Vitola: Corona Gorda
Size: 5″ x 46 ring gauge
Price $10.50
Review Sample from SmallBatchCigar.com
Background
Chogui is one of the newer cigar companies out there. I hadn’t heard of them before Small Batch started carrying them. I’ve smoked a couple of their blends but they really haven’t done a whole lot for me. When Andrew gave me this cigar I decided to review it to see how this one went. Here is a little about the cigar from a press release:
“This is a stronger blend than what we usually release. The idea behind the name and the blend, comes from a heart break from a relationship. I wanted a stronger yet flavorful cigar I could smoke at the end of the day and not think about the relationship or the way I was feeling in those days. I am very passionate and proud of Dominican tobacco and that’s why I always try and have the concept of the cigars we release to be expressive of my journey or what’s happening in my life. Also the people you meet and the friends you make in this industry are special. I’ve had complete strangers open up about their life once we light a cigar, so in a way this is me doing the same for all of those that have had the trust and confidence to share their journey with me.”
This first release is supposed to be only 250 10 count boxes but they plan on producing these twice a year. They are comprised of a Dominican corojo filler, a Dominican sun grown binder, with a Dominican sun grown wrapper. This was the first one of these I got to smoke.
Prelight
The fairly simple band is very clear what the company and blend name is, which is definitely a good thing. The wrapper on this cigar is slightly darker than the other cigars I’ve seen from them. It is a ruddy brown in color with some tooth and oils. When I gave it a squeeze there was a slight amount of give but no soft spots. When I put my nose to the wrapper I noted the aroma of leather with the aroma raisins coming from the foot. After clipping it and taking a cold draw on it I got an ok draw with the taste of wood with a slight sweetness.
Flavor
It started off with a good amount of spice on the retrohale and tongue with flavors of cinnamon, wood, and leather. Towards the end of the first third I started to get a sweet finish coming through as well. The cigar starts off at the upper end of medium strength. When I got into the second third the spice mellowed out. I got flavors of wood, leather, cinnamon and hints of marshmallow with a slightly sweet finish. The cigar stayed medium strength. As I got into the final third the spice started to build back up a bit. The flavors in this third were pretty similar to the second third. The cigar moved to medium-full strength by the end.
Construction
The draw and burn was great throughout.
Value
The $10.50 price seems a little high for a small cigar, but the limited nature of it mitigates that somewhat.
Conclusions
This was the first cigar from Chogui that I liked. I’m not saying that the others were bad, just not to my liking. This cigar was definite fuller and richer than their other offerings. If you’d like to give this a try head over to SmallBatchCigar.com.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10
