PCA Magazine Show Issue 2021

PREMIUMCIGARS.ORG SHOW 2021 | PCA The Magazine 45 DG: Tobacco is only as good as the soil it grows in. Obviously, there’s muchmore that ties into that, such as sun, moisture, cloud cover; toomuch of one thing, too much of another; lots of variables to get to an excellent crop yield, but it all starts with great soil— period. PCA: You’ve been quoted as saying, “Strength is a byproduct of the blending process. I blend for flavor and complexity.” Some of your blends utilize ligero, the strongest leaf, but do you otherwise look to avoid incorporating it in your blends? DG: It’s true, at least frommy way of doing things. Flavor matters first. To quote Eduardo, “Viso is the filet mignon of the plant.” I use quite a lot of it fromJalapa; it’s what I gravitate to. And by the way, Jalapa has great soil. PCA: So, you set out to create a gourmet blend utilizing the subtler leaf to produce a more nuanced blend, the “filet mignon”? DG: Yes, but sometimes you want a really good ribeye, or strip steak or even skirt. Different primings relative to the regions they come from can produce these analogies. It’s using these tobaccos in the correct way within the blend that you can achieve such variety. If I’m blending, and I come across a seco that has really unique qualities, I’ll build a blend around that. Same for viso, same for ligero. If the overall blend achieves amild elegance through that particular selection of tobacco, then that’s what it’s supposed to be. If the blend is bold, multidimensional, rich and unctuous, given the upper primings used, then that’s what it’s supposed to be. Far be it fromme to tell the tobacco what it wants to be. Tobacco speaks a language, and youmust be able to understand what it’s saying to you before you can blend it. PCA: Discuss the Epernay line. The name is unique in that it’s French, not Spanish. Where did the name originate? DG: I love Champagne. Epernay is a region in France that is synonymous with great wine. I built that cigar to complement it. PCA: I usually smoke stronger cigars, but Epernay is my favorite of your blends. It seems to perfectly sum up your blending philosophy of flavor and complexity over strength. DG: Flavor and complexity is the ultimate goal, whether it’s bold or delicate. As Henke has said time and again, it’s the easiest thing in the world to put together a strong cigar, because you’re going for a specific physical response when you blend for strength. It is, however, muchmore difficult to blend amild- mediumbodied cigar with great complexity and subtlety. I wanted to solve that riddle. Typically, Nicaraguan tobaccos were always known for their boldness. I wanted to go in the other direction in the beginning, to see if we couldmake something that was an atypical Nicaraguan cigar from that initial interpretation. That’s prettymuch howEpernay came to be. PCA: Which lines are your top sellers? DG: All of the “Original Documents” (Corojo, Maduro, Candela and ULTRA) for sure, but lines such as our luxury brands ONEOFF andHaut 10 are very strong in the market. Rothchildes, Gigantes, Garagiste, Fume d’Amour and Cigars Prive pull a tremendous amount of weight as well. All 13 lines in our book of brands have something to “Flavor and complexity is the ultimate goal, whether it’s bold or delicate.”