PCA Magazine Winter 2020

52 PCA The Magazine | WINTER 2020 PREMIUMCIGARS.ORG smokeable gold leaf wrapped cigar. Marshall first entered the cigar manufacturing business in 1995, during the height of the cigar boom. His friendship with cigar iconManuel Quesada, then manufacturer of Fonseca cigars as well as numerous contact brands, gave hima foot in the door. Together they blended the first Daniel Marshall Black Label collection. “I told him [Quesada] I wanted something very smooth, and aged, with a lot of flavor, a lot of taste. It was not one of the existing Fonseca blends, but a specially created version,” Marshall says. The Dominican Republic cigar features a Connecticut Shade wrapper, aMexican binder and a Dominican blend for the filler. “I wanted a creamy coffee, cappuccino/latte tasting cigar, with some spicy flavors to it. Manuel sent me five various samples fromwhich to choose. I got together withmy discriminating cigar friends, and wemutually chose which version tasted the best. The decision was unanimous, a 100 percent consensus. That original blend is still sold today.” Its success was followed up one year later by a Honduran variation, made by U.S. Tobacco Co. (UST). The cigar business was still raging, and there simply wasn’t enough tobacco tomeet the demand for cigars, so Marshall turned to the maker of Don Tomas cigars for his second offering. “The cigar had a great draw and a fantastic taste. It was a little fuller, a bit more ‘Cubanesque’ thanmy original blend.” Alas, as the unprecedented demand for cigars continued, USTwas unable to produce enough of its own cigars and was forced to give up all of its contract production, including the Daniel Marshall Honduran Black Label. Marshall says many of the contractors were upset and a lawsuit was filed against UST. “I was asked to join that suit but I said no. I don’t want to sue anybody in the cigar business. I want to be in the cigar world for the rest of my life.” When the dot-comboomof the go-go ’90s finally burst, and cigar sales tapered off as well, Marshall refocused his attention back upon his humidor business. But he never abandoned the cigar side of his business. The original Dominican collection continued. “We’ve always had very select accounts that carried both our cigars and our humidors. Cigars just weren’t the primary focus of my attention.” Then, in 2008, Manuel Quesada scored Cigar of the Year honors from Cigar Aficionado with his CasaMagna Cigar collaboration withNestor Plasencia. Marshall, who to this day is still friends with Quesada, says, “I said, ‘I love this cigar; this is my style, it’s Cubanesque in taste, it’s popularly priced, it’s all about our philosophy of being of value; I’mknown as affordable luxury.’ So I said, I want to have Nestor Plasenciamakemy cigar with Quesada.” That cigar became the DM2 Red label Nicaraguan, a full- bodied, spicy yet creamy all- Nicaraguan puro. The line is available in six classic Cuban shapes, plus a 6 x 60 Gigante. As an ultra boutique brand, it has received an enthusiastic reception wherever it has been placed. Perhaps more importantly, however, it served as the platform for the creation of the 24-karat Golden Torpedo. Asked how the concept came into being, Marshall recounts its origins as a “prop.” “It was made as an ornament, to be in 20 ultra- bling Scarface humidors that I made for the head of Universal studios to give to Al Pacino and the guys from themovie. It was an over-the-top cigar that I wanted to put in each one of these 20 special humidors, where they would get the humidor, love the humidor, and then they would open it up and say, “Wow! The XXXVIII Anniversary cigar by Carlos Fuente. Daniel Marshall’s latest cigar project. Marshall applies each layer of gold leaf by hand to make the 24-Karat Golden Torpedo. T H E M I D A S T O U C H Daniel Marshall and Carlos Fuente Jr. Collaborate on XXXVIII Anniversary How do you top rolling a cigar with gold leaf? You can’t! But what you can do is team up with the preeminent blender in modern cigar history, Carlos Fuente Jr., which is exactly what Daniel Marshall has done to create his soon-to-be-released 38th Anniversary cigar. The Daniel Marshall by Carlos Fuente XXXVIII Anniversary Cigar is the fruit of a three year collaboration between the two cigar industry icons, celebrating their 38-year friendship as well as Marshall’s 38th year anniversary in the business. The celebratory cigar is available in a classic torpedo shape and is presented in custom-crafted, individually numbered Daniel Marshall humidor-quality boxes of eight cigars. The blend is undisclosed, but is said to contain tobaccos of up to 12 years in age, with an additional year of cedar vault aging after being rolled. “I want to do something for you very, very special,” said Fuente to Marshall. “I am making a cigar for you, which I do for no one, to commemorate our longtime friendship, and my highest respect and admiration for you and your story. It’s an honor to be able to participate with you on this special anniversary. I poured my heart into every detail, hoping to make you proud.”