Nicaragua Cigar Tour
I first met Sergio Torres, 8 years ago, introduced to him by his cousin whom I met (by happenstance) on the street in Esteli, Nicaragua, Cigar Capital of Nicaragua. We bonded together as the blue smoke of our cigars disappeared into sticky summer air and the empty bottles of beer collected on the small wobbly table before us on that easy feeling afternoon. The story is way to long to explain here. But the long (Churchill) and short (Robusto) of it is that the next day I got a straight razor shave (while smoking a cigar), toured his Uncles Cigar Factories, met the Vice President of Nicaragua (now the President), had dinner with some of the finest cigar rollers alive, and to top it all off, I sang “It’s now or never” to a packed bar. It was by far one of the best days in my life.
Fast forward to February 2006. Enter Seth Pleasant Young and Kelly Pressley, add a couple of lost bags, a detour in Guatemala City, 16 hours of being late and beer at 6:45am until we get picked up by Sergio at the Airport, 4 beers (each) and 2 ” half hours later; Sergio meet Seth and Kelly.
We were there to tour the Factories and Fields of Nicaragua. We had Guaybera’s of several colors as our formal attire, Cigars of different sizes, and loads of beer, rum, and papas fritas.
Sergio is the Nephew of Nester Placensia. Nestro’s cigar factories produce more cigars than any other cigar factory in all of Central America. Also, Nester produces the only Organic Cigar in the world! These Cigars are sure to be a huge hit (they use garlic as a natural pesticide). Sergio’s Family took us all into their homes, factories, fields, and made sure we felt welcome.
Together Sergio, Seth, Kelly, and I toured the Cigar factories, fields, and a bit of the culture. It was a quick trip, with small incidents of frustration however, the large sum was fraternity wrapped like a Double Corona in a meticulously grown Tobacco leaf.