Foundation Olmec Claro

As I was heading back to my desk, a colleague just warned me: “This one won't be for you—this cigar will knock your socks off!” Well then, here I am, writing these first few lines with a mix of eager anticipation and a little apprehension. But first, let's take a look at the history and origins of these cigars!

Foundation Olmec Claro: A Journey of Discovery with a Mexican Wrapper

The founder and owner of Foundation is Nicolas Melillo, something of an old acquaintance of ours whom we first met in the early 2000s, when he was working for Jonathan Drew at Drew Estate. Back then, he was something of a cigar product developer and definitely helped lay the foundations for these unconventional cigars from Nicaragua. He took excellent care of us during our tour of Estelí in 2005. The entire group—including Niko, Hassan and Maik, who were apprentices with us at the time—still remembers it fondly. After that, we would run into each other every year at the American IPCPR tobacco trade show, until he left his longtime employer in early 2014 and eventually resurfaced at IPCPR in 2015.

Where Does the Name “Olmec” Come From?

The Olmecs, who gave the cigars their name, lived from around 1500 to 300 BC in what are now the Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. Their territory included the famous San Andrés wrapper tobacco valley. This tobacco is particularly noteworthy because the seeds of San Andrés Negro are said to be among the oldest tobacco seeds in the world. Nicolas offers the Olmec cigars in two versions, both featuring a Mexican San Andrés Negro wrapper. The wrapper is fermented and processed differently depending on the line. The Olmec Claro features a lighter wrapper, while the Olmec Maduro has a darker wrapper that undergoes a longer fermentation process.

Olmec Claro Cigars by Nicolas Melillo: An Intense Flavor Experience

Beneath the carefully selected wrapper of the Olmec Claro lies a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan filler tobaccos from Estelí and Jalapa, aged for at least three years before being used. The cigars are made at the AJ Fernandez Cigars de Nicaragua S.A. factory. The cigars are box-pressed, which is definitely to my liking. Right from the start, it's very earthy, with a tart, “barnyard-like” edge. You instinctively sense that this is a cigar that wants to be smoked sloooooowly. As the smoke progresses, an intense pepperiness stays with the aficionado. That was to be expected, really, since the cigars are rolled by A.J. Fernandez, who has practically made this peppery character his trademark. These are definitely not “rounded,” balanced cigars, but rather “angular” ones with pronounced edges to their flavor.