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Don Lino: Havana Reserve and COLORADO

     First introduced in 1989, the Don Lino brand has quickly made its mark on the cigar industry.  This brand has seen two new selections added in the last few years.  The Havana Reserve line is a Connecticut wrapped cigar and claims a special four year aging which mellows its flavor.  The Colorado series was launched in 1994 and is also aged and has a mild to medium taste.  (To learn how tobacco becomes a Don Lino cigar please see the article that appears below)

COLORADO by Don Lino

     The Colorado by Don Lino are delicious smokes that are handmade using Cuban-seed Dominican grown three-year-old binders and fillers and a rich reddish-brown West African Cameroon wrapper.  An extended aging process for 6 months allows this cigar to evolve into a truly exceptional cigar for the experienced aficionado... one who demands more body.

DON LINO COLORADO COFFEE BREAK 
      (4" x 44 Ring) Single    Offered at $3.95 -   Add To Cart
This cigar has been rated an '88' by Cigar Aficionado magazine.      click on picture to enlarge
"filled with flavors of nuts, cocoa beans and it has a peppery finish"

DON LINO COLORADO COFFEE BREAK BOX
      (4" x 44 Ring) Box of 25    Offered at $97.95 -   Add To Cart

click on picture to enlarge

Havana Reserve by Don Lino: Conn. Shade

     The Don Lino Havana Reserve is a perfectly constructed cigar with smooth, creamy flavors.  These desired attributes are obtained using Dominican filler and binder that have been aged for three years and wrapped in a beautiful Connecticut wrapper.  Once rolled, Havana Reserve cigars are aged for an additional five months in a cedar-lined humidor to harmonize the complex flavors.  (click on pictures to enlarge view)

       
DON LINO HAVANA RESERVE TORO
      (6.5" x  46 Ring) Single    Offered at $4.95 -   Add To Cart
This cigar has been rated an '88' by Cigar Aficionado magazine.
"A spicy, medium-to-full-bodied cigar.  It has notes of dried citrus
        on the palate with rich flavors of coffee beans and spice."
DON LINO HAVANA RESERVE TORO BOX
      (6.5" x  46 Ring) Box of 25    Offered at $119.95 -   Add To Cart
  

DON LINO HAVANA RESERVE CORONA TUBE
      (6" x  44 Ring) Single in glass tube.  Offered at $5.75 -   Add To Cart

DON LINO HAVANA RESERVE CORONA TUBE BOX of 10
      (6" x  44 Ring) Box of 10 in glass tubes.  Offered at $55.95 -   Add To Cart
                                                                                                click on picture to enlarge

Havana Reserve by Don Lino: Maduro

     The Havana Reserve Maduro is a special cigar that uses a 5-year-old Brazilian wrapper along with the 3-year-old Dominican filler and binder... as well as a 5 month aging process in a cedar-lined humidor.  Additionally, the cigars are then wrapped in cedar and covered with cellophane to continue the aging process until enjoyed by you.

DON LINO HAVANA RESERVE TORPEDO MADURO
 (6" x 53 Ring) Single   Offered at $6.95 -   Add To Cart   
This cigar has been rated an '86' by Cigar Aficionado magazine.
"A smooth-tasting, medium bodied cigar.  It has some sweet wood 
notes with a pleasant finish."
      DON LINO HAVANA RESERVE TORPEDO MADURO BOX
            (6" x 53 Ring)  Box of 25.   Offered at $169.95 -   Add To Cart   

HOW TOBACCO BECOMES A DON LINO:

Life’s finest moments are ephemeral, even though they may require years of preparation. So it is with cigars. The keen pleasure of an hour spent with a Don Lino is the result of years, of attentive, specialized, labor-intensive work.

The original all natural product, cigars begin with a tobacco plant, but not just any sprout growing wild on a tropical hillside. Very few places in the world are blessed with the soil, temperature, and humidity that can nourish a seedling into a plant whose leaves thrive through the cigar-making process. Perfect weather alone is not enough, for the magic is in the soil and no two locations are exactly alike. Our partnership with one of the largest and oldest tobacco farmers in the Dominican Republic has allowed us to use the finest tobacco grown for Don Lino Cigars. All of the tobacco used in Don Lino Cigars is aged for 2 years ensuring the smooth, complex flavors our cigars have been recognized for.

The life of a premium cigar begins as the tiniest of seeds, hovered over 45 days in a nursery then planted like so many soldiers in the straightest of rows. Shade-grown Connecticut Wrapper is covered by a tall tent like structure of cheesecloth or mesh. Another 45 days, and the plants are ready for the first "priming", The removal of some leaves destined for cigars. The secrets of cigar taste begin to unfold even at this point, for the position of leaves on the stalk gives them different flavors. Valdo, the leaf at the bottom has the mildest taste; Seco, at the midsection, a medium flavor, and Ligero, at the top has the strongest flavor and texture. Even after five or six primings, a tobacco plant only yield sixteen to eighteen leaves that meet the high standards required for Don Lino Cigars.

