You don't have to comment... I am very aware of the secret, as I've pulled it out of multiple blenders won't say who though. congrats brother and enjoy.
I was going through some old threads. You indeed rocked the boat couple time-:) Good luck and looking forward to explore your Habano site. I have collected some great aged stuff recently. So much to share. Good to see you bro. Hope you come to visit Nicaragua while I am here. I am leaving end of this year.
catfishbluezz:
You don't have to comment... I am very aware of the secret, as I've pulled it out of multiple blenders won't say who though. congrats brother and enjoy.
I was going through some old threads. You indeed rocked the boat couple time-:) Good luck and looking forward to explore your Habano site. I have collected some great aged stuff recently. So much to share. Good to see you bro. Hope you come to visit Nicaragua while I am here. I am leaving end of this year.
catfishbluezz:
You don't have to comment... I am very aware of the secret, as I've pulled it out of multiple blenders won't say who though. congrats brother and enjoy.
Oh! No I didn't know. This is a very sad news. I exchanged a lot of messages with him. He was always interested about pictures from me specially about my Cuba trip. I am so shocked. I appreciate for sharing it with me. I just don't know what to say. He was simply a good man.
Bigshizza:
Welcome back! You know our friend Beatnic passed away in January, just wanted to let you know.
My friend Tony, how are you doing? Everything will be like the past just need little time to organize myself. However my taste has changed a lot. Hope you are doing well.
Doing great.
Seeing you posting makes me smile. LOL!
That robusto looks really, really good. It is a robusto isn't it?
I don't know what it is about that particular shade on a cigar, but it's like a beacon for me.
It is a Rosada wrapper from Robina's farm. It is not Robusto but a weird shaped Robusto look cigar. The purpose was to enjoy the cigar with a unique shape. I am very happy to know that you are doing well my friend.
0patience:
rzaman:
My friend Tony, how are you doing? Everything will be like the past just need little time to organize myself. However my taste has changed a lot. Hope you are doing well.
Doing great.
Seeing you posting makes me smile. LOL!
That robusto looks really, really good. It is a robusto isn't it?
I don't know what it is about that particular shade on a cigar, but it's like a beacon for me.
It is a Rosada wrapper from Robina's farm. It is not Robusto but a weird shaped Robusto look cigar. The purpose was to enjoy the cigar with a unique shape. I am very happy to know that you are doing well my friend.
That would explain why I wasn't sure it was a robusto. LOL!
That Rosado wrapper sure looks good.
The blend I am working on does not make any commercial sense. It is for personal pleasure and depends on how much tobacco I can manage at the end. I set the bar little too high.
of course you did. i mean, given the opportunity, why wouldnt you?
im glad you have this opportunity. its always fun to read about what you got goin on. i was missing that when you were gone.
Great to read posts by you again, Rip. You add so much quality to this forum.
I think it's great you are blending a cigar with AJ. Everything I have read about him describes honesty and integrity. I wish his blends were more suited to my palate, too strong and peppery for me. I can't wait to read about what you blend.
This was a long week for me. Blending cigars with AJ then a family vacation. I need some time to organize my thought and hundreds of pictures. Here is a quick update for now:
After years of research on tobacco, smoking various cigars from all over the world- finally I blended and created my own personalized cigar -- Lord Rip's blend...thanks to my friend AJ Fernandez! Had a great weekend in Esteli with AJ and his family. So much to share but i will share some pictures quickly now. AJ loved the blend so much that he think I should blend more. He just asked my thought wrote it down on a piece of paper and asked his top roller to roll it. He gave me 100% freedom and access to his prized aged tobacco to follow my heart. My dream came true, my own personalized cigar with aged and rare tobaccos. He wants the first batch to rest two months and go for the final version. He came to my house last Sunday and gave me some tips how to choose tobaccos so next time I can choose the quality of tobacco by myself. It was midnight and we were leaving next day for vacation so he left early until next time. AJ is a true friend and i sincerely appreciate for teaching me about tobacco and blending. Just a quick update and more later... sorry guys I am so excited that I don't even know how to express myself. The factory was closed but he called his special roller to roll the cigars. how can I express my sincere appreciation to AJ? The aged tobacco smells so good that AJ couldn't stop himself to pretend eating-:)
Ah! Finally my dream came true:
One correction: the cigars at the middle are not my blend. It is AJ's new special cigars. I will not talk about it. He will announce it when it is time. Sorry about the confusion.
Your welcome Jesus. The blend came out just the way I wanted but the problem is one rare, very aged and source of the tobacco in it. It is so limited that it is hard to make it in a huge quantity. However, I am working on it. Even AJ loved the blend very much and said he has no idea how to improve it further. It gives me a lot of confidence to my ability. He said in one word- Dulce de leche means caramel. It is all about intense complex flavors, aroma with long finish. Harshness is out of question since all tobaccos are at least 5-10 years aged. It is resting now for the final go. AJ doesn't BS. He straight told me to change the binder for the other blend however I refused because it will compromise the strength I wanted to. He laughed and said- ok Master blender...it's your call. Sometime he is very funny but one good thing about him is, he will always tell you the truth and will express his honest opinion.
