Cigar Review: Don Manuel Toro Grande

Cigar: Don Manuel Toro Grande
Size: 6×54
Wrappers: Connecticut
Binders: Dominican
Filler: Dominican
Price: $3.35 at my local B&M; $48.99 per box of 24 at Tex Cigars

Anytime I visit my preferred B&Ms, I always take a few moments to search the humidor for cigars that I haven’t smoked or new to the shop. In my last visit to The Clean Machine (full service car wash that has a great selection of cigars), I made my counter-clockwise trip around the walk-in humidor looking for something new to smoke. At the end of the circle where the boxes of Kristoffs reside, I found a new box of Don Manuels that weren’t there the last time. I’ll admit it right away: the $3.35 price tag per stick is what roped me in and figured the low investment would be worth a little time for review.

While the cedar wrapper and gold ribbon gave this cigar a more dignified look, it only hid three chips in the wrapper, one of them being almost-sized in diameter. No other issues either in appearance or construction were found. I could not detect any flavor notes pre-light. My first draws after a punch and light met me with an even draw and prominent flavors of leather and wood. I also detected a light hint of spice that hung around the roof of my mouth. Around 10 minutes in, the leather and wood backed off in flavor a bit but unfortunately, the flavor profiles didn’t go anywhere. The leather flavors stuck around for the rest of the cigar but the cigar was uneventful for the 1:48 smoking time.

I would characterize the strength of this cigar as medium bodied with a longer finish to the one-dimensional flavors. Besides the already-noted wrapper issues and a few relights, I didn’t have any real problems with the cigar.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 1/2
Flavor: 2.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 6.5/10

To recap the Don Manuel Toro Grande:

• For those looking for an inexpensive medium bodied cigar to smoke, the Don Manuel will work for you just fine.
• It’s strength and price make it a nice candidate for once-in-awhile smokers who want a cigar for a special event (golf course) or don’t want to spend a lot of money.
• For seasoned cigar smokers, you can find much better options online for the same or lesser price. I’ll be passing on this cigar in the future.

As always, thank you very much for reading and I look forward to the next time I can share my thoughts with you.