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Home > What's New > A Trip to Tobacco Island
A Trip to Tobacco Island
Posted: Wednesday, May 03, 2006
By David Savona
The Nicaraguan island of Ometepe is made up of two volcanoes.
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Managua, Nicaragua, a few months ago. I've been in the country all of 10 minutes when I climb into a Toyota Land Cruiser with tobacco growers Nestor Plasencia, his son, Nestor Jr., and Angel Daniel Núñez, the president of General Cigar Co. The doors slam shut. Before the car makes it out of the parking lot, all four of us have fired up cigars.
"This is the smoking car," booms Nestor with gusto.
It's 8 a.m.
I'm riding with three of the most knowledgeable tobacco men on the planet, heading for a most unusual place, the Nicaraguan island of Ometepe. Nicaragua is famous for its tobacco, most of which comes from three areas: Estelí, Jalapa and Condega. Ometepe is different.
The island is made up of two volcanoes, one dormant, the other active. From space, or on a map, the island looks like a dumbbell or a turkey leg, with each volcano sitting at the middle of a somewhat circular shape, and a slim bridge of land (an old lava flow) connecting the two.
The island is rich with wildlife, from monkeys and jaguars to all sorts of wild birds. Ecotourists flock here. It's not easy to reach. To get there, we drive south toward the border with Costa Rica for roughly two hours, to the surprisingly wave-swept shores of Lake Nicaragua, one of the world's largest bodies of freshwater. The island is an hour away by boat.
I've been to many of the major tobacco growing regions of the world, from the Vuelta Abajo in Cuba, to the San Andres Tuxla valley in Mexico, all the regions of the Dominican Republic, throughout Central America, the Andes foothills in Ecuador, the Connecticut River Valley and even Jamaica, but I've never seen anything quite like Ometepe. Neither has Daniel Núñez.
Nestor Plasencia, Daniel Núñez, Nestor Plasencia Jr. and the author look at a small tobacco field in the shadow of Volcano Concepcíon.
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"We were having a conversation [years ago], and Nestor said, 'I have something special I want you to see,'" says Daniel, who was entranced by Ometepe from the first puff. "From day one, that burn and that aroma, it was totally different from what I had tried before."
Núñez agreed to buy all the crop, and now General Cigar is the sole buyer of the Ometepe tobacco grown by the Plasencias. There isn't much of the stuff, but enough to use in General's new Bolivar blend, as well as in its Partagas Limited Reserve Decadas cigars, in which it is the youngest component. Both are superb smokes.
Ometepe is a special place, one that seems to have a lasting impact on all who make the long journey to see it. For the full story on my visit, and what makes the island so intriguing, see the June issue of Cigar Aficionado, on newsstands now.
Photos by Victoria McKee
For more on Daniel Núñez, click here.
For more on the Plasencias, click here.
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