THE UPSETTERS cigars are the most ambitious creation to-date from Nicholas Melillo, architect of The Tabernacle and El Güegüense cigars. For this eight cigar selection he's used a rare blend of Jamaican and Nicaraguan long-fillers with three different wrappers - Clara, Maduro, and Candela - spread throughout the line. THE UPSETTERS was inspired by Jamaica's anti-heroes, always battling against the odds and stirring things up. Known for creating reggae music, fighting tyranny, and smoking old-style Jamaican cigars, their influence is also reflected in the packaging and the names of each cigar in the line.
"Jamaica has a long history of growing tobacco that rivals Cuba," said Melillo, "and I want to put Jamaica back on the map for premium tobacco." Melillo adds that he discovered the virtues of Jamaican tobacco in 1996 when he smoked a Jamaican-made Macanudo Hyde Park (during its early years, Macanudo was made in Kingston).
In 2015, after attending a celebration for Bob Marley's 70th birthday, Melillo went looking for cigar tobacco and anyone who was still using the old style Jamaican blending techniques. In the mountain town of May Pen he met one of the island's oldest cigar tobacco growers who was growing "Cow Tongue," a tobacco still cultivated and blended since the Arawak natives planted it eons ago.
"People don't realize how close Jamaica and Nicaragua are geographically," said Melillo. The east coast of Nicaragua is also known as "the Reggae coast," and by combining Jamaican tobacco with tobaccos grown in el Valle de Estelí in northern Nicaragua, the result is a cigar with extraordinary flavor and complexity. Having the opportunity to smoke a fine cigar with such a unique blend is reason enough to add THE UPSETTERS cigars to your stockpile.
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