Cigar Dojo has collaborated with a LOT of cigar companies to release a special cigar. One they haven't work with, until now, is Fratello Cigars. Their first collaboration cigar is called the After BurnR cigar, a special project with deep ties to each company's unique histories.
Cigar Dojo often gets inspiration from Japanese/ninja culture while Fratello often gets theirs from Italian and space imagery. At first glance, you may think the duo's only common interest was premium cigars. However, the Dojo has ties to some of the original spacecraft designs/concepts from NASA. John R. Guttormson, father of Eric Guttormson (owner of Cigar Dojo), is a Korean War vet, and lifelong artist. After serving two tours on the frontlines in Korea, John became a technical illustrator for NASA, bringing engineers' concepts to life as the first spacecrafts took shape during the 1950s and '60s.
Knowing that Omar had a connection to NASA gave us an opportunity to collaborate in a special way. My father, John R. Guttormson, worked for Martin Marietta, illustrating some of the early spacecraft for NASA. I think it's pretty special that we were able to include some of these illustrations on the After BurnR box.
Eric Guttormson, owner of Cigar Dojo
It's no secret that Omar de Frias, owner/founder of Fratello Cigars, also has a background with NASA, spending 12 years and managing a $5 billion budget with the organization before departing to live out his dream by creating Fratello Cigars in 2013. Gathering together many of Guttormson's 60-plus-year-old illustrations, the Fratello After BurnR cigar concept was born, spanning the course of two years before the final project was ready for ignition.
The After BurnR cigar is a departure for manufacturing for Fratello, partnering with the bourgeoning, boutique-minded Tabacalera la iSLA factory of the Dominican Republic. Historically, Fratello cigars have come out of the Joya de Nicaragua factory. The blend was built around a particularly well-aged bale of tobacco, being incorporated into the filler alongside other Dominican leaves. This core recipe was then bound in a Nicaraguan leaf and finalized with an Ecuadorian Corojo wrapper.
Cigar projects, where quantities do not exceed 4,000 cigars, are ones I really enjoy. We get to source tobacco bales from our suppliers that, due to mass-market projections, companies tend not to use, as replicating such a blend would be impossible. This is a one-of-a-kind cigar, as the bale we sourced had been aging for years and was perfect for this project.
Omar de Frias, owner/founder of Fratello Cigars
Fratello After BurnR is presented in boxes of 10 cigars that feature CigarDojo and Fratello imagery alongside original NASA illustrations fromJohn R. Guttormson. They come in one vitola, a 5″ x 50 parejo robusto with production being limited to 300 boxes. Each box has an MSRP of $105 ($10.50/cigar). The cigar will be sold exclusively through online retailer Atlantic Cigar Co. starting Friday, June 23rd, at 12pm (Eastern).
The blend for Fratello After BurnR uses an Ecuadorian Corojo wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, and Dominican fillers.