Vallarta Cigar Factory

[PhilB]

(Cross-posted a few places)

 

Well, in my noob intro post, I mentioned that I had gone to check out the Vallarta Cigar Factory, which I read about on Reddit.

 

Here's what happened when I did so.

 

I went down there, walked around the Puerto Vallarta Malecon (boardwalk) for quite a while because the cab driver dropped me off at the North end, and the Factory is at the South end.

 

When I finally made it, I realized they had much more stuff there, so I took the opportunity to get some cheesecake and a Turkish Coffee. After that, it was time to hit the Humidor. Contrary to what older posts said in reviews, they no longer sell Cubans there, but only their own hand-rolled house brand (although some of their Facebook posts and reviews show they sell Cubans, so maybe this is a fairly new development). That's fine by me, that's what I was there to look at!

 

Now, I really should have known I'd have to make some choices.

 

First, they have three lines: Especiales, Mestizos, and Ultimas. All the tobacco in all of these is grown in Mexico (in San Andres, Veracruz, like all the tobacco in Mexico, I think), but the tobacco is grown from seeds that may have been brought in from other places. The Especiales uses only Mexican seed, and is the mildest of the three. The Mestizos use half Mexican seed and half Cuban seed, I believe, and they are their medium-bodied smokes. The Ultimas use I believe all Nicaraguan seed and are their full-bodied offerings.

 

All 3 of them are available with either a 2 year Sumatran wrapper or a 3 year old Maduro wrapper (all Mexican, of course).

 

They insisted (rightfully so), that I had to try one to see what I liked.

 

Having discussed what I had smoked in the past (those RyJ purritos and the aforementioned Te-Amo!), we thought it would be wise for me to try the Mestizo, in maduro (it just looked good to me, and was described as the kind of flavour I thought I would like). I grabbed one of their alleged Rotchild sizes (on what planet is 5.5 x 52 a Rothchild? What do I know, I'm a noob!), lit up outside (sorry, no smoking inside), and walked around the town for about an hour. That wasn't too hard, as almost everyone allowed me to smoke inside their shops (they seemed surprised that I would even ask! I even smoked inside a pharmacy, after asking, of course).

 

To my untrained palate, this was a delightful smoke. Not too overpowering, relaxing...

 

As I was finally walking back after an hour or so, a truck pulled up just outside the factory. Inside, someone called out: "Hey, what are you smoking?" I told him it was the Mestizo line. He said "That's what I'm smoking right now, but that's not usually my daily smoke."

 

Turns out the guy in question was Oliver, the owner! He was smoking a Mestizo for quality control, but usually smoked Ultimas. After talking to him a while, he told me I would probably be happier with the Ultimas. He said if I liked the RyJ, even in purritos, the Ultimas would certainly not be too bold or strong for me. He said even the strongest/boldest Mexican cigar was not as harsh/bold as the mildest Cuban.

 

I decided to trust him, and went back in, where both his sister and his son, it turns out, helped me out! Their website is vastly out of date. Despite what it says, the Ultimas are available in many sizes, not just 7x54. I settled on a box of Rothchilds (once again, allegedly!), plus another 2 out of the box so I could smoke them my last few days. With the few pounds of coffee I was buying as souvenirs as well, they ended up throwing the 2 extras for free. The price for those was 2700 pesos. At current exchange, that's $142 USD or $195 CAD. Probably not a fantastic deal for you Americans, but that's damn good for us Canucks, considering the taxes we pay on tobacco. In addition, I always like to support local businesses, wherever I am.

 

I personally really like these but, once again, my palate is extremely underdeveloped. Here are some pictures:

 https://imgur.com/a/FiUVh

 

The wrappers definitely look a little "rough". Let me know if you want to see pictures of anything else, I really don't know what I'm shooting here!

 

[HakkaDog]

That was a great read. Thanks for the pics as well. Glad you enjoyed it. I'm just curious if that is mold on the pic with the measurement? 

[PhilB]

2 hours ago, HakkaDog said:

That was a great read. Thanks for the pics as well. Glad you enjoyed it. I'm just curious if that is mold on the pic with the measurement? 

I was worried when I saw the picture too, so I double-checked, and, to me, it just looks like a shiny spot on the wrapper (when look at it from another angle).  I think those are my shop fluorescents reflecting in said shiny spot.  I'll check again tonight to make sure and try to post another picture.

[HakkaDog]

Yea, because I noticed the one on the far left has some spots as well on the box. Definitely check it out tonight. 

[PhilB]

Will do.  I'll post more pictures from the sides, so you folks with more experience can see if it's anything to worry about. I ass-u-med that if there's no raised surface, it was nothing to worry about, but, better safe than sorry.

