TheFoundation Charter Oak Connecticut Shade Petite Corona carries considerably more Connecticut history than its name might initially suggest. In 1662, King Charles II granted the Connecticut Colony a Royal Charter protecting an unusually broad degree of self-government. Twenty-five years later, when royal governor Sir Edmund Andros arrived in Hartford demanding its surrender, legend holds that the candles were suddenly extinguished during a heated meeting and the Charter disappeared. Captain Joseph Wadsworth is credited with hiding the document inside the hollow of a massive white oak nearby. From that night forward, theCharter Oak became a Connecticut symbol of independence, resilience and the determination to preserve one's own course—an appropriate name for a cigar created by Connecticut native and Foundation founder Nicholas Melillo.
The5¼" x 42 Petite Corona connects that history to another important Connecticut tradition: tobacco. A silky Connecticut Shade wrapper surrounds a Sumatran binder and Cuban-seed Nicaraguan fillers from Estelí and Jalapa. The slender 42-ring format gives the delicate Shade wrapper considerably more influence than it enjoys in the larger Charter Oak sizes, bringing cream, sweet cedar and toasted nuttiness forward against the earthier Nicaraguan core. Almond, toasted bread and subtle natural sweetness develop underneath, while just enough pepper provides definition without disturbing the cigar's approachable character.
That's what makes the Petite Corona such an appealing expression of Charter Oak. Melillo didn't create the line to turn Connecticut Shade into something unnaturally powerful or expensive; Charter Oak was conceived as an honest, everyday cigar built with legitimate tobacco and a genuine connection to his home state. In the traditional5¼ x 42 format, that philosophy is particularly easy to appreciate. It's a cigar rooted in Connecticut twice over—through the Shade leaf surrounding it and through the remarkable piece of Connecticut history whose name appears on the band.
