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Flying into Managua, Nicaragua 4 Feb 2023.
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Leaving the Managua airport.
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My Los Arcos hotel room in downtown Esteli.
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Hotel room.
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Rooftop on the hotel a favorite spot at the end of each evening.
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Outside my hotel room.
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Another outside my room.
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And another.
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The hotel.
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A local handmade boot place in Esteli. A number of people who had done the tour before said this guys boots are legit. Most of the people buying boot were between $90 to $120. Apparently, my feet are "grande" so mine are $160! hahaha
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Norman the bootmaker.
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The Oveja Negra factory.
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The massive humidor.
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At anytime during the week we could go into the humidor and grab a cigar from the tray.
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This room is where we did the morning coffee and cigars to start the day, blending classes and dinner one night complete with a Mariachi Band!
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James educating us on the tobacco process.
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More educating us on tobacco leaves.
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Testing the draw on each stick.
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Going to lunch.
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We had lunch on the lanai it was unbelievably comfortable with a lovely breeze, good food and a cigar.
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Tona is a Nicaragua beer very similar to a Coors Lite.
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This a typical appetizer fried tostones (plantains) with a local cheese and chorizo.
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Some of the best chicken wings I ever had. The chicken was very fresh.
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Part of the tour is blending your own cigar. So, here I am smoking ten different leaves to figure out my blend. When we pick our blends they roll it without a wrapper and you smoke it. Make any changes you want then on to choose the wrapper to complete the flavor profile you want. You get ten free cigars of your blend but can buy up to 50 if you want.
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Dinner one night in the "classroom".
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After dinner entertainment!
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James surprised us saying we are the first people to try their 10th anniversary cigar that will be coming out soon.
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Where we had breakfast at the hotel each morning.
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The market in Esteli.
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Lots of Nike and other knockoffs in the market.
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I always pronounced Esteli Es-teli but you quickly learn it's Es-TA-Lee.
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That's the largest papaya I've ever seen!
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Trying my blend sans wrapper. I chose viso, seco and ligero from Esteli.
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Lunch.
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James and Angela.
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Biria tacos.
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What a blast!
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Trying my hand a rolling.
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Dinner. I absolutely loved being able to smoke in every restaurant we went to.
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Tower of Meat. I split it with another person.
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The tower. Under the meat is chorizo, plantains and potatoes.
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Underneath are the coals and other meat and potatoes.
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The market.
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My blend with a PA Broadleaf wrapper.
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Box factory. OSHA need not apply. The work five days a week 10 hours a day turning out 1500 boxes a day. This factory only does BLTC and AJ Fernandez boxes.
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This small room is the final painting room....no masks.
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Part of the print screening process.
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Lunch
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Nachos.
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Hotel rooftop.
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Last morning in Esteli on the rooftop.
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We drove past the Drew Estates, AJ Fernandez, My Fathers factories all nice places. This is the Padron factory. Kind of a shithole outside.
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Padron
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Padron
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Padron
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Smoking lounge at the Managua Airport.
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At the airport.
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Each group person got an old press.
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With this on the other side. I asked James and Angela to sign it.
I would highly recommend anyone going on this tour. Not only was it educational but fun and deeply enjoyable. They do 3 or 4 tours a year typically January, February and March. Cost is $750. It covers the hotel and all meals except the Friday night dinner which was $25. You get ten of the cigars from your blend but can buy up to 50 at $4 a stick. You can buy sticks you can only get in the factory and others as well. I lost count of how many sticks I smoked, All included. James and Angela are truly good people. I enjoyed every min of this week. I will do it again.
As far as how much the trip costs: With airfare I think overall I may have spent 1.7-2k. The $750 includes the tour, hotel, meals, drinks, coffee, transportation, cigars. I bought handmade boots for $160. As far as souvenirs honestly, there's not much in this regard. Other than handmade leather goods like boots, gun belts etc. But stuff is very inexpensive in Nicaragua. Their currency is the Cordoba it is 36 to 1 US dollar.
The link to the tour:
https://ovejanegracigars.com/pages/factory
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