I had the opportunity this week to sample the Bariay 1492 cigar range, which, for now, I assume, consists of the Red Habano and the Black Maduro. I tried the Robusto and Toro sizes, which are 5¼” x 54 and 6″ x 52 respectively. These cigars are made in the company’s own factory in Nicaragua. Their website mentions that the cigars are chemical free, something which I questioned. It seems the chemical they are referring to is ammonia, which is something we don’t want to taste in our cigars. They use a third fermentation to assure that no ammonia remains in the cigars. They tell me that this is a tricky process, which their blender, César Ramírez, has spent thirty years mastering. Here’s a quote from Alan Kirchhoff, one of the companies principals on the process:
Cesar has spent the last 30 years figuring out our trade secret 3rd fermentation process that he created. He will tell you he has spent many years ruining tobacco to get to where we are today.When he first went to Nicaragua to talk with the manufacturers to do his process they told that it can’t be done and he also was called the “crazy Cuban”. Cesar spent 6 years in Nicaragua, created his own factory and laboratory and figured out how to produce it consistently to where we are today. Our cigars are not manufactured by someone else. We have our own facility. We process 1st, 2nd and 3rd fermentation in our facilty. We control everything from hand selecting the leaf from our farming partners all the way to the smoke you have in your hands. It is our aging, fermentation, recipe and rolling techniques. All Cesar’s inventions.
Of course, to a cynic like me who’s heard it all over the last 30 years of smoking cigars, the proof is in the smoking. They were kind enough to send me a sampler of their Red and Black cigars in Toro and Robusto to try.
My recent habit is to save the maduros for last, as maduro is my preference, and I always figure I’m saving the best for last. Often I’m surprised. So I started with the Bariay 1492 Red. This cigar has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, with binder and fillers from Esteli, Condega and Jalapa. I started out with the Robusto. This one started out with an interesting flavor, and caused me some concern, I wondered what I was in for. This seemed to be an anomaly, as the odd taste quickly went away and I was left with a very nice sweetness I expect from a Habano wrapper. The burn and draw were good considering its heft and firmness. The Toro, which I smoked the next day, was better for me, as it had the nice Habano sweetness from the start, with nothing odd about it. Maybe like a Cafe con leche with a subtle spice. These were very enjoyable. 
On to the Bariay 1492 Black Maduro. Again with my cynicism, but Red and Black for cigar names is getting done to death. Maybe these guys had their cigars named before others that have used it recently, and they aren’t bad names, heck, it makes it easy to differentiate, but I have to imagine if they come out with a shade wrapped cigar it’ll be called the White, right? Like I said, I’m a cynic, they are perfectly appropriate names, and real easy for gringos. Bariay, by the way, is where Columbus landed in Cuba in 1492. I suppose it’s appropriate that I post this today, as tomorrow is Columbus Day. The Black has a Mexican San Andrés maduro wrapper, with fillers and binder from Esteli, Condega, and Ometepe. You all know that my preference is the Toro, and in both case here I preferred the toro over the Robusto. The black is all I hoped it would be, and rivals some of my favorite cigars. Of course it has the rich espresso with some pepper spice that I like, and the Toro is a cigar I could easily smoke regularly. I though the Robusto struck me as stronger, but I did smoke it much earlier in the day than is normal for me. Bariay 1492 cigars are currently available at twelve retailers in four states, and at their retail partner, Old Cuba Cigar Co. in Texas. I look forward to hearing more from these guys. That’s all for today, until the next time,
CigarCraig
