Meerapfel Cigar
Uber Luxury
Richard
I think I don't have to introduce you to
Jeremiah Meerapfel anymore: you've already met him, or at least heard of him. But
for those who want to refresh their memory, I invite you to read my previous
article.
This time, we enter the big league, because
the only lace we are going to make is on the rings. Jeremiah, like many people in
the cigar world, is very attached to family and traditions; but he also knows
that our civilization is in perpetual modification with new technologies always
more grandiose. So he is going to build on that to make Uber Luxury, high
refinement, and launch the first Richard line. It was natural to start with
this range, since it was his father Richard, who gave the letters of nobility
to the company with the tobacco of Cameroon since 1969. Richard creates the
miracle of Cameroonian tobacco, establishing unique relationships with farmers,
families and local communities. He is not only building the foundation of the
most precious and sacred leaf, but also bringing unprecedented opportunity,
hope and salvation to the people of Central Africa and Cameroon.
I will come back to this later (when
explaining my tasting experience) but the ring of this range, which looks like
lace, represents a tobacco leaf to mark Richard's contribution to the world of
tobacco and especially with the leaves from Cameroon.
I have very few communications to give you about the composition, the age of the tobacco or the place of manufacture, because Jeremiah is not fond of this information. Not because he is overprotective of his creation against piracy, but more because he says that this information is of little interest for the tasting. I can therefore reveal that the cigar has a Cameroonian wrapper, that he used only aged tobaccos (already with the Estancia range, he showed us that aged tobaccos were not a problem for his company) and that they are rolled in the Dominican Republic. NOA: it takes very good rollers to make this kind of prestige cigar, few factories finish their cigars with elaborate heads; the Richard's have tails, the Meerapfel and Fuente families are more than collaborators, or even friends... that's all I need to assume (but it has never been confirmed or denied) that they are rolled at Fuente.
I have a silky wrapper with fine, pleasing
veins running through it. It is highlighted with a ring, designed by a Belgian
lace maker, that looks more like a work of art than a classic cigar ring. It's
all in gold color with solid parts and a lace-like background. I'll start with
this one: it embodies the representation of a large tobacco leaf (I'd lean
towards a Cameroonian wrapper leaf). With its cut, it lets the brown of the real
cape appear and it gives us a bluffing effect. In its center, like an
alchemist's table or a magic square, are 9 gold bars that represent the 9
letters of the name Meerapfel.
On each side of the lace stands a column or a
tower, if you have a magnifying glass you will see that this one is strewn in
filagram of the date 1876. It is on this date that Meir II Meerapfel builds the
first cigar factory of the Clan in Untergrombach in Germany.
But it also attracts my attention: I take back
my magnifying glass and I discover on it a lion. If Jeremiah is very attached
to his clan, to his friends, he has never denied his convictions and his
origins, the lion is one of the two acronyms of the clan because it is of great
importance in the Old Book.
You can
see that this time I played quite well on deduction and/or on my passion for
symbolism; of course this is my own business and can in no way be taken as a
formal truth.
I will finish by saying that on the back of
the ring is the inscription Van Tintelen Printing Art, a Dutch printer well
known in Europe for the realization of rings.
One last look at this venerable jewel and then
I begin my cutting and lighting ceremony. The straight cut is done in a clean
way that gives me a flat and perfect opening. When cold, my vitola of the day
gives me flavors of fertile earth and wheat, dried fruit and coffee cream. I
find that this blend is already very subtle and my faith hyper enjoyable.
The foot lights up properly when I set it on
fire and gives me an admirable plume of smoke.
I am not surprised by the roundness and
sweetness, typical of aged tobaccos, in this tasting they are accompanied by
oak and caramel. I am now at the entrance of the spice market of Istanbul,
where my Mamy asked me to bring her a mix of cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon, you
see this mixture known as allspice that is found in English pudding,
gingerbread ...
A subtle blend that perfectly flavors my tasting.
After a good 5 centimeters, my Uber becomes subliminally unctuous,
which would damn a saint. The
retro-olfaction accentuates this impression of absolute happiness while
releasing a fine film of vanilla.
I really don't have to force myself to smoke
slowly because I want this pleasure to last and last.
Once past the location of the ring, which is
perfectly and simply removed, a flavor of roasted hazelnuts is added to the
others already described.
I am simply in Valhalla and I categorically
refuse to come back down, but unfortunately all good things must come to an end
and here I am, heading for my garden to respectfully deposit the cigarette butt
on Mother Earth: what comes from the earth goes back to the earth.
This double Robusto cigar of 14.60 cm for a
cepo of 52 is provided in an extremely light wooden box, with ten cigars per
box: they are deposited on a luxurious tray which can be used as an ashtray.
Selling price at the time of writing this
article 94 € each.
In conclusion: with its aspect, its design, its
great quality as well visual as gustatory, I think that this cigar is out of
the lot and I understand perfectly that it is not available in all civets; we
are not going to buy a Maserati at the local dealer's, and considering the
small quantities produced (only 6.130 cigars per year) the waiting list of the
great houses recognized worldwide which want to market these jewels is likely
to be long.
It took almost 150 years to find a Meerapfel
cigar on the world market but it was worth the wait.
I leave you with Jeremiah: A tribute to our past, while respecting our
future.