Espinosa Laranja Reserva

You could write volumes of prose on the long journey of what is now known as Espinosa Premium Cigars. None of it would be possible without the Alpha Dawg himself, Erik Espinosa. What a long, strange trip it’s been to get where he is today. To keep it short, he got his start in the industry as a cigar broker in southern Florida and quickly developed a desire to become a brand owner. He first launched EO cigars with his close friend Eddie Ortega and had cigars made by Pepin Garcia in Nicaragua. When Garcia could no longer commit to producing their blends, the duo split. Erik formed Espinosa Premium Cigars and opened his own factory in Nicaragua called La Zona where many of his cigars are made today. There’s so much more to this story, but Erik is one of our favorite people in the industry- honest and trustworthy as the day is long. It’s one of the reasons his brand has developed a cult-like following. He says what he means and does what he promises.

Eric Espinosa has a storied history in the cigar business. We won’t go into detail about that, but rather tell the story of the Laranja Reserva. Tobacco growers the world over know that in Brazil they grow some really interesting tobaccos. And that’s exactly the case with a gorgeous wrapper leaf that has been named Laranja (the Portuguese word for Orange). It got this name because of the beautiful orange tones the wrapper develops during the fermentation process. Eric Espinosa was smitten with this tobacco when his blender showed it to him. It had a fragrant aroma and looked amazing. So he started blending a cigar around this wrapper leaf and the Laranja Reserva was born. The Laranja Reserva by Espinosa Cigars is a medium-to-full bodied cigar made in Espinosa’s La Zona cigar factory in Esteli, Nicaragua. The filler and binder are a combination of Nicaraguan-grown tobaccos finished off with the Laranja wrapper. Laranja Reserva is a well-rounded cigar with flavors of cedar, coffee, and spice with a hint of sweetness on the finish.