Macanudo Estate Reserve Flint Knoll

In order to create a new Macanudo line that featured tobacco aged in French oak barrels that previously held a single vineyard cabernet sauvignon, General Cigar Co. collaborated with Flint Knoll, a small winery in Napa, California.

While the wrapper is an Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade varietal with a honey-hued color, this isn't a mild smoke by any means, for the filler tobaccos are dark and potent. Mata Fina from Brazil, Piloto Cubano and Olor from the Dominican Republic, as well as some Nicaraguan Jalapa leaf are all bound inside by a Connecticut Broadleaf binder. It is this leaf that rested inside those French oak barrels from Flint Knoll, resulting in a toasted tannin crispness, and a unique olfactory experience you have to smoke to believe.