PCA 2023: Don Doroteo

Even after all of these years covering the cigar industry, I find it cool to see how companies change from one year to the next, not just when it comes to marketing and personnel changes but also when it comes to the cigars they create and release. I also love a good origin story, and when I covered the Don Doroteo booth at last year’s PCA Convention & Trade Show—the company’s first—one of the things I was most fascinated by was the fact that the business was co-founded by Juan Lugo, whose grandfather Doroteo Delgado had grown tobacco for La Aurora in the Dominican Republic in the 1930s.

While it was obvious that the Don Doroteo booth was larger than the one the company exhibited in last year—Juan Lugo, co-founder of Don Doroteo, told me it was actually double the size—that was far from the only change. The most obvious difference other than the larger booth size was a stand inside of the booth that was filled with real dirt and live plants—the latter of which had to be watered every once in a while—which served as a display for boxes of the company’s two new releases. In addition, there was a very large background at the back of the booth decorated with the logo for those new releases, and Don Doroteo even had a yaguas that visitors could slice tobacco from with a machete.

The company had two new releases at the PCA Convention & Trade Show this year under the Salt of the Earth name, and both are made with Andullo tobaccos that are native to the Dominican Republic. More of a process rather than a specific varietal, the Andullo tobaccos are wrapped tightly in large pods known as yaguas—which are shaped almost like 15-foot long burritos—and then wrapped in rope and hung in order to ferment them for up to two years. The end result is something that is more or less a large log of tobacco where slices are cut off and are more commonly chewed or smoked via pipes.

Don Doroteo Salt of the Earth Piedra Angular

Spanish for “Cornerstone,” the Piedra Angular is composed of tobacco from the 2016 harvest, and the cigars were rolled earlier this year.

• Wrapper: Dominican Republic (Corojo)
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Dominican Republic (Andullo, Corojo, Criollo ’98) & Nicaragua (Condega Ligero, Viso Condego)

• Don Doroteo Salt of the Earth Piedra Angular Belicoso (6 1/4 x 52) — $16.75 (Box of 10, $167.50)
• Don Doroteo Salt of the Earth Piedra Angular Corona (5 1/2 x 50) — $14.75 (Box of 10, $147.50)
• Don Doroteo Salt of the Earth Piedra Angular Robusto (5 x 50) — $15 (Box of 10, $150)
• Don Doroteo Salt of the Earth Piedra Angular Toro (5 3/4 x 54) — $16.75 (Box of 10, $167.50)

Production: Regular Production

Release Date: August 2023

Don Doroteo Salt of the Earth Piedra Viva

Available in the same four vitolas and the same prices as the Piedra Angular, the Piedra Viva—which translates to Living Stone from Spanish—is also made with tobacco from the 2016 harvest, but this blend is covered in a Cameroon-seed wrapper grown in Ecuador.

• Wrapper: Ecuador (Cameroon)
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Dominican Republic (Andullo, Corojo, Criollo ’98) & Nicaragua (Condega Ligero, Viso Condego)

• Don Doroteo Salt of the Earth Piedra Viva Belicoso (6 1/4 x 52) — $16.75 (Box of 10, $167.50)
• Don Doroteo Salt of the Earth Piedra Viva Corona (5 1/2 x 50) — $14.75 (Box of 10, $147.50)
• Don Doroteo Salt of the Earth Piedra Viva Robusto (5 x 50) — $15 (Box of 10, $150)
• Don Doroteo Salt of the Earth Piedra Viva Toro (5 3/4 x 54) — $16.75 (Box of 10, $167.50)

Production: Regular Production

Release Date: August 2023