Cigar Extra: Pain Killer Corojo Box Press by GTO Cigars

• ainVitola: Box Pressed Toro
• 6” x 52 ring gauge
• $8.99
• Provided by GTO Cigars

Background

Hard to believe it’s going on three years since the first time I had GTO Cigars and close to two years since I reviewed the Pain Killer line for the first time. Back in 2015, I rated the Pain Killer Corojo as the best of the line and I have enjoyed it many times since then. GTO owner, Oscar Rodriguez, isn’t the type to simply sit around with the same blends and same vitolas constantly, but neither is he the type to come out with 6 or 8 vitolas of any certain blend. In general, a specific blend gets one or two sizes specifically designed to work best with those blends and that’s it.

So the Pain Killer Maduro has Robusto and Double Corona sizes (along with a limited run of Lanceros), the Mandinga has a single size, his Double Capa has two vitolas, and the GTO Gold has three now that the Corona size was discontinued. When he added the PK Maduro Box Press, he tweaked the blend quite a bit and changed the wrapper leaf, so it wasn’t really the same cigar anymore. For the PK Corojo, I don’t think he’s don’t quite so much tweaking of the blend, so it is mostly the same blend, but it is only the second size for this blend.

Oscar gave me this one to try during an event at Burns last month. By the time I got around to smoking it for review, the shop had sold through an entire box of this size, speaking to its apparent great flavor. As with the regular PK Corojo, this cigar is all Dominican, with a Dominican Corojo wrapper leaf.

Notes

The aroma from the wrapper was fresh hay, while the foot had more cedar and a touch of earth to it. The prelight draw was sweet and citrusy.

Once lit, I got those same citrus notes, flavors of both orange and lemon, on the palate, along with touches of grassiness and wood. The retrohale had more citrus and a slight peppery burn. Within a couple minutes I realized why this cigar sold out so quickly…it was really good!

I got much of the same throughout the cigar…lots of citrus, some grassiness, some cedar, a little earth. The pepper burn started slowly, then ramped up as I went.

I liked this stick a lot. Whether or not I like it better than the original Pain Killer Corojo vitola is debatable, but regardless, it’s something I would like to see in the shop on a regular basis. Based on early sales, I’m not the only one.