Highclere Castle Cigars
Posted by Sam Brammer | 27th Jul 2018
Highclere Castle Cigars
On the 2ndof July my father and I were lucky enough to be invited to Highclere Castle by the Earl of Carnarvon for the launch of their new range of cigars. You may recognize Highclere castle as one of the most famous houses in the world as it was used as the setting for Downton Abbey.
As far as cigar launches goes this has to be the most prestigious cigar launch to date!! A select group of retailers and people in the industry were invited to the Castle for Champagne and lunch, after a private tour of the castle and a tasty lunch we went to the garden to sample the new range of cigars with a tipple of Whiskey!!
The Cigars are certainly no gimmick and have been created by master blender Nicholas Melillo. Smoked in the grounds of Highclere Castle on a beautiful English Summers day these cigars were unbeatable. I would highly recommend trying these cigars, they are scoring exceptional socres on cigar review websites, they are complex medium strength cigars.
Here is the story of how the concept of Highclere Cigars was created:
When contacted by George Herbert, the current Highclere Castle owner and 8th Earl Carnarvon, Nick Melillo, owner of Foundation Cigar Co, set himself in motion to create a cigar that aptly reflects the early British cigar history. The result was not only a fine smoking experience but also a new cigar company known as the Highclere Cigar Company.
The Highclere Castle Cigar was crafted after hundreds of hours of travel and research throughout Central and South America. Thanks to Nick's relationships with small tobacco growers throughout the region, Highclere Castle Cigar Co have been able to select from very small lots of the finest tobaccos grown by family farms known for their excellent products.
The Cigar is also blended and rolled under the watchful eye of reigning king of Nicaraguan tobacco, AJ Fernandez. Though he's normally known for his feisty Nicaraguan blends, here AJ shows his skills with mellower cigars to appeal to the British Cigar smoker.
The Highclere Castle Cigar is hand rolled in Esteli, Nicaragua, using a connecticut shade wrapper, and both Criollo and Corona from the volcanic soils of Jalapa and the island of Ometepe. The binder is made from Mata Fine, a dark tobacco from Brazil. The blend is finalised with an exclusive hybrid seed the company has named Nicadan.
Each step of the production process is carefully controlled, starting with attentively selecting the tobacco, monitoring the weather and growths year to year, and managing the rolling process. The tobacco is aged for a minimum of three years. Even the cigar boxes are hand made from sustainably grown cedar logs grown on Nicargua's east coast.
The Cigars are now on the UK market and available to buy from GQ Tobaccos
If you would like any more information on Highclere cigars, please contact us today.
