Bolivar Cofradia Lost & Found EMS Robusto

This is a collaboration between General Cigar's non-Cuban Bolivar brand and Lost & Found, the project run by Tony Bellatto and Robert Caldwell known for hunting down forgotten tobacco. On a 2021 trip to the HATSA factory in Danlí, Honduras, the team found burlap-wrapped bales of five-to-eight-year-old Ecuadoran Sumatra and Connecticut Broadleaf — and turned them into this EMS edition.

What it tastes like

The aged Ecuador Sumatra wrapper and Connecticut Broadleaf binder sit over a Dominican, Honduran and Nicaraguan filler. The extra years on the leaf show: it's full-bodied but rounded, with leather, earth and wood, a peppery core, and a sweet-spice depth that keeps it from feeling rough. The robusto runs about an hour with a steady, even burn.

Who it's for

One for aficionados who like limited, story-driven releases and don't mind a full-bodied smoke. Remember this is the General Cigar Bolivar, not the Cuban one — if you want to understand the broader New-World-versus-Cuba divide, read Cuban vs Nicaraguan, and since this leans on a Broadleaf binder, Maduro vs Connecticut is a useful primer on wrapper styles.

Pair it with a bourbon, a coffee, or an aged rum. Lost & Found runs are exactly the kind of thing to catalogue in the Casa DNC app before they vanish. For the standard line, start with the Cofradia Robusto.