ROYAL GAME
SIZE: 5 1/4 x 50 robusto extra
Wrappers: Connecticut shade/Connecticut Broadleaf
Dr. Oscar Rodriguez, the founder of GTO, was going through some of his old family ledgers when he discovered what he describes as a “blending formula” left behind by his grandfather.
The formula called for using aged, first-generation Cuban seeds grown on the company’s farms in the Cibao Valley in the Dominican Republic. At the end of the blending book was a handwritten note, “for the Royal Game only.”
Rodriguez took those notes and has developed two new cigars under the Royal Game banner. Both are 5 1/4 x 50 robusto extras that use an internal blend of corojo tobaccos grown by the family in the Cibao Valley, some of which he says are aged for 10 years. Where the cigars differ is the wrappers: one uses a genuine Connecticut shade-grown wrapper, the other a Connecticut broadleaf seed that is grown by the Rodriguez family.
