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WELCOME TO MILITARY HERITAGE COLLECTION OF NORTH TEXAS
Housing military artifacts from the 1800s to the present day we seek to honor the men and woman whose service and sacrifices built and defended this country. We have tried to make the Military Heritage Collection of North Texas a unique place to visit, where operational monster military trucks and armored vehicles vie for space with small arms, uniforms, military equipment and artwork to create a dynamic environment where the stories of our veterans are told.
SMOKE MAGAZINE 2011 click here to view PDF
Reviews from fine publications
Robb Report
September – 2005
Smokers who shun small-caliber cigars will overlook the best product from Flor de Jardin. The company’s blend of Honduran and Nicaraguan tobaccos reaches its flavor zenith in the long slim Lancero …
SMOKE Magazine
Fall – 2005
…9.6 Superior…”Bring more of these on!”…Summer – 2005
… An even younger Honduran cigar brand had its genesis in 2002, when Texas-based landscape designer Bill Makens toured the country, checking out colonial gardens and architecture around the capital, and in his words, “trying to buy a cigar.” Informed by a local that the true heart of cigar manufacturing was in Danlí, he made a special side trip – a mission, to track down someone who could make him a good cigar. “You can call it fate or destiny,” he says now, “but I came across a man who happened to be running a small cigar factory.” The man was Juan Benigno Valdes, who quickly developed a bond with the inquisitive American, and eventually a cigar brand, Flor de Jardín (“Garden Flower,” a reference to Makens’s other business, designing English gardens). To create the brand, a Honduran/Nicaraguan filler blend, available in Ecuadorian natural or Nicaraguan maduro wrappers, Valdes employs less than 20 people at the factory, developing about 5,000 cigars a month, sold mostly in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and slowly expanding northward into other markets. The slow pace agrees with Makens, who is thrilled to be in the business. “In any business it’s hard to find people that you really have such a level of trust,” he says of his partner, Valdes. “Juan and his family are such genuine people. We’re a small company, and we need to do everything right – and that means a commitment to quality over quantity.” A Rose Among the Ruins.
Tobacco Retailer Magazine
June – 2005
Texas entrepreneur Michael Makens became familiar with the term walkabout while attending university in Australia. With the ability to speak four languages, including Chinese and Spanish, he took the term to heart and has traveled or lived in over 30 different countries…
