Viva Republica’s Thrice Coming in the Fall

A year after making his debut on the manufacturing side of the cigar industry, Jason Holly of Viva Republica is prepared to show off his fourth release, Thrice. The cigar uses as a Cuban-seed Brazilian wrapper, known more commonly as “cubra,” over a filler blend that explains the name.

“(It) comes from the trio of ligero fillers I used in this blend,” Holly told halfwheel. “Pennsylvania Ligero, Dominican pilot cubano ligero and Nicaraguan ligero from the Estelí region.”

Holly is still finalizing the sizes, but tentative plans include a Toro (6 x 54), Lonsdale (5 1/2 x 44) and a Short Robusto (4 x 56). While pre-orders will be taken at the 2013 IPCPR trade show and convention, the cigars will not ship until late August or early September. Price points are between $9.50 and $11.20 with boxes of 20 slated for the project.

“I wanted to use three Ligero from three regions but the idea was more to showcase the various flavors of the three different plants,” said Holly. “I assumed the body would be full/full+ — and in the end this ratio of ligero to seco/viso was the balance I was looking to achieve since the project was started.”

In addition to the trio of Ligero, the blend uses Dominican criollo ’98, which Holly says adds to the flavor profile.

Since its debut Rapture, Viva Republica has recently released both the Guerrilla Warfare and Rapture Maduro. The company produces its cigars at La Aurora’s E. León Jimenes Tabacalera factory in the Dominican Republic.