Vitola: Toro- 6.25” x 50 ring gauge
- MSRP $11.50
- Provided by Drew Estate
Background
Late in 2013, Joya de Nicaragua announced that their next blend would be a limited edition celebrating 45 years in the cigar business: Cuatro Cinco (Spanish for “4” and “5”). It was available in a single size, 6” x 54 ring gauge, box-pressed Toro Extra. It was a Nicaraguan puro with Jalapa wrapper and binder leaves and fillers from Estelí that were aged in oak barrels for over year.
Earlier this year, JdN announced that they would be continuing the production of Cuatro Cinco beyond the original LE release, although with a slightly different blend. The new “45” features a Dominican binder leaf, but is otherwise very similar to the original, using Nicaraguan filler and wrapper, with some of the fillers being aged in oak barrels. It is now available in 4 vitolas, including the 6.25” x 50 Toro I am focusing on today.
Drew Estate is the distributor for Joya de Nicaragua cigars within the United States and they sent me several samples of the new Cuatro Cinco. I have been able to sample several vitolas along the way but this is the first time I’ve had this particular one.
Prelight
The banding of the new Cuatro Cinco is very close to the original release, with the notable exception that now above the logo it says “Reserva Especial” (the original release said “Edicion Limitada”). It still has a double-banding technique with the dark black band overlaying a slightly wider cream-color band. Judicious use of foil and embossing creates a very rich appearance.
The wrapper leaf of the cigar was a medium-dark brown, somewhere between milk and dark chocolate and with just a touch of red thrown in for good measure. It was oily to the touch and didn’t have any prominent veins. When I held the cigar to my nose, I got earth and leather from the wrapper, with a more pungent earth and hay aroma on the foot. The cigar was slightly box-pressed, which I always feel to be comfortable in the hand and resistant to rolling off the desk, table, counter, computer…whatever.
Once clipped, I got a very good draw from the 45. The cold draw flavors were mostly of earth and cocoa powder, with a touch of coffee and pepper mixed in.
Flavor
Lighting up the Cuatro Cinco was easy with my single flame torch. Once the cigar was evenly burning, I got strong cedar flavors up front, backed up by earth, coffee and baker’s chocolate, then red pepper on the finish and on the retrohale. Midway through the first third, I noted that the body was medium and the flavor profile had shed some of its woody notes for more earth and coffee flavor. The pepper spice was mellow, but definitely present.
As I got into the second third, the flavors continued mostly as they had set up during the progression of the first third, with the body ticking upward into the medium-to-full range.
The last third of the Cuatro Cinco had more earth than anything else, backed up with touches of cedar and coffee and just a bit of cocoa powder.
Construction
I had to touch up the burn line a bit, but nothing major. The draw was great and the ash held on for up to an inch at a time.
Value
The price on this Toro is a touch high, but the line starts below the $10 mark and the experience is a very good one.
Conclusions
Overall I found this regular release Cuatro Cinco to be superior to the Limited Edition version that came out in 2013. It had a more pleasing flavor to my palate from beginning to end, although I would have preferred a bit more sweetness to balance it out along the way. I also prefer the smaller sizes to this Toro, but I would definitely give these another go-around or two.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10
Site sponsors Stogies World Class Cigars and Small Batch Cigar have several sizes of Cuatro Cinco available on their websites.
I only had one of the 45’s from the original release and loved it. I wish that would be a regular release.
Ive had one of these that was gifted to me and really enjoyed it. Nice write up and I will be looking for more of these.