There is a Full Bodied Ligero Capadura for You

According to the tobacconist university glossary, capadura is Spanish for the “second” growth plant leaves. After the tobacco plant has been harvested/primed, the stalk is trimmed down and leaves allowed to grow again. This practice was common in Cuba where the farmers would use the second growth for their own consumption. Reportedly, this practice is most common with Pelo De Oro tobacco varietals, just the kind used in the Capadura brand. The tobacconist university identifies Pelo de Oro as Spanish for “golden hair” and is used to refer to a cigar tobacco that was popular in the middle of the last century.  This tobacco is rarely used to day because it is disease prone. However it does have a reputation for flavor strength and sweetness. Capadura brings these together in its 808, 848 and 898 series cigars. The 898 is further differentiated through the use of ligero tobaccos for the binder and filler. Ligero is the type leaf found at the top of the tobacco plant and this has the richest and strongest flavors because it is the final art of the plant to be harvested. Capadura is a brand purchased out of General Cigar that is imported and distributed by Luba Cigars Corporation based in Miami. Luba Cigars is run by Ruth Elizabeth Batista, who spent much of her life in the production and marketing sides of the tobacco business in the Dominican Republic. Her approach is to avoid mass production and focus upon utilizing quality tobacco in hand made premium quality cigars. Luba also supplies 26 private label cigars. I visited the Capadura booth at the 2013 IPCPR and received some samples for review. Capadura aims its 898 series of cigars at the full bodied market segment. There are 4 sizes – 6 X 54 toro, 6 X 60 jumbo, 6 X 42 corona and 5 X 50 robusto.  All are made with Arapiraca Brazilian wrappers, a binder of De Olor/Villa Gonzalez from the Dominican Republic and a filler of Dominicn Piloto Cubano and Nicaraguan Corojo Olor. This review is of the 898 robusto 5 X 50. The 898 robusto is the darkest of the series. The wrapper has a slightly oily sheen and there is a nice band marked “898” that protects the foot of the cigar and identifies it as the series targeted towards the full bodied market.  There is a  third wrapper in the middle that pronounces the cigar as “extra ligero” to inform about the flavor. The construction is firm and the 898 had an easy draw with a very good volume of smoke. The taste was full of pepper and spice and definitely full bodied. However it was not harsh, the flavor was even throughout the cigar and had some sweetness undertones.  The cigar lasted 45 minutes and I found the taste and smoking experience of the 898 about equal to the 848 but superior to the 808. For a full bodied cigar at $6 dollars, the 898 is a lot of flavor and good value so it receives a rating of 4.0.