Talking Dominican Tobacco With Master Blender Henderson Ventura

Most cigar aficionados can recognize the famous Criollo and Corojo tobacco varietals that are popular today. However, several other different types aren't nearly as widely recognized. In today's video Master Blender Henderson Ventura of ADVentura Cigars and Brandon sit down to discuss the wide variety of tobacco that is grown in the Dominican Republic. 

One of the reasons Henderson attributes the large number of tobacco types available in the Dominican is that there are several smaller manufactures present. In famed regions of Esteli and Jalapa Valley (Nicaragua) some large manufacturers need a high volume of cigars. This demand requires high-yielding tobacco plants. To meet this demand, tobacco growers have genetically modified tobacco plants to get a higher yield and to prevent pests such as Blue Mold.

While genetic modification sounds scary, it simply means that farmers have crossbred tobacco varietals over the years. This process is a topic that we will cover in a future blog post and has created the varietals that some aficionados love and recognize (such as Criollo 98' and Corojo 99'). 

When blending his cigars Henderson has a few varietals that he prefers to use: Carbonelle, Negrito, San Vincente, Original Corojo, and US Connecticut Broadleaf. While Henderson predominately uses Dominican tobaccos, there are a few  that he uses from Nicaragua and the United States. If you want to learn more about Henderson's blending process, check out our previous blog post here!