Cigar: Debonaire Sagita
Size: Petite Lancero (5 1/2 x 38)
Wrapper: Habano
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican and Nicaraguan
MSRP: $9.19 per cigar or $162.99 per box of 20 from 2 Guys Cigars
Samples provided by Debonaire Tobacco House and Drew Estate – exclusive distributor of Debonaire Cigars in the United States
Debonaire Adjective – courteous, gracious, and having a sophisticated charm: a debonaire gentleman.
Debonaire is not a word you often here in modern society; however, its synonym is one that is more commonly heard in today’s language: Elegance. Debonaire Tobacco Company, founded by Philip Zanghi of Indian Tobacco Cigar Company and Daniel Sinclair of Durfort Holdings, is the first cigar company I can recall that brands its cigars as ‘ultra premium’. So between the actual name of the company and the label by which they categorize their cigars, Debonaire Tobacco Company has set a high bar for what they wish to offer to consumers. As someone who doesn’t smoke many petite lanceros and had little knowledge of the Debonaire brand, I was more than happy to take this cigar on.
This was the first time in quite awhile where I found a blemish in my pre-light examination of the cigar. Noted was a crack and the beginnings of the wrapper coming apart in the middle of the cigar’s body (viewable in the picture above). Other than that, the cigar felt and looked perfectly fine. The pre-light aromas gave me strong notes of cocoa and leather while the cold draw provided wood, straw and faint tastes of cocoa. Because of the size of the cigar and the guillotine’s lack of a smaller cutter, I opted for scissors-style cutter courtesy of my wife this past Christmas (similar to this but with an extra cutting hole made for smaller gauged cigars). After a light and a balanced opening draw, the first noticeable flavor notes were the wood and straw noticed earlier in the cold draw, coupled with a mild amount of spice to open the smoking of the Debonaire Sagita. I was expecting a little bit stronger start because of the Habano wrapper but that wasn’t the case for me. I would classify the cigar as a couple notches past medium bodied but not strong enough to necessarily classify it as medium-to-full bodied…at least not at the beginning. 19 minutes into the smoking of the cigar was when heavy leather and mild molasses notes began creeping into the palette. By this point, the Debonaire Sagita had crossed into medium-to-full bodied territory and rising. 15 minutes after that, the molasses flavors vanished and peppery notes began crossing the palette, all the while the strength pushed closer and closer to full boded range. By the end of the cigar, the Debonaire Sagita pushed completely into full bodied range while highlighting heavy wood and mild spice notes to finish off its smoldering lifespan. Its total smoking time came in at 1:07.
Besides the wrapper issue listed above and one relight on the cigar, I encountered zero issues in regards to the smoking of the Debonaire Sagita.
By-The-Numbers
Pre-light: 1.5/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10
To recap the Debonaire Sagita:
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Despite the half point taken off for the cracked wrapper, this is a wonderful cigar to smoke. I can appreciate a cigar with a huge depth of strength coupled with a complementary flavor profile. I believe that the Deboniare Sagita upholds its ‘elegant’ namesake and ‘ultra premium’ label.
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This cigar might be a bit on the strong side for newer smokers or those who prefer milder fare; however, the size and price of the cigar should not hinder anyone from at least trying this.
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The Debonaire Sagita is more than worth its cost – and it’s under $10 a cigar.
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While writing this review, I took a peek at the Debonaire map to see what the closest retailer would be to me that carried this. And as luck would have it, the nearest shop is one town over. More of these will be bought in the very near future.
Before I go, I wanted to announce here that I am testing the waters on an Instagram account. I’m not a huge photo taker but I’m trying to do more to promote this website and any freelance music group that I work with. Please feel free to say hello.
A huge thanks to Debonaire Tobacco and Drew Estate for the samples and thank you very much for reading. I look forward to the next time I can share my thoughts with you.
