Cigar Review: CroMagnon Venus by RoMa Craft

Vitola: Venus (Petite Salamon)
Size: 6.125” x 56 ring gauge
MSRP $10
Purchased at Maxamar

Background

Time to go diving back into the pool of cigars I picked up on my recent California trip. As noted before, the first day I was there, Skip Martin headlined a RoMa Craft event at Maxamar. Along with the full line of regular releases on sale that day, Skip brought some “Store Exclusive/Event Only” cigars with him. Basically it works like this: they have 3 or more cigars made exclusively for one store or another around the country, but he maintains the right to take those same vitolas out on the road and offer them at events…which is how I ended up with the CroMagnon Venus, an exclusive to R. Field of Honolulu, Hawaii.

The size on the website and the photos I saw from when this was initially releases (early 2013) show a slightly different cigar. The size is listed as 6.5” long, but I measured it at slightly more than 6”. The photos show a pointier foot, ala the Fuente Hemingway line; the version I purchased has a foot more like the Salamon shape of the Tatuaje Anarchy. Not sure what happened in the meantime, but this was sold as the Venus, so maybe the shape had to get slightly altered at some point.

The CroMagnon blend was Skip’s first foray into the cigar manufacturing world and was originally designed to fit his palate. It uses three separate fillers from Nicaragua (“Esteli, Condega and a small farm north of Esteli on the Honduran border. This third leaf, a ligero, brings a strong, smoky, savory flavor to the blend.” from the company website), a Cameroon binder, and a Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro wrapper leaf. I’ve had quite a few CroMags over the years, but this review marks the first time I have smoked this vitola.

Prelight

I have to say, if this cigar didn’t end in the torpedo head, but perhaps a Cinna-Bon looking pigtail instead, it would greatly resemble the aforementioned Tatuaje Anarchy (the Anarchy Apocalypse even used Connecticut Broadleaf, too). These newer CroMags also include the double-band…white band underneath a slightly narrower black band, both of which are blind-embossed (the black band with “CROMAGNON” the white band with cave paintings images). The band is hard to read, but once you know what cigar it is, it becomes an immediate identifier. The wrapper leaf was dark—almost black in places—and oily to the eye and to the touch. There was a large, ugly vein on the backside…you know, typical Broadleaf stuff that fans of the leaf like me grow to love the look of.

I gave the wrapper a sniff and picked up a strong earthiness, along with a mild sweetness and hint of coffee bean. The foot had more earth to it. The cold draw was excellent, tasting mostly of earth and coffee, with a touch of tea in there, too.

Flavor

As is usually the case with CroMagnons, the cigar lit up easily and evenly, starting off with a medium-strength, full-flavor hit of earth, tea, and pepper spice, with a subtle backing of sweet cocoa and pepper spice. The pepper came through much stronger on the nose. I’ve reviewed this blend previously and you pretty much know how I feel about it, so this time around I decided to forego my “water only” rule and enjoyed the cigar with a Diet Coke.

The second third was much earthier with some unsweetened cocoa powder; the pepper notes had diminished greatly. I got much the same profile in the final third.

Construction

As with many Broadleaf wrappers, I had to make frequent touch-ups to this cigar. The draw was very good, although I did have to re-cut at one point…I always default to a little less than correct on torpedo ends, it seems. The ash was as solid as concrete for the most part, not flaking off onto my lap.

Value

“Store exclusive” means limited production, which generally means “higher price tag.” This is just $10 (if you get it at an event, if you buy at the Hawaii store, it’s $15…the price you pay for shopping in paradise, I guess), so I’d call it a very good value.

Conclusions

I enjoyed the CroMagnon Venus, but I would have enjoyed more sweetness from the Broadleaf wrapper even more. Could be that this batch of Broadleaf wasn’t quite as sweet as others; could be that the blend just doesn’t let it come through in this vitola. Whatever the case, my favorite size of CroMag continues to be the Anthropology (a Corona Gorda). This was full-bodied, while only being slightly more than medium in strength, and definitely one to put on your list if you’re a RoMa Craft fan…at least to try once.

By-The-Numbers

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