PCA Magazine Fall 2019

PREMIUMCIGARS.ORG SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2019 | PCA The Magazine 19 was given special access to old documents from the castle. In these documents, Melillo came across receipts of 1920s purchases from the old Partagas factory and cigar shops, and learned that Lord Carnarvon’s grandfather, Howard Carter, was theman who discovered King Tut’s tomb, of which a replica resides in the castle. In fact, according to Lord Carnarvon, Carter undoubtably celebrated his grand discovery with a cigar, something he regularly enjoyed. Melillo then returned to Nicaragua, home of Foundation Cigar Company, and worked T H E B L E N D Above, Lord and Lady Carnarvon. Bottom left, Adam von Gootkin, Nick Melillo and Lord Carnarvon. on the blend for about a year and came up with seven final blends for von Gootkin and Lord Carnarvon to smoke. He invited themboth to Nicaragua where they did a blind taste test and ended up all choosing the exact same blend. Fromconception to the design of the band and packaging, the project ended up taking a little over two years. “NickMelillo is arguably one of themost well-respected cigar blenders in the industry,” von Gootkin says. “Partnering with him to craft this masterpiece cigar speaks to his near-obsession with quality while embracing the rich history of enjoying cigars at Highclere Castle—and a very special access to the rare tobaccos that Nick has.” The blend settled on byMelillo, Gootkin, and Lord Carnarvon utilizes a Connecticut Shade wrapper, one of themost elegant wrapper leaves in the world. This Christian Eiroa of C.L.E. Cigar Company, left, and Tom Lazuka, co-owner of Asylum 13 Cigars “This golden- brown leaf was originally created in Melillo’s home state of Connecticut back in the early 1900s and is the result of crossing Havana Seed, Broadleaf and Sumatra tobaccos.”