Born in Pinar del Rio, Tomastio’s earliest memories are of his grandmother rolling cigars. An avid cigar smoker Tomasito Cruz felt it was the right time to pour the same passion into cigars that he did into music. Tomasito chose to collaborate with Tabacalera CM located in Estelí, Nicaragua. The name Candela (translates to fire) was chosen for his first release and is the namesake of his first album. His future cigar releases will carry the names and colors of his subsequent
albums.
The Candela cigar features an Ecuadorian Candela and Ecuadorian Habano wrapper which houses Nicaraguan/Jalapa filler, and Jalapa Habano binder. Candela comes in one vitola, a 6X52 Toro and comes in ten count boxes. MSRP is $14.
This cigar is a medium to full-bodied smoke that delivers rich, well-rounded flavors of earth, pepper, leather, and cinnamon. This cigar features a zesty Habano wrapper and candela atop a sturdy Nicaraguan binder, and aged long fillers from Nicaragua.
Volume II is aimed at two distinct categories of readers: 1) Intermediate players who are ready for a wider range of rhythms to study and use in live playing situations; and 2) Experienced congueros who have digested Volume I and now seek to understand the roots of the modern Cuban conga style. Having assimilated the material in Volume I, the student should be able to play basic Son Montuno, Salsa, Chachachá, and Bolero.”
Volume III is the first educational product to tackle the complex subject of Timba, the new musical genre which has been played in Cuba since 1989. Timba represents a quantum leap for all the instruments of the rhythm section and especially the congas. The recordings of Tomás Cruz are considered the most advanced examples of Timba conga-playing and so fascinated the three coauthors that they sought out Tomás Cruz and spent a year and a half studying his style and meticulously documenting it before even considering the idea of publishing it. After many hundreds of hours of passionate research, this ”labor of love” eventually reached fruition as Volume III. Volumes II & I were then written to trace the roots of the style and to understand the path Tomás took to arrive at his phenomenal level of technical mastery and rhythmic creativity.”