Cigar Review: Achilles by Curivari

Vitola: Heroicos
Size: 5.25” x 50 ring gauge
Price $8.50
Purchased from Silo Cigars

Background

“Boutique” is a word that gets thrown around a lot in cigar culture these days. So much so, that is has practically lost its meaning in most cases. It’s hard to really consider a cigar company boutique when they are (1) a division of a much, much larger company or (2) contract for their cigars to be made at a factory where many millions of cigars are produced in a year’s time for different companies. Curivari, though, is a company that seems to relish its boutique status. You can hardly find them in any shop. When you do find a shop that carries them, it’s almost impossible to find the blend or the vitola you really want. Orders are filled when they are filled and batches are numbered in the 10s of thousands, not millions.

Amidst that backdrop, the Achilles was produced by Curivari in 2013. They first showed up at Burns in September and by the time I got to the shop, all the smallest vitola were simply gone. Jason said they were fantastic (and he even named it one of his top releases of the year on Facebook), so I tried a larger size…but I have to say, it didn’t blow me away. It was a solid stick, but nothing that special. So, back to my motto of “try it again in a different size.” I finally found the smallest vitola in stock at Silo in Knoxville in December.

In Greek mythology, Achilles was a hero of the Trojan War, said to be a demigod, and was responsible for the slaying of Hector outside the gates of Troy. He was also reportedly invulnerable except for his heel; a small wound there resulted in his death. Thereafter “Achilles’ heel” has meant a person’s point of weakness. For the full skinny on Achilles, read the Wikipedia page at your leisure.

The Achilles is a Nicaraguan puro, like most of Curivari’s releases, and is being made in 3 sizes. Besides the Heroicos I smoked for this review, there is a Gloriosos at 5.75” x 56 and an Eternos at 6.25” x 52. MSRPs are all below the $10 mark.

If you have trouble finding them near your home, site sponsor Burns Tobacconist is an official Curivari retailer. You can check on current availability by calling 423.855.5200.

Prelight

The band on this is pure classic tobacciana: red and metallic gold inks on white paper along with intricate and interesting embossing and a custom die-cut shape. What I like about this type of band is how simple it looks at first glance, but how complex it is when you start to look closely. The build quality looked excellent, with a neat cap and flat, even seams. The cigar was lightly box-pressed in an almost perfect square.

The color of the wrapper was a beautiful toasted caramel with a little mottling and small veins. The aroma from the leaf was sweet with hay and molasses notes, with the foot being almost equally as sweet smelling, but with a little earthiness mixed in.

After cutting the head, I got a very good draw that had lots of natural tobacco flavor along with a mix of wet earth and hay. 

Flavor

Once lit the Achilles offered up flavors of earth and faint citrus. The retrohale was peppery and the finish was very cedary. As the first third continued to burn, I got pepper on both palate and nose, along with a definite Nicaraguan earthiness and a lighter hay-like note. There was still lots of cedar on the finish, too.

As I puffed through the second third, cedar flavors emerged more strongly on the palate, not just in the finish, and I started to get more sour citrus notes. The earth and pepper aspects diminished a bit in the process. At the end the Achilles went back to an earthier flavor profile with just touches of cedar, hay and citrus, definitely ending on a high note.

Construction

Solid construction ruled the day with Achilles. I experienced an excellent draw, solid ash and even enough burn line that it only needed a couple minor touch-ups.

Value

For a very small batch cigar, the price on these is outstanding. After seeing many limited edition or small production cigars top $10 and even far more, it’s nice to see a line that stays under that magical mark in all vitolas.

Conclusions

The Achilles was a solid medium-to-full bodied smoke with lots of complexity. For me, it had too much woodiness through much of the cigar to invest in a ton of them, but this size definitely hit the sweet spot better than the larger ring gauge vitolas. I can’t say it was one of the best of 2013, or even one of the best of Curivaris varied line-up, but it should be on your “try it” list.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10

This article originally appeared on Tiki Bar Online