Your welcome Jesus. The blend came out just the way I wanted but the problem is one rare, very aged and source of the tobacco in it. It is so limited that it is hard to make it in a huge quantity. However, I am working on it. Even AJ loved the blend very much and said he has no idea how to improve it further. It gives me a lot of confidence to my ability. He said in one word- Dulce de leche means caramel. It is all about intense complex flavors, aroma with long finish. Harshness is out of question since all tobaccos are at least 5-10 years aged. It is resting now for the final go. AJ doesn't BS. He straight told me to change the binder for the other blend however I refused because it will compromise the strength I wanted to. He laughed and said- ok Master blender...it's your call. Sometime he is very funny but one good thing about him is, he will always tell you the truth and will express his honest opinion.
big chunks:
Thanks for sharing Rip, the cigars look amazing
I can't wait for your review on it, also fantastic photographs as always rip
Your welcome Jesus. The blend came out just the way I wanted but the problem is one rare, very aged and source of the tobacco in it. It is so limited that it is hard to make it in a huge quantity. However, I am working on it. Even AJ loved the blend very much and said he has no idea how to improve it further. It gives me a lot of confidence to my ability. He said in one word- Dulce de leche means caramel. It is all about intense complex flavors, aroma with long finish. Harshness is out of question since all tobaccos are at least 5-10 years aged. It is resting now for the final go. AJ doesn't BS. He straight told me to change the binder for the other blend however I refused because it will compromise the strength I wanted to. He laughed and said- ok Master blender...it's your call. Sometime he is very funny but one good thing about him is, he will always tell you the truth and will express his honest opinion.
big chunks:
Thanks for sharing Rip, the cigars look amazing
This is so much cooler than the ccom design your own blend...too bad they can't sell this experience! Looks awesome, Rip! As always.
Beauty RIP! I am so glad that your experience of meeting up with AJ has gone as expected...perhaps even a bit better then expected! Anyway, I am sure it will be a lovely cigar that you will cherish as much for the quality of it, as for the experience of acting upon such a monumentous opportunity with a generous and brilliant man that AJ is.
Hmmm, 2 months from now...perhaps ask AJ to bring a few along to CFest this year! THen again, why dont you come and bring them yourself and we can smoke a few with AJ, Alex and Shorty on Thursday night?
AJ is coming to my house Sunday afternoon. Please let me know if you have any question you would like me to ask him. It just happened randomly through a local friend. AJ invited me to visit his factory thorugh my friend and I also extended my invitation to him for a cigar to my place. He accepted it right away. What a nice guy.
This is the coolest thing I've read in awhile! I'm a huge San Lotano fan...last November at the Tobacco World party I smoked and drank whiskey with the president of AJ's company (i think it was the president...the guy looks like the dude on his webpage). Anyway, he gave me a free san lotano habano. It was awesome, great guy, great smokes. Hope to meet AJ some day.
Comments
Seeing you posting makes me smile. LOL!
That robusto looks really, really good. It is a robusto isn't it?
I don't know what it is about that particular shade on a cigar, but it's like a beacon for me.
That Rosado wrapper sure looks good.
im glad you have this opportunity.
its always fun to read about what you got goin on. i was missing that when you were gone.
I think it's great you are blending a cigar with AJ. Everything I have read about him describes honesty and integrity. I wish his blends were more suited to my palate, too strong and peppery for me. I can't wait to read about what you blend.
After years of research on tobacco, smoking various cigars from all over the world- finally I blended and created my own personalized cigar -- Lord Rip's blend...thanks to my friend AJ Fernandez! Had a great weekend in Esteli with AJ and his family. So much to share but i will share some pictures quickly now. AJ loved the blend so much that he think I should blend more. He just asked my thought wrote it down on a piece of paper and asked his top roller to roll it. He gave me 100% freedom and access to his prized aged tobacco to follow my heart. My dream came true, my own personalized cigar with aged and rare tobaccos. He wants the first batch to rest two months and go for the final version. He came to my house last Sunday and gave me some tips how to choose tobaccos so next time I can choose the quality of tobacco by myself. It was midnight and we were leaving next day for vacation so he left early until next time. AJ is a true friend and i sincerely appreciate for teaching me about tobacco and blending. Just a quick update and more later... sorry guys I am so excited that I don't even know how to express myself.
The factory was closed but he called his special roller to roll the cigars. how can I express my sincere appreciation to AJ?
The aged tobacco smells so good that AJ couldn't stop himself to pretend eating-:)
Ah! Finally my dream came true:
Hmmm, 2 months from now...perhaps ask AJ to bring a few along to CFest this year! THen again, why dont you come and bring them yourself and we can smoke a few with AJ, Alex and Shorty on Thursday night?