Strike a Match

Pairing wine with a range of hand-picked cigars

1. My Father Cigars Flor de las Antillas

This cigar features an all-Nicaraguan blend of tobaccos, including the box-pressed dark brown, sun-grown, smooth wrapper that houses a bouquet of Nicaraguan long-fillers and binder to create an exceptionally balanced and smooth experience. Notes include cocoa, pepper, sweet cedar and earth. Pairing: Pinot Noir or Tawny Port.

2. Padrón 1964 Anniversary Series

With its natural Cuban-seed Habano wrapper, this Nicaraguan-made, box-pressed cigar is smooth to the touch and boasts a rich, complex flavor profile. Perfectly balanced, the cigar’s finish is lengthy and deep with creamy nuances of coffee, chocolate and roasted nuts. Pairing: Sangiovese.

3. Padrón Dámaso

Mellow with a buttery soft Ecuadorian Connecticut-seed shade-grown wrapper, the cigar encases a milder smoke. Made in Nicaragua with Nicaraguan binder and filler, its core flavors taste softly sweet, woody and a bit nutty. The complexities begin to unfold introducing a slight black pepper tingle against a creamy background with a bit of nutmeg and cocoa. Pairing: Tawny Port or buttery Chardonnay.

4. La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero

A super-fermented Ecuadorian Sumatra sun-grown wrapper drapes atop well-aged Dominican long-fillers, producing a full-bodied cigar. Crafted in the Dominican Republic, the cigar is powerful and full of ligero tobacco — the strongest kind. Although intense, there’s charm, too, with notes of leather, ground pepper, spice and cedar. Pairing: Big reds (Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, etc.).

5. CAO Mx2

A limited-production cigar, it uses two wrappers: The outermost leaf is an ultra-dark, Connecticut broadleaf Maduro; underneath lies a fuller-flavored Brazilian Maduro. Mixing it up even more, the Nicaraguan cigarmaker uses a blend of select long-fillers from Nicaragua, Honduras, Peru and the Dominican Republic that contribute to the layered flavor profile of sweet and zesty flavors. Pairing: Ruby Port.

Rich’s Cigar Store

Since 1894, Rich’s Cigar Store, located in downtown Portland (two locations), has been a family-owned business that not only sells cigars and tobacco products but also magazines and newspapers — more than 2,800 titles — including OWP.

A sincere thanks to Rich’s Aaron Roth who assisted in choosing a range of cigars and Bill Shindler who suggested the wines to go with them.

For more about the store and its long history, please visit richscigarstore.com.