The King Street Emporium

Charter Oak

By Foundation

Nicholas Melillo grew up in the Connecticut River Valley, spent years as a blender at Drew Estate, and when he launched Foundation Cigar Company in 2015 the Charter Oak was his homecoming. The name comes from a massive white oak that stood for centuries in Hartford, a tree under whose branches Native Americans gathered in council and cultivated tobacco long before European settlers arrived. Melillo's grandfather, a World War II veteran, smoked Connecticut tobacco for most of his adult life. The blend is both a tribute to the tree and to him. The wrapper is Connecticut shade grown in the River Valley, over a Sumatran binder and long-leaf filler from Estelí and Jalapa in Nicaragua. Rated 93 by Cigar Aficionado. Multiple sizes, 20-count boxes. Mild to medium in body. Made at Tabacalera A.J. Fernandez in Estelí, Nicaragua.