Cigar Aficionado

Many of us know Connecticut by its nickname the Nutmeg State, even while nutmeg trees have never been grown there. But the Big Smoke seminar The Three Faces of Connecticut concentrated on a plant for which the New England state should be more rightfully known: cigar tobacco. In the northern part of this state, it grows in abundance.

“I assure you that the region does exist,” Cigar Aficionado managing editor Gregory Mottola said of the area flanking the Connecticut River in Connecticut and southern Massachusetts. To prove it, he introduced a panel of three cigarmakers who use its highly sought-after tobacco: Nicholas Melillo of Foundation Cigar Co., Rafael Nodal, vice president of product capability for Altadis U.S.A. (and part owner of Aging Room Cigars) and Ernesto Perez-Carrillo, industry veteran and owner of E.P. Carrillo Cigar Co.

Of the three types of tobacco grown there, Connecticut shade is the most familiar as its mild, nuanced flavors provide what Mottola called a “gateway” into cigar enjoyment. Connecticut broadleaf, with its dark color and sweet, earthier flavors is becoming more popular among smokers looking for a fuller body. And Connecticut Habano has recently emerged and is highly valued.

However, the story of the region perfect for growing tobacco reaches much farther back than all three, explained Melillo, a lifelong resident of Connecticut. Some 15,000 years ago, a glacier receded to leave a river edged by 30,000 acres of sandy loam soil and silt. The silt acts as a filter for the water that the tobacco roots reach down for. Melillo said that compared with other parts of the world, the conditions are especially good for growing the earthy broadleaf variety.

Nodal, whose company uses broadleaf to make such cigars as Romeo Reserve Maduro, Henry Clay and Onyx, praised the tobacco for its sweetness. He said that in order to get those flavors, the thick-leafed tobacco has to be fermented longer, sometimes for a couple of years. He added, “I think the flavors and the uniqueness of the plant make it all worth it.”

Perez-Carrillo, who has been using the tobacco for decades, lauded the Connecticut growers for doing a tremendous job of maintaining the quality of Connecticut broadleaf. His Inch Maduro and Pledge of Allegiance cigars notably use the tobacco. Cigars from Foundation that use Connecticut broadleaf include Tabernacle and Charter Oak.

Farmers have had issues with too much rain in recent years, so the increase in demand has coincided with a decrease in supply, Melillo added. 

The emerging type of tobacco from the region is Connecticut Habano, a leaf that Perez-Carrillo used on the Pledge Prequel, Cigar Aficionado’s 2020 Cigar of the Year. He says he first discovered the tobacco, which has a Cuban pedigree, growing in Massachusetts in 1982. It disappeared for a while, but now is being grown again in the Connecticut River Valley. Melillo compared the leaves to the Habano 2000 tobacco found in Ecuador and Nicaragua. 

Asked if he uses this Habano tobacco, Nodal pointed to Perez-Carrillo and replied, “No, because he uses everything.” Even while he doesn’t use it, Nodal described it as a cross between broadleaf and other Habano strains.

Melillo described Connecticut Habano as a seed variety unique in the world and that only about 150 acres of the tobacco is grown each year by Dunn & Foster, the agricultural company from which he sources this tobacco. Foundation uses it in the Tabernacle Havana Seed CT No. 142. The variety was developed to combat disease, but also takes extra time to ferment. 

Even as Connecticut shade tobacco has long been a classic wrapper in milder cigars, the type is becoming extinct, Mottola said. The reason is not lack of demand, panelists explained, but a combination of rising costs and bad weather. Economic restraints can be laid to two things: the way in which it is grown (tents are put up to shade it from the Connecticut summers) and the added expense of labor in a region known more for preppies than agricultural workers. 

Today, much of what is made with the tobacco strain is actually grown in other regions, such as Ecuador, where cloud cover provides natural shade.  

Connecticut shade, Perez-Carrillo said, has a unique creaminess that is especially prominent in milder cigars. When aged for five years, he added, it has almost the flavor of a Cuban wrapper.

Melillo said Connecticut shade tobacco arose in the 19th century from an effort by the Department of Agriculture to hybridize Sumatran, Cuban and broadleaf tobacco. The Connecticut region then mimicked the growing conditions in the tropics by shading with tents and rested on their laurels for more than a century, without trying to modernize the tobacco. He added that his company is now experimenting with new strains that can be grown in the sun. 

While Connecticut shade tobacco creates a milder flavor in a market that is trending towards fuller-bodied smokes, it is ultimately economics that are spelling its demise. Melillo recounts running a cigar factory in Nicaragua where he wanted to use tobacco from Connecticut: “I got offers from Connecticut. I’m from Connecticut. I want to support Connecticut. Unfortunately, I couldn’t justify the purchasing because of the price points and the yields.”

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