Originally published at Tiki Bar Online
I’ve mentioned the Chattanooga Tweet-Up a few times and the opportunity to meet new people in the cigar industry. I have to say that 2013 was easily the biggest year for new faces to show up at our annual event and I got to spend a bit of time this year getting to know Dr. Oscar Rodriguez, from the Dominican Republic by way of Montgomery, Alabama. First things first, I have been asked to dispense with the “Dr.” part…”that’s for the hospital setting and when I am smoking a cigar the last place I want to be is in a hospital.” Honoring his wishes means referring to Rodriguez more informally, as Big-O or Orod.
Orod owns GTO Dominican Cigars, a brand that is currently distributed in the Southeast (namely Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee). He sent me one each of his cigars to smoke and evaluate. There are 5 different blends, each available in just one size. That’s not the normal way a brand approaches this business, but I must admit it is an interest way…if a blend works best in a certain size, why bother with the other sizes? (Answer: because you may think the cigar works best in a Robusto, but other people think it works better in a Toro…or vice versa…but still, I get it…it’s also a way to produce several blends without breaking the bank or expecting shops to carry multiple sizes of multiple blends.)
I got a chance to get some interesting answers to burning questions through an email exchange a few weeks ago and thought I would share some of those answers here today and Thursday as I work my way through the 5 different blends GTO offers.
First, I wondered why Oscar picked the name “GTO.” I half expected some complex story about how it was someone’s initials, but as it turns out, the answer is much simpler:
GTO “Gran Turismo Omologata” means GT certified. I have always been fascinated by the GTO, the ’59 Ferrari 599gt, the ’71 Pontiac GTO & the Japaneese Mitsubishi 3000gt they call GTO in Japan. I happen to still drive mine. they are all legendary classics, and so are our cigars I am very proud of our cigars we have been making them for quite some time and they are very good. We deliver on a premise one cigar at a time and offer the best that dominican can give at a fair price. I like to use the acronym as Great Tasting Certified!
Although long before my time, I have heard of the days when doctors might recommend smoking as being good for you. These days those in the medical arts hardly ever talk about tobacco use in a positive light. I wondered how Orod felt about this clash between different aspects of his life:
You are right the medical establishment is against smoking and in some instances I must agree with them I am definitely not going to take on the medical establishments and all the health advocates. There are so many things that we do, eat & drink that can hurt us on a day to day basis, any way. But, for me, smoking a cigar is part of celebration of life and the events that have occurred that day or that moment. There are so many rituals that we go through from the selection, the lighting, listening to the burn, tasting the cool smoke to finally seeing the purple- grayish smoke slowly dance its ways to the heavens, this relaxes me and makes me feel whole, It lets me plan my next move and relish in sweet sublime. smoking a cigar for me reduces my stress levels and I can live with that.
That’s what I’ve been telling my personal doctor for years! With that, let’s move on to looking at the first couple of GTO smokes…
DOBLE CAPAS (Two Wrappers)
Torpedo, 6” x 50 ring gauge
Filler: Dominican-grown Cuban seed
Binder: Dominican-grown Cuban seed
Wrappers: Dominican Maduro and U.S. Connecticut Shade
Done well, barber pole cigars are a work of art…this GTO Doble Capas was definitely done well. I’ve seen barber poles where the color differences between the two wrappers was fairly minimal, making the use of the technique superfluous. Here there was a stark difference between Shade and Maduro wrappers. The Maduro showing looked fine…dark and somewhat oily; the Shade leaf was a bit flawed in appearance in places, but nothing horrible. Giving the wrappers a good sniff, I got a mixture of grassy hay and sweet chocolate aroma; the foot had chocolate and barnyard earthiness.
On lighting, the Doble Capas displayed an earthy core with hints of black coffee, along with peripheral notes of hay and semi-sweet chocolate. The retrohale had a nice, mild white pepper to it. As I smoked through, I got a very pleasant mix of hay and chocolate, coffee and citrus, pepper and earthy, all wrapped up in a mild to medium bodied smoke. The construction was good. I had a very good draw and the ash was solid. The burn line meandered more than a bit, needing several big touch-ups and at one point a runner threatened to burn through above the burn line. Overall, though, a very good smoke and a great example of a barber pole cigar not being just a work of art, but being a functional flavor enhancer.
TORO FUERTE
Toro, 6” x 52 ring gauge
Filler: Dominican Ligero
Binder: Dominican-grown Cuban seed
Wrappers: Dominican Corojo
The Toro Fuerte wrapper was a tawny brown color with a blush of red to it. It had a small vein structure and a lightly woody aroma with some hay as well. The foot had more of a foresty earthiness common to some of the better Dominican cigars. The cold draw was good and tasted of wood with a touch of earth. Once lit I got some mild earthiness and sweetness on the palate, along with a touch of red pepper on the nose.
As I puffed my way through this cigar, I picked up more cedar and earth than anything else, but there were notes of cinnamon and red pepper from time to time, leaving a lasting slow burn on the palate and the nose. The body was straight-up medium. Overall, this was a very good smoking experience.
