THE RIGHT PUFF  <-Click to view the full article

Chip Hight was the executive chef at the *17 Restaurant in the historic Alden Hotel in Houston, Texas when he decided to use his well developed pallet for making cigars.  He teamed up with Lorenzo Briones who has a small family owned tabacalera in Esteli, Nicaragua. Lorenzo learned his skills for rolling and blending tobacco in several well known factories such as H.Upmann in Cuba and Joya de Nicaragua, where he worked for many years.  With Lorenzo’s 40 years of experience making cigars and Chip’s expertise as chef, they have been able to create a cigar with great flavors and aromas.
Draw and Construction

The Hight cigars are made with 4 and 6 year old aged fillers from Esteli and Jalapa, Nicaragua. They used Esteli binders and finished with a dark Habano Maduro wrapper. This is a well constructed Nicaraguan Puro, good draw, easy lighting, perfect burn. The cigars I smoked were Petite Lancero’s, 4” x 42 ring gauge.  The draw was especially impressive since the Lancero size cigars typically have a tight draw.  The ash held right to the mid-point of the cigar and the cigar smoked for 45 minutes, reasonable for a small cigar.

Flavor and Aroma

While expert rollers can give you a well-made cigar, only great tobacco blending will give you a great tasting cigar.  Chip and Lorenzo did an excellent job with this cigar.  There are nice overtones of chocolate, roasting coffee and woodsyness (is that even a word?) in the flavors and aroma along with a little bit of roasted nuts.  I thoroughly enjoyed this smoking experience and look forward to trying their larger versions.
Value

With a great smoking experience, you don’t always think about price.  That being said, these cigars sell as singles for $5.70 and in a box of 22 for $112.  I have said it many times before and will say it again, when you find a cigar priced like this and it is smoking better than a $15 cigar, it is not just a good value, it is a great value.  Other sizes and shapes are the  Gordito 5”x52, Gran Perfecto 6”x60 and Padre 7”x48.  This cigar was introduced at the 2011 IPCPR trade show in July 2011.  On the horizon for Chip Hight is a U.S. based boutique factory in Houston, in partnership with Lorenzo Briones.  I look forward to the day I can visit that factory and write another article about their new cigars that will be blended and made in the U.S.

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BRYAN, Texas – Messina Hof, one of the fastest growing and most award-winning wineries and resorts in Texas, announces a new partnership with Hight Cigars to produce a Messina Hof port barrel-aged infused cigar that will be available in Fall 2011.

Chip Hight, a native Houstonian, took his love for cigars and has launched his own cigar brand, Hight Cigars. Hight Cigars are created in Tabacalera Lorenzo Briones, a small factory in Esteli, Nicaragua, by a select group of the area’s most highly skilled roleros. Every cigar is carefully produced and inspected to ensure the highest quality.

Each medium body Messina Hof Private Reserve Papa Paulo Port barrel-aged infused cigar will have 3-to-5 year old Nicaraguan puro and fillers and will be finished with 3-year-old Criollo binders and lightened Habano wrappers. Messina Hof’s Private Reserve Papa Paulo Port has intense chocolate and cherry flavors and is aged in new French and new American oaks for one year each. Naturally fermented using high alcohol tolerant yeast producing creates for a smooth and fruity flavor.

“We are very excited about our partnership with Hight Cigars,” said Paul Bonarrigo. “It gives us a chance to expand our Messina Hof offerings from our current ventures.”

For more information on Messina Hof please call (979) 778-9463 ext. 223 or visit www.MessinaHof.com and for more information on Hight Cigars visit www.HightCigars.com.

About Messina Hof Winery and Resort

Messina Hof Winery and Resort was established in 1977 by Co-Founder Paul and Merrill Bonarrigo. Messina Hof was founded on family values, romance and tradition. Messina Hof is the leader in the establishment of the Texas wine industry and ranks as one of the fastest growing, most award-winning wineries in the state.

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Have cigar, will travel. Earlier this week I had the pleasure of joining Chip Hight of Hight Cigar for a “pub” crawl featuring a night of cigars and scotch on the town. I say pub crawl but it was more like a steakhouse crawl and proved to be an amazing evening!

I love walking into a restaurant’s patio on a beautiful day, people are laughing from table to table enjoying themselves, and then seeing a group of cigar smokers welcoming your arrival as they hand you a cigar and offer you a drink. It is almost a dream. Then you realize that you know those faces well, and that the dream is a reality. With so few places permitting smoke these days, this was an important event for me to see come through. The enthusiasm behind the event really inspired me and made me feel confident that greater things are to come.

The night consisted of three steakhouses with two hour visits at each location, cigars sponsored by Chip Hight and scotch provided by Chivas. Bring in some really cool people and you have an amazing night going through the city with a cigar in hand all throughout the night. The restaurants (in this case: Del Frisco’s, Sullivan’s, and Smith & Wollensky) were all very hospitable and took the evening to the next level. It had me thinking of more ways to enhance the cigar smoking experience. A cigar crawl, it was brilliant!

The past few weeks have been filled with wonderful nights of wine tastings, cigar events, and scotch events- but it is always rare when you have the combined dream of food, spirits, and cigars. I’m very grateful to have friends in each of these industries, and more so now to see things begin to come together. Lines are ready to be crossed. It is about time- and it is going to be big. Are you ready to get involved?

Modern Luxury

Modern Luxury

FACES IN THE CROWD: Heights entrepreneur aims to be a rolling success  <-Click to view the full article.