San Cristobal Golden Hour Dorado

San Cristobal Golden Hour Dorado

Dorado means golden. It is also the word for a fish that flashes brilliant color when it breaks the surface, and for the mythical city that Spanish explorers spent generations pursuing into the interior of South America. San Cristobal's choice of the name for their torpedo vitola is exact: the Dorado is the golden expression of the lineup — both in the amber of its Ecuador Habano Rosado wrapper and in the concentration the torpedo format delivers. Where the other Golden Hour box-pressed vitolas are parejo in their caps, the Dorado tapers — the head coming to a point that affects the draw, the flavor delivery, and the ritual of cutting.

Torpedo Format / Box-Pressed

The torpedo — or figurado, in the broader category — is a format that rewards attention in the cutting. A straight cut across the taper delivers a draw of different character than a shallow cut; the choice is the smoker's to make, and the Dorado accommodates the full range. The box-press adds the second dimension: flat sides on a tapered cigar, the format combining two techniques that each affect the experience independently. At 6 1/8 inches and 52 ring gauge at the widest point, the Dorado sits between the Bonito's standard dimensions and the Angelico's length — the torpedo that provides the format's characteristic first-third intensity and opens as the cigar burns down through the point into the body of the filler.

The Garcia Farms / The Cubanesque Profile

The blend behind the Dorado is the same as the rest of the Golden Hour line: Nicaraguan tobaccos from the Garcia family's Condega, Estelí, Jalapa, and Namanji farms, selected and blended at My Father Cigars in Estelí under the family's direction. The Ecuadorian Habano Rosado wrapper carries the visual identity of the collection — the amber-gold leaf that earned the vitola its name. Cedar and cinnamon at the front, coffee bean and molasses in the middle, spice threading through from start to finish. Medium-full: the profile that fills the hour without ending the evening.

Now available at The Tobacconist of Greenwich.