Think that the only place in the United States where good cigar tobacco can be grown is Connecticut?

If so, you are mistaken.

Deep in the Bluegrass State, in an area more known for thoroughbred horses and fine bourbon, something unusual is happening. Some fine cigar wrapper tobacco is being grown because of the vision and efforts of Mark Barrow, a man who decided to try something no one else had tried.

“I think Kentucky’s heritage is tobacco, bourbon and fast horses, and I want to keep all three of them going,” said Barrow.

Mark Barrow is not just a visionary. He is a visionary who has succeeded.

The story continues after the jump.

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It is not often that a new line of cigars comes along that is truly exceptional. It was a pleasure, therefore, to learn of the new Lot 23 cigar line from Perdomo that is exceptional in several ways.

Lot 23 Cigars from Tabacalera Perdomo

The newest cigar line from Tabacalera Perdomo S.A., Perdomo Lot 23, was released last month at the 2006 RTDA show in Las Vegas. It is a very special line, named after one of the company’s prestige tobacco farms near its factory in Esteli, Nicaragua. One of the things that makes the Perdomo Lot 23 special is that both the filler and binder for the new cigar are made exclusively from Cuban-seed tobacco grown on that one highly fertile farm.

“Perdomo Lot 23 is very special for our company because it was a project that my father, Nicolas Perdomo, Sr., pioneered as we started to expand our growing operations in 2000,” said Nick Perdomo, Jr. “My father and I selected a plot of land near our factory that was untouched. We cleared the entire field, ran thorough soil analysis and carefully prepared the grounds. This land was so fertile that we knew it would provide some incredible tobacco, and it did. I believe that we have met my father’s strict expectations of quality throughout our growing operations and our manufacturing facility. The final product is a premium cigar that is extremely flavorful and is available at a very competitive price point.”

A very competitive price point indeed. In fact, a price so low for a cigar of this quality that I found it hard to believe when I first heard it.

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The fifth and final installment of this series brings us some cigars that you may not be familiar with.

If you have never tried today’s selections — or perhaps never even heard of them before — then you have been missing out on some true smoking pleasure. Both are quite worthy of being listed not only among the best USA-made cigars, but among the best cigars in the world.

In contrast to the heady prices of some of the earlier cigars in this series, the final two today are also rather modestly priced. Both brands would have to be considered “best buys” and true bargains.

For those coming late to this series, please take note of the fine print: The order in which cigars are presented in this series does not indicate relative quality or rating. It is not a top-to-bottom or bottom-to-top list. All cigars in this list are quite good, all are quite different, and each one is a #1 cigar in its own way.

Another thing that needs to be said in this look at some of the best cigars made in the United States currently is that it was not easy coming up with only ten. There are a lot of very fine cigars still being rolled in the U.S. of all strengths and bodies in some intriguing blends.

That was a pleasant surprise, since more and more brands are moving their manufacturing exclusively to Latin America. Old Powder Keg cigars, for example, from Connecticut Valley Tobacconist would have certainly been in this list…but they are now made in the Dominican Republic instead of in Connecticut.

In order to help me trim the list, I also arbitrarily eliminated a number of cigars that are made in the U.S.A., but in extremely limited numbers and/or do not have national distribution. I’m going to be highlighting some of these “micro-boutique” cigar lines in features over the next few weeks.

As I prepared the articles and ratings, I’ve had the pleasure of becoming reacquainted with some old favorites I haven’t sampled in a number of years, as well as finding some new favorites. None of the manufacturers listed here have paid or compensated me in any way in order to be included in this list — in fact, none of them even knew that their cigars were going to appear before they showed up in this Cigar Envy feature.

Now, on to today’s cigars. The reviews and ratings begin below the fold.

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Do you like Maduro cigars?

Do you like Corojo cigar wrappers?

Ever wished that you could have the best of both in one cigar?

If so, then you are going to love the latest news from Camacho Cigars. Thanks to an exceptional harvest of cuban-seed Corojo tobacco, all of their popular Camacho Corojo cigars will now be available in Corojo Maduro.

That’s right. Corojo Maduro.

The Eiroa family, owners of the Camacho brand as well as Baccarat and La Fontana, are also major growers of Honduran cigar tobacco. Their tobacco is grown in Honduras in the Jamastran Valley, near that country’s border with Nicaragua.

Corojo tobacco takes its name from the Santa Ines del Corojo Vega, a plantation near the town of San Luis y Martinez in Pinar del Rio in the heart of Cuba’s famed Vuelta Abajo tobacco-growing region. Diego Rodriguez began renting the farm from its owner in Spain in the 1920’s, and worked for years to select and develop a superior wrapper tobacco for Cuban cigars.

Between 1930 and the late 1990’s, all cigars from Cuba — regardless of brand or factory — used Rodriguez’s Vuelta Abajo grown Corojo tobacco leaves for their wrappers. The spicy quality and peppery smoothness gave the leaf that unique Cuban “punch” that connoisseurs came to associate with authentic Cuban cigars.

The only problem is that true Corojo tobacco is also delicate and hard to grow. It requires just the right soil, rainfall and weather conditions. It is extremely susceptible to blue mold and black shank disease.

Cuba stopped growing it for that reason.

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Today is Independence Day in the United States, and as part of a commemoration of that holiday I am doing a week-long series of the top ten “Made in the USA” cigars. The series continues today as we look at two cigars made outside of Florida.

One line is made in a city that in symbolizes in many way an America of times gone past. It has a unique culture produced by a unique coming-together of people from many countries and many different ethnic groups. It has produced a unique cigar.

The other is made in a city that has no past. Or at least, not a past that stretches back very far. Calling the culture of this second U.S. city “unique” really would not do justice to it.

But enough preamble. Today’s entries in these reviews of the best premium cigars made in the United States start below the fold.

The order in which cigars are presented in this series does not indicate relative quality or rating. It is not a top-to-bottom or bottom-to-top list. All cigars in this list are quite good, all are quite different, and each one is a #1 cigar in its own way.

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