Cigar: Don Diego Robusto
Size: 5 x 50
Wrapper: Connecticut
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican
Price: $7.00 at my local B&M
Just after Christmas, I found myself visiting my local B&M to pick up cigars for friends that were visiting that evening. What was unique about this these friends had never smoked a cigar before. Wanting to be a good host, I picked up a variety of cigars to give them a choice. They both ultimately selected a flavored cigar (Java), leaving us with a few extras to smoke with one of those being the Don Diego Robusto I am reviewing for you now.
No flaws were found in the Connecticut wrapper but I did detect two spots on the cigar that felt overly packed to my fingers, the first right before the band and the other around a thumb’s length past the band. I detected cedar notes pre-light but nothing else came to mind.
After a punch and light with a torch (ran out of matches), I took my first draws and was met with a draw with some minor resistance, flavor notes of cedar and pepper, and very little smoke. The cedar stayed to the front of the palette (front of tongue) while the pepper flavors stayed toward the back (back of the tongue; molar area). After pressing around the punched opening of the cap, the cigar opened up, allowing the smoke to become more prominent. About the same time (8–10 minutes), the pepper flavors vanished from the cigar, leaving the mild bodied cedar notes to linger. Unfortunately at the halfway point, the cedar flavor ceased and left me with some sort of bitter, tea leaf kind of flavor. That remained until the end of the cigar which was 1:12.
I had a couple of minor corrections with this Don Diego. That bitterness I explained above also stayed with me until the next morning, even after a brush and a rinse before crashing that night.
I found that to be unusual considering I would classify this as a mild cigar.
To recap the Don Diego Robusto:
- A mild cigar with flavor notes of pepper and cedar. This cigar would be suitable for all ranges of cigar smokers.
- While I enjoyed the flavors early on, it became a bit of a chore to smoke this to completion given the bitterness found.
- At $7.00 at my local B&M, the price guarantees that I will not be purchasing the Don Diego there again. Doing a quick search, I saw them between $4 and $6 at various online retailers.
- I can’t really recommend this cigar given with what it competes with in the $4 to $7 range.
As always, thank you very much for reading and I look forward to the next time I can share my thoughts with you.
