Esteli Day 1 or so
Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 8:14AM Up till midnight last night. Started the day by touring the Drew Estate factory. Factory is a wonder of modernization. High tech error tracking, clean, fresh facility with ample space and well organized. The people are all smiling and appear to be enjoying their jobs. The perfect modern factory built with purpose from the beginning. Before lunch Jonathan hosted a blending session in which we got to work through several options for filler, binder and wrapper. Each of us created a blend and it will be delivered to us later.
We enjoyed a great BBQ lunch and then travelled to the Oliva factory across town.
The Oliva factory is much different, the lighting seems darker and there is more sign of wear and use. Slightly more disorganized put the people really take pride in working for Oliva so again all smiles. Turns out Oliva produces one of Dale's favorite cigars, the Nicaragua 3000, who knew? Well Dale had postulated on this for some time and is now proven correct. We then visited two small Rocky Patel locations, one a working factory and the other the new factory under construction. We ended out day at the Elogio factory, a very small factory owned and operated by Carlos where Elogio cigars are made. Dale sat down and got schooled in rolling, video coming soon and then Carlos sat down to roll two salamones without the use of a mold. Pretty impressive. Nabil Sabbah, the owner of Elogio provided a roasted pig dinner for us and all of the factory. We ate in a local restaurant and had Yuca, rice and pork. It was a loud and exciting evening that I believe everyone enjoyed. The night ended back at Drewe Estates where we did a rum tasting, smoked more cigars and saw a few visitors. Dion Giollito, Pete Johnson, Pepin and three Pepin's most important managers dropped by for a few hours. The conversation ebbed and flowed throughout the room and I finally excused myself at midnight.
Reader Comments (3)
Hi Bob! OldPirate here. Nice job. Lovin' the updates! Can't wait to see Dale rolling. You guys are getting a great education on top of your Tobaccanist University training which will make the podcast, Cigarradio.TV and other endeavors even better! I hope everyone is having a great time -- only wish I knew who all was down there with you.
Hello Bob and Dale and all the others on the trip! Thanks for the updates. I wish I could be down there with you. Please thank each of your hosts for all of the hard work they and their workers put into making those excellent cigars we enjoy so much. We are grateful for all of their efforts and wish them well in this New Year. Have fun and savor each moment. You fellows will each have a Ph.D in Cigar Appreciation when you return after being taught by those masters of the craft.
Enjoy your week!
With many thanks for all that you do for us,
Brightpaths (Don)
Bob covers it all here. Great day and a great summation of it. Wish I was still around.