MoyaRuiz Cigars to Release The Rake This May

Source from:  Cigar Aficionado 04/10/2015

MoyaRuiz Cigars Inc., owned by Danny Moya and Nelson Ruiz, is gearing up to release another game-related cigar this spring.

The company's first cigar line, La Jugada, paid homage to the game of dominoes. This time MoyaRuiz introduces The Rake, a cigar thematically rooted in the game of poker. (The "rake" is the commission fee a cardroom takes for operating a poker game.)

In keeping with the gambling aesthetic, the cigar band is designed to inspire images of a speakeasy-style peep hole that might be found at the entranceway to an illicit gambling room. Additionally, the cigar box has two thin slots on its lid to resemble a rake box.

The cigars are made at Erik Espinosa's La Zona factory in Estelí, Nicaragua, and feature Nicaraguan fillers composed of four ligero leaves: two from the Jalapa region, chosen for sweetness, and two from Estelí, selected for strength. The wrapper is Connecticut broadleaf. The company is keeping tight-lipped about the binder, however.

"As for the blend, we tend to be very secretive," Moya explained to Cigar Aficionado. "I will tell you this, we wanted to do something different. Instead of using our regular wholesalers we found a small farm that had only started growing tobacco and discovered this incredibly flavorful binder with great combustion-something that we needed for a blend with this much ligero. As for the filler, we wanted to keep the strength that we are known for but wanted to add some sweetness for balance.The tobacco of choice was a very flavorful and strong ligero Corojo, which we have never used in our blends."

The Rake will be available in four different sizes: Fix, at 5 5/8 inches by 46 ring gauge; Cut, 5 by 52; Take, 6 by 52; and Vig 6 by 60. The Cut and Take vitolas will be slightly box-pressed, a first for MoyaRuiz.

The Rake is set to be released in late May. Although pricing has not yet been finalized, Moya said that the price for the larger size cigars will be $8.00 to $10.00. Enditem