One of the great treats at the IPCPR is seeing my friend Omar de Frias, who charged on to the cigar scene in 2013. Here was this larger than life unknown guy at his first trade show, making a big splash with his line of cigar made at the Joya de Nicaragua factory, although that was hush hush for quite a while. Omar is one of the nicest guys you will want to meet, and one of the hardest working as well. He holds down a day job at NASA, travels tirelessly promoting Fratello cigars, meets with legislators on Capital Hill fighting for our freedom, and has a family too. If you ever have the opportunity to meet Omar, jump at the chance and do whatever you have to do to get to one of his events.
This year at the IPCPR Omar presented his new line extension in the Fratello Bianco series, the Fratello Bianco The Boxer. The Bianco series is the San Andrés maduro cigar in the line, it’s got a beautiful dark wrapper, quite the opposite of the name Bianco, which is Italian for white. So We have a guy who was born in Puerto Rico, raised in the Dominican Republic, living in the US and making cigars in Nicaragua with an Italian name! The Boxer is his box pressed torpedo, it’s a classic 6¼” x 52, with a crisp square press. The wrapper is the afor mentioned San Andrés Negro, the binder is Dominican, and the fillers are Nicaraguan, Pennsylvanian and Peruvian, blended in a slightly different proportion than the rest of the Bianco line. This was the best cigar I’ve smoked in recent memory. It was rich, loaded with those dark chocolate and espresso flavors I love, with some interesting spices from the Pennsylvania and Peruvian fillers. The shape was fun and comfortable in the mouth and hand, and it smoked perfectly, the draw had just the right resistance, and the burn was even. I lit it with a new lighter, the Xikar Xidris, a new addition to their lighter line, which you’ll hear more about in the near future, but out of the box it worked well and has a great feel and look. I’ll certainly be on the look out for the Fratello Bianco The Boxer as this is an amazing cigar.
That’s all for now, until the next time,
CigarCraig
Sounds like a winner I’m in.
Life is good.
Thanks for sharing the news of this cigar, it sounds like a really great smoke. I look forward to trying it in the future. Thanks for the good review, Craig!
Nice write-up Craig. This is the best cigar I’ve smoked this year so far.
Thanks Aaron. Check out Aaron’s great site http://developingpalates.com/
THAT looks like a winner. Cannot wait to find one. Thanks for the write-up. San Andreas seems to be making a “comeback” in the maduro realm. The broadleaf was de rigeur for a while but I see a lot of manufacturers seem to be getting back to that classic maduro leaf.
it reminds me of a partagas cuban (about 70%), which is a plus!!