Cigar Weekly

     It's collaboration at the highest of levels. Joya de Nicragua spokesman John Brooke has announced, this afternoon, that the company's creative minds have joined forces to establish a new brand, named for company president Dr. Alejandro Martinez-Cuenca, and longtime industry maven, master blender, and senior vice-president Jose Blanco. Blanco joined Joya de Nicaragua in August of 2011 after serving for many years at La Aurora in the Dominican Republic. This new brand, the Cuenca y Blanco, will depart from Joya de Nicaragua's long standing custom of making Nicaraguan puros. 

   Dr. Alejandro Martinez-Cuenca and Jose Blanco

 According to Brooke's press release:

     Medium in body, this full flavored blend is the first collaborative liga resulting from the exciting, new relationship between these two master cigar makers. Expertly crafted by hand, it reflects their joint efforts and symbolizes the embodiment of the marriage of their until now, separate cigar traditions.

 

The  Cuenca y Blanco has been blended to be a cigar comprised of air-cured black tobaccos from four different countries of origin. This unique recipe is handmade with aged filler tobaccos including Habano Seed leaf from Nicaragua’s Esteli Valley and the volcanic isle of Ometepe, Piloto Cubano from the La Canela region of the Dominican Republic and an aromatic viso from Peru’s famed Tarapoto region. The cigar is expertly finished in a beautiful Grade 1 Ecuador Habano wrapper. This complex blend is the fruit of nearly a year of ceaseless experimentation and has resulted in a very flavorful smoke with a tantalizing aroma.

According to Sr. Blanco, Joya de Nicaragua’s Senior Vice President, "It is very exciting for me to make blends at a different factory and grow accustomed to a new environment and their traditions. As many know, I have always been deeply fond of Nicaraguan tobaccos, but I am also very pleased to bring more origins, including my own Dominican heritage, to Joya De Nicaragua.” Jose adds, “The  Cuenca y Blanco is a symphony of well balanced tobaccos creating a rich and complex smoke, with lots of flavor which I always find so important and with a type of strength satisfying for most smokers."

Joya de Nicaragua’s President and Owner, Dr. Martinez Cuenca, says  “I see  Cuenca y Blanco as the clear testimony of our vision of where we see ourselves in the future of premium cigar blending and manufacturing. The two of us, together with the rest of theJoya de Nicaragua family, put forth our best efforts to create this singular cigar blend that is balanced, flavorful, and intends to be judged not by its strength alone, but rather for the kind of pleasure it gives to every smoker that tries it.” He continues, “This cigar is the quintessential expression of  how two minds, two experiences, and two origins worked together; each venturing off our traditional paths of only making Puro, to instead create what we feel is a masterpiece of a cigar of diverse tobaccos from many origins.” 

 

     This move comes, now, at the beginning of Summer, in anticipation of its official release at the International Premium Cigar and Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) trade show this coming August in Orlando, Florida. 

• Corona Real 5 ½ x 46,
• Robusto Deluxe 5 ¼ x 50,
• Toro Supremo 6 x 54,
• Torpedo Especial 6 ¼ x 52
• and Lonsdale Club 6 ½ x 44.  

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