Cigar Release: Antaño Gran Reserva from Joya de Nicaragua

On July 3rd, 2017, Joya de Nicaragua announced the release of their newest cigar, Antaño Gran Reserva for the 2017 International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association (IPCPR) Convention and Tradeshow. Here’s the press release:

“The Antaño Gran Reserva asks you to do one thing only: to keep daring. It carries the same character as the Antaño 1970 but instead uses select extra aged, tobaccos only. Over 15 years ago the Antaño cigar defined the standard of full bodied cigars. The Antaño 1970 is an iconic cigar in the Joya de Nicaragua portfolio. Not only because of its unprecedented strength, and rich Nicaraguan character, but also as our best seller cigar in the US. The process of creating the Antaño took over 50 samples in a period of 6 months to complete. The Antaño is exclusively crafted by hand and entirely of Nicaraguan harvested tobaccos. This cigar is an ultra robust, spicy smoke which showcases the authentic Nicaraguan ‘Puro’. 5 years later we came up with a bolder variation of the Antaño Dark Corojo. This cigar takes the boldness of the Nicaraguan tobacco even further, because of its Doble Ligero fillers. Thus, and to solidify the Antaño family, and as before announced during our latest Facebook Live, we have come up with another iteration: The Antaño Gran Reserva. “The main alteration that comes with the Antaño Gran Reserva is that we have added fillers that have been aged for up to five years. As a result, we have obtained a more refined and mature version of the Antaño 1970.” said Juan Ignacio Martínez, Executive President of Joya de Nicaragua at a meeting room at the factory that many Antaño enthusiasts have visited. Our Factory Manager further commented ‘We are excited to introduce this cigar at IPCPR 2017, with the Antaño Gran Reserva we are further solidifying our portfolio by adding to our line of Nicaraguan original cigars.’ The Antaño Gran Reserva will begin shipping in August.”

There are three vitolas:

• Robusto Grande 51/2 x52 Box Pressed
• Gran Cónsul 4 ¾ x 60
• Belicoso 6×54

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joya de Nicaragua was founded in 1968 and is the first Nicaraguan cigar factory. Joya de Nicaragua uses a traditional style of cigar making as compared to some other manufacturers such as Drew Estate’s modern and sometimes avant-garde methods. My favorite factoid is that Joya de Nicaragua does not allow men to put the wrapper on cigars. In their view, woman have the delicate skills needed to produce a cigar with a quality wrapper. Men, as it turns out, are brutes and tear the wrapper.

Smokey and I visited the Joya de Nicaragua factory a few years ago as part of the Drew Estate Cigar Safari. As part of the tour, we participated in a blending session and blended our own cigars using their tobaccos. This was a real treat. I truly enjoyed doing this and quickly learned how hard the blending process really is. Joya was supposed to mail the cigars to us back in the U.S. but they never arrived. If you ever get a chance to visit, please check and see if there are cigars for Smokey and c.gar in their aging room!