Balmoral Serie Signaturas Dueto

The Wintermans family has celebrated great success in recent years with their own cigars. Their Balmoral Anejo XO cigars have secured a permanent place in the humidors of many aficionados in a very short time. The family-run company Agio Cigars from the Netherlands had for decades been “merely” a staple in the field of affordable shortfillers, but they have now earned their reputation in the longfiller segment through hard work and passion – chapeau!

Balmoral Anejo XO: Success Story of the Wintermans Family

As junior CEO Boris Wintermans notes in the press release for this Balmoral Series Signaturas Dueto, he aims to break through the “limits” of in-house blending with these collaborations and reach “new realms of flavor.” For the first collaboration, they secured none other than Ernesto “Ernie” Perez-Carillo. At his Tabacalera La Alianza in the Dominican Republic, these five vitolas have been rolled as part of regular production since October 2018.

Balmoral Series Signaturas: Redefining the Limits of Blending

The wrapper is a Jalapa from Nicaragua, the binder an Esteli from the same country. In the filler, the influence of Agio Cigars becomes evident: the company’s favored tobacco from Brazil is used here in the Mata Norte variety and blended with Nicaraguan tobacco. Yes, you read that correctly—there is nothing Dominican “built into” the Balmoral Dueto. The flavor profile is therefore quite Nicaraguan: it starts off fairly peppery, combines this with woody and leathery notes, and maintains this character throughout the smoking experience. We found the smoke to be somewhat mouth-drying and slightly acidic. Both samples we smoked at Inter Tabac 2019 were quite similar—let’s see what the series production delivers after a few months of aging!

In the USA, the second collaboration has already been on the market since 2019, this time featuring Litto Gomez with his Tabacalera La Flor Dominicana. We are curious to see how these collaborations will continue, especially after Agio Cigars was acquired in autumn 2019 by industry giant STG (Scandinavian Tobacco Group). Here you can find all Balmoral cigars!