And then,
and then, when I grabbed a handful of their factory seconds for myself, the ETDB lady asked if I had tried their scrap smokes. Maybe there is a proper name for these: when they're done rolling a batch of whatever for one of their clients, there is inevitably leaf left over. Every now and then they take the leftovers and roll a bunch of cigars with them - no particular blend, just whatever is on hand. Sort of a potluck cigar. [Anyone know what these are called?] They smoke them in-house or put them up for sale at the front of the factory.
She told me that these are what the Cuban men in the neighborhood buy when they come into the shop. And at $1 each, it's no wonder!
Behold! 25 El Titan de Bronze cigars for $25!
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*This [4-pack gift set], by the way, is not what El Titan de Bronze is about. Although they are on Calle Ocho (the famed 8th Street in Little Havana), and they welcome tourists - or anyone, really - this is utterly unlike some other cigar destinations in Little Havana. This is a business that rolls premium cigars and there are no amenities for visitors aside from a small counter up front, no more than four or five feet from the torcedores' workstations. Christmas gift packs is not what they do.