Cigar Review: Cohiba Spectre

• Vitola: Double Corona
• 7.25” x 54 ring gauge
• MSRP $90(!)
• Sample provided by General Cigar rep

Background

It’s not often I’ve got a $90 in my humidor waiting for me to burn it. Actually, it’s not ever. I once had a $100 MSRP Gurkha Triad Maduro in my humidor…turns out I wish I had just left it in there and never smoked it. I’ve had several Padron 50th Anniversary Hammers…retail from $45 to $75, depending on where you buy it…but never anything that is nearly $100. But right now I have a Cohiba Spectre that I’m going to burn.

Spectre was part of General Cigar’s 2018 IPCPR new release package and definitely one of those sticks that was talked about a lot…most likely because it is so extravagantly priced. This flagship of the Cohiba line is the first thing fully developed under brand ambassador, Sean Williams, and the pedigree of the tobacco contained in it is pretty radical…it starts with Dominican Piloto Cubano, which was aged in tercios since its 1995 harvest, surrounded by Nicaraguan Esteli leaf from 2011 and 2014 harvests that have been aged in Spanish Sherry barrels. Next they added 3 types of Honduran leaf: Olancha San Agustin from 2002, Jamastran 2011 and La Estrada 2011, then wrapped it in an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper that underwent an extra six months of fermentation. All the cigars were bunched and rolled by one pair in General’s Dominican factory. Only 180 boxes of 10 were made and apparently they were all sold out during the trade show.

I was fortunate enough to have our General rep give me a sample of this cigar…and he didn’t mind if I saved it for review purposes. I am struggling to decide whether to post a “full scored review” that entails drinking only water with the cigar, or just pairing it with some nice Bourbon at some point…or maybe I’ll do a little of both. Hard to know what the best thing to do is, but I know that I’m unlikely to get another chance at this. (I actually spoke too soon on that…General sent me samples for review and they did include a few more Spectres…so I’ll get to try at least one or two more!)

Prelight

I have to say the packaging for Cohiba Spectre is absolutely dynamite. The box is a large disc, silver on the sides, red on top, black inside. The cigars are packaged in translucent red tubes. The effect really is stunning, at least in photos. The cigar I was given had no tube, just cellophane. The main band is red with silver type and trim. Actually, the trim and “COHIBA” type is all done in hologram, while the rest of the type “SPECTRE” a couple times, plus some other type just done in silver ink. The secondary band was completely covered with the hologram, with “SPECTRE” in blank ink.

The wrapper color was dark chocolate brown, smooth and oily to the touch. Some of the veining that you would expect from Ecuadorian Sumatra is visible, but they were all flat to the touch. The aroma from the leaf was leather and earth. From the foot, I got more earth, with touches of cedar and coffee bean. I was a little surprised that I didn’t get any sherry aroma from the barrel-aged leaves, but there really was just nothing there.

After clipping the end, I got a good draw that actually did have a good amount of the sherry rolling around in the flavor mix, along with earth, wood and milk chocolate.

Flavor

The Spectre started off medium-to-full in body with strong earth notes right up front, followed by bits of espresso bean and high-cacao dark chocolate, while cedar and a touch of sherry sweetness rounded out the flavor profile. There was a dash of white pepper on the palate and a bit more of the same on the nose. The same continued for the rest of the first third.

The pepper died down slowly as the second third burned along, leaving more bittersweet chocolate and coffee bean and wood notes. The sherry barrel-aged leaves continued to add some sweetness to the mix, but there just wasn’t a huge amount of change in flavor profile from the first to second thirds.

As the second third turned into the third, notes of wood came to the forefront, with chocolate and coffee dying off a little. The sweetness tapered off a bit and earth surged in the mix.

Construction

The draw was slightly snug, but far from unworkable. The ash was solid, holding on for over an inch once, and the burn line was even enough to not need tending to.

Value

I judge the 1 point for value based on the following easy criteria: if I would spend my own money for it, it gets 1.0 point. If I would smoke it if someone else gave it to me (or at a great discount), it gets 0.5 points. If I wouldn’t smoke it again, it gets 0. I liked this to smoke it again, but I’m not paying anywhere close to $90 for it.

Conclusions

Can I say this was the best Cohiba I’ve ever had? Yes. And I’m including the Cuban variety because, honestly, the Cuban Cohiba just isn’t all that amazing (especially when construction is pitiful compared with other $25 to $30 cigars). Is it really worth $90? Not to me. You may feel differently about having a truly unique experience that is fairly exclusive since the price tag put it into the category of “unattainable” for most cigar smokers. It was very good, though lacking a little complexity that I’d like to see in such an over-the-top cigar. You have to make up your own mind as to whether you want to try this one. Maybe you’ll have someone gift one to you, like I did…thank you again for allowing me to try this one!

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: .5/1
Total: 9/10