Viva Republica Culebra Debuting

Source from:  Cigar Aficionado 03/12/2015

A new culebra, a rare cigar shape made of three panetelas braided and banded together, is about to debut courtesy of Viva Republica.

Like other culebras, the Viva Republica Limited Edition Culebra is three separate cigars, each measuring 5 3/4 inches by 39 ring gauge, snaked around each other. However, each cigar is a different blend.

One of the panetelas is Viva's Natural Rapture blend, a Cuban-seed Ecuadoran wrapper that covers a Dominican binder and filler tobaccos from Brazil, Nicaragua, Peru and the Dominican Republic. Another cigar is the Maduro Rapture, which is the same blend as the Natural save for wrapper leaf that was grown in Mexico's San Andrés region.

The third smoke is Viva's Guerrilla Warfare, which contains filler tobaccos from Brazil, Dominican and Nicaragua, a double binder comprised of Dominican and Mexican leaf, all covered by Ecuador Sumatra wrapper.

Only 1,000 of the new Culebras, which carries a retail price of $18, were produced and each comes packaged in a wooden coffin. It will be released this Saturday during the DC TweetUp event at Tobaccology in Manassas, Virginia.

"I decided to do it at DC TweetUp because they raise money for a different charity each year. This year's funds are going to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, and I try and support every charitable cause I possibly can," said Jason Holly, Viva Republica brand owner.

All Viva Republica cigars are produced at the La Aurora factory in the Dominican Republic and distributed by Miami Cigar & Co. Enditem