Post on: June 25, 2019
ESTELI, Nicaragua: From “rich and full-bodied” to “complex with hints of licorice,” aficionados exhaust the lexicon to capture the essence of Nicaragua’s most highly-prized produce — not wine, but cigars, which are especially popular in the United States.
The recognition turns the vibrant green hills of Esteli, in the troubled Central American country’s northwest, into a hive of activity come harvest time.
Here, 800 meters (2,620 feet) above sea level, half of the population of 110,000 is employed in the tobacco industry — picking, drying or curing, or rolling cigars in factories.
