Next month, Michael Martello Jr. will release his debut cigars.
His Martello Cigar Co. plans on releasing Ortolan in late August. Ortolan is a 6 x 50 toro that uses an Ecuadorian habano wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan fillers, some of which are medio tiempo. The cigar is rolled at El Titan de Bronze in Miami.
Each cigar has an MSRP of $26 and production is limited to 750 porcelain jars of 10 cigars.
Medio tiempo is a part of some plants, but not a seed. Typically, the individual leaves grouped into tobacco plants are divided into three vertical sections: seco, viso and ligero. On some plants, described as less than 10 percent, another group of leaves will grow above the ligero priming, leaves known as medio tiempo. Due to its location on the plant, those leaves tend to be smaller but more intense than the other leaves.
“I have always had a relationship with cigars,” said Martello Jr. in a press release. “As I began to learn more about tobacco and the care required to produce it, I found distinct parallels between cigarmaking and the structure, discipline, and respect I had learned in the kitchen. I never felt a dish belonged solely to the chef. There were so many people who cared for that product before it ever reached me. Tobacco feels the same.”
City of Palms is handling distribution for Martello Cigar Co.
An ortolan is a type of bird, perhaps best known for how it is eaten in French cuisine. Oftentimes, a napkin is used to cover a person’s mouth as they discard the bird’s bones from their mouth. Alternatively, a scene of the television show “Succession” has Tom and Greg covering their heads with a napkin while eating the bird.
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El Titan de Bronze
Martello Cigar Co.
Martello Cigar Co. Ortolan
