Originally published at Tiki Bar Online
Robusto, 5.375” x 52 ring gauge / $13.00, MSRP
A couple weeks ago I was looking through my locker and I came across this cigar. I decided to see how the last four years have been to the cigar. I purchased a box of them as soon as my local shop got them in. They came packed in 10 count boxes. They are comprised of Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers and Dominican and Nicaraguan binder with and Ecuadorian Habano wrapper. I know I gave a couple of these away so this is the seventh or eighth one of these I smoked.
The wrapper was a peanut brown in color with a slight amount of tooth to it. The wrapper was slightly oily and was slightly rough to the touch and was slightly lumpy. When I gave it a squeeze it was fairly firm and there were no soft spots. Putting my nose to the wrapper I got some light hay with barnyard coming from the foot. After clipping it and taking a cold draw on it I got some light hay and cinnamon with a good draw.
Once I lit up the cigar the first taste I noted was a sweet cream. After a few more puffs some red pepper spice and basil started to come through. The draw was great and it produced a large volume of smoke. This was something that I had a problem with most of the other ones I smoked, a draw that was too tight. As I moved farther in the spice started building and I got some curry flavors. I did have to keep puffing on it to keep it going. The ash was a bit flaky, but I can’t remember what previous ones were like.
The spice really ramped up especially on the retrohale as I started this third. I noted flavors of wood, cinnamon and cream with some sweetness on the finish. The spice however was the main part of the cigar through this third.
As I moved into the final third there really wasn’t much change. I could taste a bit of the same flavors as the second third with some coffee thrown in. The spice was very strong on the tongue and retrohale. The draw continued to be perfect. I also got a slight nicotine hit from it as well.
This cigar was affected by age quite differently than most any other cigar I’ve had in that it got stronger over time. I don’t know what caused this but I definitely liked it more now that when I first bought it. However the spice really overwhelmed the rest of the flavors. I would be curious to see how a bit more time changed it.