These well-chosen leaves are bundled according to texture and size, and hung in curing barns anywhere from three to six weeks, depending on the weather and the desired result. Entering the barns green, the leaves begin to lose their color and turn shades of brown. After their tenure in the barns, they will again be graded and separated, grouped by size, texture, and color, a situation that occurs constantly throughout the preparation process. At this point, they are stacked into twenty-leaf bundle, call "hands", and are ready to begin the all-important fermentation process, the time during which the leaves are transformed from mere vegetables to treasures that play such an important role in the development of our cigars.

The hands are piled into freestanding monoliths anywhere from three to six feet high and weighing up to ten thousands pounds. The tight packing of these bulks effectively shuts out air and sets the stage for fermentation or "sweating" as the process is indelicately known. Slowly, the temperature of the inner leaves begins to rise. Moisture, sap, nicotine, and ammonia are released from the leaves, all of which must be exactly the same grade and temperature so that the process remains uniform. Heat and aroma fill the area as the leaves acquire depth, flavor and character. Monitoring the temperature is a crucial step. Long thermometers are thrust into bulks as the degree rise. One hundred and sixty degrees Fahrenheit tips the scale, but the usual temperatures are around 120 degrees- except for the Maduro which needs higher temperatures to deepen its color.

When the temperature reaches the desired point, each bulk is "turned", that is the top hand is removed, shaken out, and placed on the ground to become the bottom of a new bulk. This rebuilding from the bottom up can occur as many as ten times over a period of one to three months, under the scrutiny of those who test for age, texture, and color. Leaves that will become Maduro may take as long as six months to reach their rich, intense shades of black and brown. The process is complete when the temperature levels off after turning, but the timetable is a subjective one. Under-fermentation produces a cigar that refuses to stay lit and, worse, tastes harsh or bitter and causes a burning sensation in your chest. But if Over-fermentation occurs, the leaves will be "spent" and tasteless, so without proper fermentation, there really is no cigar. When fermentation is complete, the tobacco is again meticulously sorted, labeled according to the origin and date, and brought to warehouse for aging, a rest of period that may last from one to three years or longer.

When the tobacco emerges from the warehouse it is as brittle as yellowed paper that has been to long in the attic. To become pliable again, the leaves are gently sprayed with water, and procedure called "casing" that involves applying the precise amount of moisture necessary to bring the thirsty leaves back to life. Then, they are ready for the stemming operation, the removal of the stem and, in some cases the separation of the wrapper leaf into left and right sides in order to assure the proper pattern on a hand made cigar. Finally, they are once again examined and separated into filler, binder, and wrapper leaf.

Not until the "Blender" performs his or hers sorcery. The expertise of our master blender is an intimate knowledge of every tobacco, how it will taste, the rate at which it will burn, and how it will combine the others. To know the attributes of one tobacco or another is a matter of experience, but to know the flavor and character of their combination is an art. The possibilities are endless as any artist faces with blank canvas. So the blender dips into his experience as the painter delves into his imagination and selects tobacco in exactly the proportions that will give his bran its distinctive taste. His choices are not for publication, for a great deal of what distinguishes one company’s cigar from another lies in the blender’s hands. After his work is complete, after all the planting, growing, priming, categorizing, fermenting, and aging, the tobacco is, at last, ready to become a cigar.

The construction of the cigar has three main components-the filler, binder, and wrapper, and it is the makeup of these and the way they are assembled that makes all the difference.

The Filler is the core of the cigar, the essential center, which the binder and the wrapper will embrace. It is made up of long-leaf filler tobacco leaves that run the entire length of a cigar, or short-leaf filler, smaller cut pieces that are primarily for machine made cigars.

Premium cigars only use long-leaf filler, which assures the same taste along the cigar’s length and produces a long ash. At least two or three different tobaccos are generally combined in a quality filler to create a palette of flavors in a cigar.

The Binder is the first layer of covering for the filler. In a quality cigar, it is a specialized leaf that has the tensile strength to hold the bunch together. The binder affects the taste, burn rate, and aroma of a cigar, and its flavor must be compatible with that of the filler and the wrapper.

The Wrapper is the proverbial cover by which the book is judge. The wrapper must be aesthetically pleasing, well-veined, even textured, and pleasant to the touch, or the chances of selling the cigar are seriously diminished. But that is not all. The wrapper can account for up to sixty percent of the cigar’s taste, so it has to be one leaf, well chosen to complement and enhance the contributions of the filler and binder. The artistry required to apply the wrapper belongs to the roller, the most skilled craftsman in the cigar factory hierarchy.

Given the three components, there are still three ways in which they can be assembled to produce different types of cigars. Handmade cigars, true to their name, have each step of their construction completed by hand labor. In machine-bunched cigars, the filler is bunched (formed) by a machine, but the wrapper is applied by hand. For totally machine-made cigars mechanical operations take care of all phases of the process.