Originally published at Tiki Bar Online.
Mini, 4” x 38 ring gauge / $15.75 for a pack of 4, Burns Tobacconist
Last Monday I looked at the first of 3 new blends Ortega Cigar Company recently released in the “Minis” format. To review, with the Minis, Eddie Ortega has teamed up with PDR Cigars in the Dominican Republic for new blends in a size I like to call “half-lanceros.” They were meant to be perfect for a 15 to 20 minute smoke, although with the few I’ve smoked already, I have found that 30 to 40 minutes is more likely unless you really like to chug on your cigars. The Minis come in boxes of 4 that resemble the old classic “hard-pack” cigarette packs that “tough guys” used to roll up in the sleeve of their t-shirts.
Today’s “Natural” blend is supposed to be the mildest of the 3. The box is yellow with red trim and I’ve now seen that all 3 blends have the same brown wrapper that simply states “Ortega Mini Cigars” on the front, along with “DR” (for Dominican Republic) and “Hand Made” on the sides that wrap around and glue in the back. As of yet, there is no information posted online (that I could find, anyway) regarding the blend details of these cigars. Just looking at the cigar, I have to guess “Connecticut Shade” probably grown in Ecuador as the wrapper, but…I could be wrong. Giving the Mini a sniff, I got a slight grassiness from the wrapper, along with a stronger grassy note and a bit of sweet earth on the foot. Prelight, the draw was good and had a “mild cigar” grassy/hay flavor profile to it.
I lit the Ortega Mini Natural and what I got was a truly mild cigar. The flavors were very slightly earthy, grassy, and with a good amount of sweet hay. There were touches of cedar and a hint of pepper spice on the nose. Some milder smokes tend to lean toward being too bitter in the grassiness, but this had a nice balance, at least at the beginning. As I puffed along, I couldn’t help but think that this would be a great stogie for the beginning of the day, accompanied by a nice black coffee.
Sounds like a nice lunch break or cold weather smoke. My local shop just picked up Ortega, so hopefully, these will be in soon. Thanks for the review.