About Our Cigars:
Pappy & Company is proud to offer two styles of cigars. The Pappy Van Winkle Barrel Fermented cigar is a 100% long-filler, premium cigar. The Pappy Van Winkle Tradition cigar is a slightly more traditional blend, that represents and honors our iconic Van Winkle family legacy and was created to be the perfect complement to bourbon. Both blends are made totally by hand in very small batches at Drew Estate in Estelí, Nicaragua
Each order features 10 cigars nestled in a lined, custom wooden box, except for our Flying Pig limited release cigars which come 12 to a box. Please be advised that the seal may be cut as they are randomly selected while going through customs. They are hand-rolled and shipped from the Drew Estate factory in Estelí, Nicaragua.
About Our Partnership with Drew Estate:
In November 2014, we announced the partnership with Drew Estate for our Pappy Van Winkle Barrel-Fermented, premium, handmade cigar. Since then, we have recently launched our second blend of cigars, Pappy Van Winkle Tradition. Both are meant to be enjoyed with bourbon and are available in a range of sizes. With this partnership, both bourbon fans and cigar connoisseurs are able to experience a profile that is unique and that will remain consistent throughout each small batch.
How Our Barrel Fermented Cigars Are Made:
Drew Estate is known for passion and innovation. Making premium cigars is their “raison d’être” (reason to be). The Pappy Van Winkle cigar collection is truly a showcase of their expertise.
The story of our Barrel Fermented cigars starts, where else, but in Kentucky, USA. It features Kentucky seed and Kentucky grown tobacco.
Once grown, the tobacco leaves — harvested and carefully selected for the blend — are cured in the traditional Kentucky style via fire curing. We then ship the leaves, used as the wrapper, from Hopkinsville, Kentucky to Saint James Parish, Louisiana. This is where the tobacco undergoes barrel fermentation.
Tobacco produced for premium cigars generally ferments in pilóns, a thick pile of cured tobacco stacked on boards. Instead, our alternative barrel-fermenting process uses car jacks to compress up to 500 pounds of tobacco into a 53-gallon barrel.
The intense pressure is what ferments this Kentucky seed. When you walk into the rooms of the barrel-fermented tobaccos, you immediately smell something very similar to the yeasty smell of a distillery. Once fermented and properly packed up, it's then shipped to the factory in Nicaragua.
Three unique sizes of these handmade premium cigars are produced at the La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. A select team of Drew Estate rollers meticulously craft each cigar 100% by hand.
The Pappy Van Winkle Barrel Fermented Cigar has two wrappers: the Kentucky grown leaf blended over a Mexican San Andres leaf. Jonathan Drew, founder of Drew Estate, calls the process of blending wrappers "tapa negra."
The binder and filler of the cigar are made up of all-Nicaraguan tobaccos, personally selected by Jonathan himself.
Once complete, the cigars are packaged in custom, ten-count, lined, wood boxes and shipped back to Pappy & Company. The final blend is the perfect compliment to any bourbon and a reason in itself to celebrate.
Pappy & Company's Trip To Nicaragua
In early 2017, our family traveled to Estelí, Nicaragua, home of La Gran Fabrica Drew Estate factory. We were invited by founder, Jonathan Drew, to their annual “Cigar Safari,” a four-day, three-night trip and factory tour. It was so much fun to meet the staff and watch our Pappy Barrel Fermented Cigars being handmade and rolled right before our eyes at their majestic factory.
Drew Estate was a gracious host, and it’s clear that its employees are true artisans. We definitely appreciate all of the work and craftsmanship that goes into each cigar.
Reflecting on our visit, we are so proud to continue this partnership. Both of our companies are dedicated to high-quality, handmade products, and this trip confirmed it for us. The finished cigar is a perfect pairing for our family’s whiskeys, and we hope you enjoy them as much as we do.
