Although elementary school teachers might not agree, there are occasions when two plus two equals . . . five!

That’s the concept of the Carlos Torano Reserva Decadencia, finally shipping after more than three years of planning, production and aging. It’s a marriage of the Torano’s much-respected Reserva Selecta cigar with the famed Decadencia Chocolate Port produced by Wilson Creek Winery of Temecula, California.

“I thought winemakers were perfectionists,” said Wilson Creek marketing manager Mick Wilson, “until I saw the Toranos working through test after test to get Reserva Decadencia just right. And they did.

“The challenge marrying alcohol with tobacco, once solved, creates a cigar that mellows with age far better than most cigars.”

Both the Toranos and the winery were careful not to simply create another flavored cigar. Instead, said Torano Cigars President Charlie Torano (pictured above with his father, Carlos Torano), “the cigar is blended with just a hint of the port wine, which in turn receives ‘just a pinch’ of natural chocolate, to enhance the wine’s innate chocolate undertones.”

The production process is quite labor intensive, starting with aged tobaccos of three to five years old (including a Connecticut Shade wrapper) that are blended into Reserva Selecta cigars of either the Churchill (7 1/4 inches by 48 ring) or Robusto (5 inches by 50 ring) size. The finished cigars are then aged in the same French oak barrels that are used to age the Decadencia Chocolate Port, imbuing the essence of the wine into the cigars.

Enthusiasts who want to try these cigars need not worry about any spillover of the flavor in their humidors, however. The Torano Reserva Decadencia is offered only in boxes of 20 inside sealed glass tubes that keep the cigars ready until the right moment. Only 60,000 cigars were produced in the first production cycle and will have retail prices of $10 (Robusto) or $12 (Churchill) each.

The cigar will be formally launched at the Wilson Creek Winery at a special program on November 4.