Rocky Patel
I was fortunate enough to take a trip to Paraiso, Honduras to visit the Nestor Plasencia's and Rocky Patel's factories. The trip was completely hosted by Rocky Patel, let me tell you that they really know how to host! (I will get to this in a bit)
Day 1
We arrived to the airport were Rocky Patel was in the airport cigar bar lounge. (Yes the airport has an awesome little cigar bar) Once everyone arrived Nimish was our host of the trip. I will just say it now, Nimish was an amazing host and a guy that can party like no other! Once we boarded the bus to head out to Paraiso, Honduras where the house is located we found a cooler full of beer and an amazing box full of great Rocky Patel Cigars. 2 hours later we arrive at the house and settle in. The house is really nice and I was pleasantly surprised with the accommodations. The rest of the day is spent meeting everyone, eating some great food and a nice party.
Day 2
After about no sleep we wake up early to a nice breakfast and then we load up and head to Nestor Plasencia's factory. The tobacco in this place is amazing!!! It was amazing to see the process and the amount of time it actually takes the tobacco to age before they roll it. The tobacco is separated by its harvest. The tobacco plant is seperated into 1/3's. The bottom third will harvest seco leaves the middle third viso leaves and the top Ligero leaves. They start by removing the bottom tobacco leaf in the first week and then move on up and remove one leaf every leaf. So the longer the leaves stay on the tobacco plant the more nutrients it will get. This in turn means that the viso will be stronger than the seco leaves and that the ligero leaves will be the strongest. The same goes for the thickness of the leaf, the seco is really thin and the ligero is much thicker. After the leaves have been through the first phase of aging they are taken and separated by size in length, the type of leaf since the bottom 1/3 will not all be seco since sometimes the leaves will be thick enough to be a viso leave and color. Then they go back to age more. While we were at Nestor Plasencia's factory we were lucky enough to meet the man himself. He was unbelievably friendly. We found him in a room that we could barely stand in for more than 3 minutes, it smelled like someone had just opened a bottle of ammonia right under your nose. It was amazing that the people in the room as well as Nestor seemed like they didn't even notice the smell.
I honestly can't begin to tell you how many different stages of aging there is because I can not even remember. The women are used to sort the leaves in every aspect. They believe that the women have softer hands and are better able to sort the leaves. They also believe that men are color blind by nature so the women also does the sorting by color.
We then go and check out Nestor's cigar rolling factory. It was very nice and there is also a lot of cigars brands made in his factory.
I believe it was right after this that we checked out the box factory. The craftsmanship that goes into the boxes is nice. All of the equipment that they use is quite old.
Then we made it to the Rocky Patel factory. The Rocky factory is very very nice and clean as can be. They take the tobacco from Nestor and let it age for even longer. It is then resorted again and aged longer. (I think you're getting the point by now about how long the tobacco is aged) Well the tobacco finally makes it to the rollers. The rollers work in teams of 2, One will take the filler and apply the binder. It is then put into a form and put into a press. After they have been pressed long enough the wrapper will be applied by the second person of the team. The teams of 2 will put out about 300 cigars a day. After they are rolled they go through an inspection in the back. Then to a second inspection. After they have been cleared they will go out to tables where they are sorted into boxes by color. They will look at 200 or so cigars and pick out 25 that look the closest in color and they will be boxed together. At this stage they will still find some bad sticks and put them to the side. After they are separated like this they will be taken to have the band placed on them and then the cello. They're also responsible for finding bad cigars. Then they go to someone that will box them, they are held responsible for any mistakes in the box.
A part of this visit is the ability to create your own blend. There was a huge table filled with tobacco. You chose a wrapper, a binder, and 3 fillers. I won't divulge my secret blend but it's a triple ligero!!!!!! (It is also fantastic!)
Back to the house and some more great food and a night full of entertainment!
Day 3
Another early morning and almost no sleep again. We eat and head out to the fields. Finally putting our hands on the tobacco leaves in the field. It is a beauty to look out in a field full of tobacco. The shade grown tobacco plants grow really tall! We checked out the barns were they stored the freshly picked tobacco. They sew the leaves to a pole and hang it up in the rafters. It ages for quite some time before it ever gets to nestor's factory.
A lot of work goes on in the field to take care of and raise the tobacco plants into the final product.
We had a great Cuban meal that I can't remember the name of it but it translates to be "old clothes" I believe. This was my absolute favorite meal too. Then Nimish put on a party of a lifetime. There is no party as great as this one anywhere!!!!!!
Day 4
We get up eat and go home :cursing: I want to stay there or go down to Esteli, Nicaragua. Maybe at a later date.
