In what is believed to be a world first, Scotland’s Robert Graham 1874 cigar and whisky specialist has taken online cigar tasting sessions to a new level.
In a recent ticket-only Zoom meeting of nearly 100 eager Scotch and cigar lovers, Juan Martinez, Vice President of Joya de Nicaragua cigars, presented the shocked participants with the bonus opportunity of blending their own cigars – live.
Even more, it was later announced a future session where attendees would get to personally blend 10 individual cigars with Joya that would later be sent to them.
‘To my knowledge, it’s never been done before,’ said Stephen Johnstone, MD of Robert Graham. ‘Our guests had bought tickets to taste the Antano CT alongside McCallum McPink whisky when Juan announced there would be a special surprise; a series of options guests could select via an online survey. They were asked to make their choice of size, blend and strength of cigar, the results of which were later collated. Each person who bought a ticket to be part of this remarkable event will now receive one of the cigars they helped blend, as part of their original ticket price.’
But that wasn’t the end of the surprises. Later, Martinez announced that the collaboration would continue with another world first ticketed event on July 23 – the opportunity for those buying special tickets to take part in a unique blending session once more with Joya. This time, each attendee would be able to blend 10 cigars of their very own, under Martinez’ expert tutorage.
‘It’s unique and remarkable and I can’t tell you how proud we are to work alongside Joya de Nicaragua and Tor Imports to make this happen,’ said Johnstone. ‘Together, we’ve really raised the bar.’
The most recent event included a live tasting of Joya’s Antano CT alongside the McPink Scotch whisky from McCallum and there was live music before and after from Scotch guitar maestro Tom Anderson. The event was hosted by the Cigar Journal’s own Nick Hammond.
RobertGraham1874.com
JoyaCigars.com
McCallumWhisky.scot