[Craftsman]

Those are fine looking Mexican sticks. Love the rustic look and leaf packaging and from how you describe them they should be a tasty hours worth of enjoyment.

As for mold that just looks like a touch of band glue - just smoke those first. 

[PhilB]

Yeah, my only regret so far is not getting more.  I thought we were only allowed to bring back 25, until I realized it was 50 (and 50 for my wife, theoretically).  No problem, I think the plan is to return next year anyway!

By then, my palate should be more developed, and I should know if I want to bring some back or not.  I can't see why not, for the pure experience of dealing with great people again and supporting local businesses, which is what I always try to do anyway.

[HakkaDog]

Yea just keep in mind when you do bring back 50 next time from Cuba or Mexico, etc, make sure your wife is holding the rest when your at customs if you delcare them. I carried all 40 last time when I was at customs, and told me it was me and my wife, they advised me that next time for her to carry her portion, as if it's on one person they delare that person brought all 40 and I could have been charged by customs.  

I know some other customs officers at the airport don't care, but it's better to be safe then sorry. Since then I just get her to carry her portion when I go to Cuba. Just an FYI. 

[HakkaDog]

Hey bud, I double checked the pics again and zoomed in. @Craftsmanmay be right about the glue, but when I zoomed in it did look a bit fuzzy the patches. I also zoomed in the pics of the entire box, you can see the the 4th one from the left has it near 1/3 line, the one in the middle, and the second from the right has the same small fuzzy patches. 

Definitely go home and check that out if it's mold. Hopefully it is glue though. 

[PhilB]

Duly noted!  Why would they give you a hard time about 40 when you're allowed 50 per person duty-free?  

That is certainly a dumb rule.  I often carry my wife's luggage, as she has health issues.  If I bring back more than 50, I'll make sure any extras are in her back and that she carries it even if just to get through customs.  

[PhilB]

Yeah, I saw that too in the pictures.  I know it wasn't raised at all when I looked yesterday, just looked shiny, but I will give a more detailed look over tonight and post some close-up pictures to be sure.  If I have to remove some, I want to know now, before they go in the humidor and I lose the whole batch and the few other sticks I have!

[Craftsman]

Don't stress. If it is white mold just wipe it off and light it up! As long as the foot isn't full of mold it is perfectly smokable. And if you are really concerned just pick out the ones that are questionable, give them a wipe and smoke them first.

This is only mold we are talking about not beetles!

That my friend is a whole nother problem you don't want to have.

[PhilB]

Also, if anyone is in Vancouver and wants to try one of these, to get a more experienced reviewer's thoughts, let me know!

[HakkaDog]

23 minutes ago, Craftsman said:

Don't stress. If it is white mold just wipe it off and light it up! As long as the foot isn't full of mold it is perfectly smokable. And if you are really concerned just pick out the ones that are questionable, give them a wipe and smoke them first.

This is only mold we are talking about not beetles!

That my friend is a whole nother problem you don't want to have.

Exactly as Crafstman said. Pretty much every tubo I brought from Cuba had mold from the airport. Just wiped them off and smoked them. Nothing to worry about. 

[PhilB]

Ok, closeups of the two offenders (two pictures each). On the second cigar (the one on the left side in the box) it actually looks like a dent.

In both cases, I can't gently scrape it off with my fingernail, and I personally don't see a raised surface, but I defer to the experts here!

[Craftsman]

No worries - Probably the glue used for the bands and caps. Smoke them and enjoy.

[PhilB]

Thanks for the more knowledgeable set of eyes. I'll smoke one of the offenders today or tomorrow, so it won't matter soon enough!

[ptrulli]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post and experience thanks for the right up! 

[PhilB]

I'm solving one of the "problems" right now.

I haven't smoked one of these in almost two weeks, and smoked 3 different cigars in that time. I must say, these are still potentially my favourite. Also not sure if it's sitting with a Boveda 69%, then 65% for a while, me slowing down, or just developing a tiny bit of a palate, but these seem even smoother and tastier than before.

[HakkaDog]

Glad everything worked out in the end. 

[PhilB]

Of course, as anyone experienced here probably expected, I smoked one of these now a few weeks ago, after resting 130+ days...and smoking a lot of different cigars...

These are...fine, but very light bodied. Like smoking air now. I need to find a new smoker who likes lighter-bodied smokes to give the remaining ones to. I've been gravitating towards much stronger flavours.

[Tuck]

I'm heading there in Feb 2025. Looking forward to it! I will be bringing my travel humidor with Cubans and Dominicans. I am a little nervous to add these cigars in with them. I don't usually smoke all that I bring.. Im worried about bringing  beetles back to my home humidor. I've been through that in the past and it is scary..