Our very own Nick Libretti and Greg Waters went down to Miami in late June and made the most of it! They went all over Miami talking to various cigar manufacturers and visiting historical cigar landmarks. Their first stop, once they landed down in Magic City, was at The Tank Brewing Co. where they met up with Rafael Nodal before he was off to Nicaragua for business.

Rafael is the Head of Product Capability for Altadis USA. He’s been at the helm for many projects for Altadis, but the work he’s put into reimaging the Aging Room brand has been nothing short of brilliant. One of many achievements that have come from Rafael was landing the number one cigar of the year in 2019 with the Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua. The Quattro Nicaragua is a follow-up to the Aging Room Quattro F55 who had a multitude of successes on its own.

However, once Nodal reached out to AJ Fernandez to collaborate, Rafael knew this had the potential to be even bigger and better. “The confidence you gain from working with a guy like AJ is something I never experienced before. Being around him was infectious and I cannot wait to continue to collaborate with one of my oldest friends” Nodal stated in the interview.

In late 2020 when Nick was conducting a list of cigars to add to our 50th releases, he instantly reached out to Rafael Nodal and AUSA. Once Rafael and Nick talked about potential lines that could be a part of our 50th celebration, Rafael suggested using the Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua, but with a twist!

Instead of a box-pressed, Nodal made the Aging Room Quattro Nicaragua 50th round for our 50th celebration! He knew it’d be a different smoking experience all while utilizing the same blend of tobaccos from the Number one cigar of the year back in 2019.  The Aging Room JR 50th Anniversary Quattro Nicaragua is still available online! So don’t miss out on being a part of JR’s 50th celebration! Click the image below to check out this delicious smoke.

You can check out Rafael Nodal’s full interview with Nick in the video above and we hope you enjoy it! Keep a lookout for more Miami content coming in the next few weeks!