After starting in La Romana, day three of the 2015 ProCigar Festival was the first that took attendees to the factories in and around Santiago, one of which was Tabacalera Palma, the factory that has become much better known in recent years due to the success of Boutique Blends, Aging Room, SWAG, Señorial and a number of private labels. It’s also the newest member of ProCigar. The visit started with a visit to Jochi Blanco’s Jacagua farm in Santiago Viejo where criollo ’98 was in the middle of being harvested and hung in the barns, with another crop recently planted that will be ready in a few weeks. There was also a small plot of land being used for new experimental blends to see how they grow and handle being in the soil. From there, it was onto the Tabacalera Palma factory and a walkthrough of the facilities, followed by one of José Blanco’s blending seminars, held in a tobacco storage room with the 40 or so attendees from several countries, as well as a few manufacturers and industry personnel, sitting on bales of tobacco while talking about what to look for in a premium cigar. The factory is impressive: a two-story operation ...
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