October 6, 2011 – 10:20pm, Managua, Nicaragua.

I’m sitting in the lobby of the Camino Real hotel–typing away and polishing off a plate of plantains, fried cheese and beans, and washing it down with a glass of red wine. It’s not the kind of red wine that would make Pete Johnson take notice–but rather, most likely the kind that was in a box in the mini-fridge before it found it’s way to my table.

I think I mentioned somewhere that over the last 10 months, we often found ourselves here at Crowned Heads living ‘dog years,‘ i.e., some days felt like 7 days. Well, the last 2 days have certainly felt like 14. Mind you, I’m not complaining. In truth, the last 48 hours have been incredibly productive towards the future of Crowned Heads and Four Kicks. But the next time you consider sending your resume to work in the cigar industry, here’s a glimpse into a couple of days on this side of the fence:

Wednesday – Woke up at 4:00am. Packed for trip to Nicaragua (tried not to disturb my wife…failed), left for airport, caught 6:00am flight to Miami with Mike (Conder). Made my flight–barely (last person to board). Connected in Miami–arrived in Managua–picked up and driven 2 hours down the Pan American highway (more on that later)–arrived at Nicaprosa (Oliva Tobacco Co.)–spent the afternoon reviewing wrapper leaf for 2012 Four Kicks production. Checked into hotel. One hour to rest/catch up on email. Dinner with our good friends from OTC, Gustavo Cura and Trey Oliva. Bed.

Thursday – Alarm set for 7:30am in order to get ‘extra‘ rest. Citywide ‘air raid‘ alarm sounded off at 6:00am (I’d forgotten about that for some reason). Got up. Emailed my wife, returned more emails from day before. Wrote out bills that needed to go in the mail when I return home. Went down to breakfast at 8:30. Ate. Checked-out of hotel. Mike appeared and we’re in the car at 9:00 to drive 2 hours back down the Pan American highway to pick up Ernesto (Perez-Carrillo). Got Ernesto. Drove back another 2 hours down the Pan American Highway back to Esteli. Arrived at Nicaprosa. Ate a sandwich. Went straight to inspecting potential wrapper leaf for Four Kicks ’12. This process consisted of evaluating 2 different primings of the same leaf (seed) from 3 different farms–inspecting for color and texture….then wrapping a 1/2 leaf around a cigar (after removing wrapper)–smoking to evaluate for flavor. And more smoking. Side-by-side. Ohhhhh, the nuances. Once the ‘top draft pick‘ is selected, then you determine how the inventory is–then you inspect each pilon from which each hand of tobacco you selected was pulled from. And once you get to /that/ point, you can begin negotiations. Wrapped that up (no pun intended) around 5:00. Ernesto decided he wanted to take a look at some viso and seco for filler about a mile down the road. Finished that around 5:45. Drove back to the hotel to drop off Ernesto and Mike, then drove another 2 hours down the Pan American Highway back to Managua to check into the hotel. Which is where I am now.

So how was YOUR Thursday?

Tomorrow’s call time is 5:30am so I can grab the 6:00am shuttle to the airport, catch the 7:20 flight to Miami, then go through the aerobic 3 mile walk that is the journey to and through passport control/US Customs, catch my plane to Nashville, then it’s home-sweet-home.

Oh yeah…about the Pan American Highway. It’s a treacherous stretch of “highway” (and I use that term loosely) that is composed of blind curves and one lane in each direction. There’s non-stop passing of slower vehicles which means rolling the dice and going into on-coming traffic.

If you’ve never had the pleasure, I can best sum it up like this: imagine a video game–but it’s real life–that is a cross between NASCAR, Frogger, and playing chicken. All with a cross-section of big trucks carrying little animals, 250cc motorcycles, and 4 cylinder SUVs. Do /that/ for 2 hours of your Wednesday and 6 hours of your Thursday, and then send your resume in–if you’re still interested.

I’ll close on an upbeat and positive note. Once again, Ernesto has further reinforced his role as “tobacco scientist” in my eyes. Truly, I look upon my 15+ previous years in this industry as undergraduate studies, and now having the privilege of working with Ernesto, I am currently enrolled in graduate school. A different league. Entirely.

Between Ernesto, Mike, and myself, I believe we’ve secured some excellent tobacco for the 2012 production of Four Kicks. In the meantime, our first 30-some-odd-thousand ‘babies’ are already rolled and resting peacefully in Santiago (Dominican Republic). Far away from the Pan American Highway.

November is just around the corner….