Vitola: Exports- 4” x 37 ring gauge
- ~$6 for a 5-pack
- Provided by Villiger Cigars
Background
Recently Villiger gave me the opportunity to try out their Export line again, along with some coffee they chose to send with the cigars and a French Press to brew the coffee in. As “gifts” go, this was a pretty cool one, especially as we get nearer to autumn.
A friend introduced me to Villiger’s Exports back in the mid-2000s, telling me they are a “dry cured” cigar that’s good when you don’t have much time. They are machine-made and box-pressed into tight light tissue-covered bricks. You can get them in 5-pack boxes and some stores will sell individuals from 50-count cartons.
The coffee is Morning Breeze by the Castellón Coffee Group. They have been making producing coffee in Nicaragua since 1918.
Notes
The Morning Breeze was smooth and rich, dark in color, but more medium-plus in body. As always I put in a couple packets of the “yellow sweetener” and it was nearly perfect. Actually, I’m not sure how much sweetener this coffee would need; I sweeten to balance the bitterness, but there wasn’t much bitter in this from what I could tell.
The Classic Export (yellow box) was mild with a slightly funky, sour aftertaste that I mostly associate with bundle cigars. That sourness mellowed out after a few minutes of puffing. The Classic has Brazilian, Dominican, Indonesia and Italian fillers along with a Nicaraguan wrapper. It is mild and smooth, but I no longer find it to be particularly satisfying to my palate.
The Maduro version uses Brazilian, Nicaraguan, Dominican, Indonesian and Italian fillers with a Mexican Maduro wrapper. It was quite a bit sweeter, without that sourness I got on the Classic. I also picked up a little pepper spice from it. Overall, I liked the Maduro quite a bit.
Finally, I broke into the green box and fired up the Brasil Export. Described as “flavorful and smooth,” this uses what could be the same filler blend as the Maduro, but using a Brazilian wrapper leaf. While the Maduro was a little spicy, this Brasil had a very nice chili pepper spiciness, even more sweetness and bordered on full-bodied. It might not be the typical morning smoke, but it was definitely my favorite of the three.
I hadn’t intended to smoke all three of these on a Saturday morning, but it just kind of happened that way. I brewed the coffee, fired up and smoked about a quarter of one, then moved on to the next and then the next. And it made for a very nice Saturday morning, I must say. First Saturday of fall (although it still kind of feels like summer here) and last day as a full-time employee of Burns Tobacconist. Yes, if you hadn’t heard, I am cutting back to part time at Burns and taking a part-time job at ClearBox Strategies, a digital marketing agency in Chattanooga. It’s intended to be a full-time job at some point in the near future, although it’s hard to know exactly when. I have truly enjoyed my time at Burns and I’ve gotten to know some really interesting people, some of whom will be friends of mine for the rest of my life. Cigars are like that…they have an enormous potential for bringing people together. As a good friend of mine once said, “Cigars are fellowship enhancement.”
