Viaje Works with TABACALERA LA iSLA for New Beginnings, Mofongo
Viaje has announced that it will begin shipping a pair of new cigars next week, both of which are being made at TABACALERA LA iSLA in Santiago, Dominican Republic.
The Viaje Craft Series New Beginnings is a 6 x 52 toro that uses Dominican tobacco for the filler and binder, while the wrapper is a Mexican San Andrés leaf. In social media posts announcing the project, the company says that the piloto and HVA tobacco in the filler contributes to the cigar’s unique flavor.
It is offered in 10-count boxes, with individual cigars priced at $11.40. Production numbers for this release have not yet been disclosed.
The Craft Series debuted in May 2018 and gets its inspiration from the craft beer industry. The series debuted with Bales on Bales, followed by For the Love of the Leaf, which was released that September. Both cigars were produced by AGANORSA Leaf in Nicaragua. In 2019, the company released Wilshire and La Jolla, which was produced by Raíces Cubanas in Honduras, while 2021’s release, Layer Cake, saw a return to AGANORSA Leaf.
Mofongo, meanwhile, joins the company’s White Label Project, which is generally used to launch new cigars before they get their own branding. It is also a 6 x 52 toro, but uses an Ecuadorian corojo wrapper atop a Dominican binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. Pricing is set at $9.68 per cigar, with production limited to 300 boxes of 25 cigars, a total run of 7,500 sticks.
The Viaje WLP Mofongo gets its name from a popular dish throughout the Caribbean that uses mashed plantains as the base, with garlic, olive oil, chicarrón, and other ingredients added in and then generally served alongside a beef broth.
“Since first sitting at the drawing board, over a year has passed waiting for these new projects to arrive,” the company wrote in its social media posts announcing the cigars. “We experimented with incredible tobaccos, some of which we had never used before. We hope you will agree that patience has been rewarded.”
TABACALERA LA iSLA was opened in December 2020 by Hostos Fernández Quesada and has produced cigars for several companies, including Warped, Cabal, Casa 1910, Matilde, and La Sirena, among others.
Patrick Lagreid
I strive to capture the essence of a cigar and the people behind them in my work – every cigar you light up is the culmination of the work of countless people and often represents generations of struggle and stories. For me, it’s about so much more than the cigar – it’s about the story behind it, the experience of enjoying the work of artisans and the way that a good cigar can bring people together. In addition to my work with halfwheel, I’m the public address announcer for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks during spring training, as well as for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury, the G-League's Valley Suns, and previously the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League. I also work in a number of roles for Major League Baseball, plus I'm a voice over artist. Prior to joining halfwheel, I covered the Phoenix and national cigar scene for Examiner.com, and was an editor for Cigar Snob magazine.
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