*Please feel free to ask questions! Also sorry that I'm not a good writer and you will find many problems. Get over it :hysterica *
*I will gradually be adding some photos. So they're coming*
I was fortunate enough to take a trip to Paraiso, Honduras to visit the Nestor Plasencia's and Rocky Patel's factories. The trip was completely hosted by Rocky Patel, let me tell you that they really know how to host! (I will get to this in a bit)
Day 1
We arrived to the airport were Rocky Patel was in the airport cigar bar lounge. (Yes the airport has an awesome little cigar bar) Once everyone arrived Nimish was our host of the trip. I will just say it now, Nimish was an amazing host and a guy that can party like no other! Once we boarded the bus to head out to Paraiso, Honduras where the house is located we found a cooler full of beer and an amazing box full of great Rocky Patel Cigars. 2 hours later we arrive at the house and settle in. The house is really nice and I was pleasantly surprised with the accommodations. The rest of the day is spent meeting everyone, eating some great food and a nice party.
Day 2
After about no sleep we wake up early to a nice breakfast and then we load up and head to Nestor Plasencia's factory. The tobacco in this place is amazing!!! It was amazing to see the process and the amount of time it actually takes the tobacco to age before they roll it. The tobacco is separated by its harvest. The tobacco plant is seperated into 1/3's. The bottom third will harvest seco leaves the middle third viso leaves and the top Ligero leaves. They start by removing the bottom tobacco leaf in the first week and then move on up and remove one leaf every leaf. So the longer the leaves stay on the tobacco plant the more nutrients it will get. This in turn means that the viso will be stronger than the seco leaves and that the ligero leaves will be the strongest. The same goes for the thickness of the leaf, the seco is really thin and the ligero is much thicker. After the leaves have been through the first phase of aging they are taken and separated by size in length, the type of leaf since the bottom 1/3 will not all be seco since sometimes the leaves will be thick enough to be a viso leave and color. Then they go back to age more. While we were at Nestor Plasencia's factory we were lucky enough to meet the man himself. He was unbelievably friendly. We found him in a room that we could barely stand in for more than 3 minutes, it smelled like someone had just opened a bottle of ammonia right under your nose. It was amazing that the people in the room as well as Nestor seemed like they didn't even notice the smell.
I honestly can't begin to tell you how many different stages of aging there is because I can not even remember. The women are used to sort the leaves in every aspect. They believe that the women have softer hands and are better able to sort the leaves. They also believe that men are color blind by nature so the women also does the sorting by color.
We then go and check out Nestor's cigar rolling factory. It was very nice and there is also a lot of cigars brands made in his factory.
I believe it was right after this that we checked out the box factory. The craftsmanship that goes into the boxes is nice. All of the equipment that they use is quite old.
Then we made it to the Rocky Patel factory. The Rocky factory is very very nice and clean as can be. They take the tobacco from Nestor and let it age for even longer. It is then resorted again and aged longer. (I think you're getting the point by now about how long the tobacco is aged) Well the tobacco finally makes it to the rollers. The rollers work in teams of 2, One will take the filler and apply the binder. It is then put into a form and put into a press. After they have been pressed long enough the wrapper will be applied by the second person of the team. The teams of 2 will put out about 300 cigars a day. After they are rolled they go through an inspection in the back. Then to a second inspection. After they have been cleared they will go out to tables where they are sorted into boxes by color. They will look at 200 or so cigars and pick out 25 that look the closest in color and they will be boxed together. At this stage they will still find some bad sticks and put them to the side. After they are separated like this they will be taken to have the band placed on them and then the cello. They're also responsible for finding bad cigars. Then they go to someone that will box them, they are held responsible for any mistakes in the box.
A part of this visit is the ability to create your own blend. There was a huge table filled with tobacco. You chose a wrapper, a binder, and 3 fillers. I won't divulge my secret blend but it's a triple ligero!!!!!! (It is also fantastic!)
Back to the house and some more great food and a night full of entertainment!
Day 3
Another early morning and almost no sleep again. We eat and head out to the fields. Finally putting our hands on the tobacco leaves in the field. It is a beauty to look out in a field full of tobacco. The shade grown tobacco plants grow really tall! We checked out the barns were they stored the freshly picked tobacco. They sew the leaves to a pole and hang it up in the rafters. It ages for quite some time before it ever gets to nestor's factory.
A lot of work goes on in the field to take care of and raise the tobacco plants into the final product.
We had a great Cuban meal that I can't remember the name of it but it translates to be "old clothes" I believe. This was my absolute favorite meal too. Then Nimish put on a party of a lifetime. There is no party as great as this one anywhere!!!!!!
Day 4
We get up eat and go home :cursing: I want to stay there or go down to Esteli, Nicaragua. Maybe at a later date.
*Please feel free to ask questions! Also sorry that I'm not a good writer and you will find many problems. Get over it :hysterica *
*I will gradually be adding some photos. So they're coming*
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