Originally published at Tiki Bar Online
Corona, 5” x 42 ring gauge
At this years Tweetup we had a special set of cigars in everyone’s swag bag, a coffin with two cigars from Espinosa Cigars. The box contained two corona sized cigars; one with a habano wrapper, one with a maduro wrapper. Anthony Jimenez & Erik Espinosa with Espinosa Cigars were generous enough to get these unreleased sized cigars made for us in the quantity so that we could give everyone attending a coffin. The cigars are are same blend as the regular release cigars, a Nicaraguan puro, just in the special size. This cigar was the only one of this size I’ve smoked.
The wrapper on this cigar was a medium brown in color with some golden mottling to the wrapper. There were a good amount of oils and some tooth to the wrapper as well. A few medium and fine veins were also present as well. When I gave it a squeeze it was fairly firm to the touch without any soft spots. As I put my nose to the wrapper I got an intense aroma of leather with lots of barnyard coming from the foot. After clipping and taking a cold draw on it I noted the flavors of leather and cashew with a good draw.
The cigar starts off with a blast of spice on the retrohale and the tongue. After a few puffs I started to get the flavors of leather, earth, coffee, a hint of cinnamon with a sweet finish. The cigar cigar started off in the upper end of medium range in regards to strength. The draw was pretty good by the burn was pretty ragged, but that might have been due to the breeze blowing while I was smoking the cigar.
As I moved into the second third of the cigar the spice really mellowed out. The main flavors of this third were of cinnamon, leather and a sweet finish. A tunnel developed that made it impossible to draw on the cigar. I had to let it go out and relight it and while it drew better it wasn’t perfect. I did need to correct the burn while was relighting it. The cigar moved down into the medium range.
The spice started to come back as I moved into the final third, however it wasn’t as strong as the first third. The sugary sweetness moved from the finish to the prominent flavor of the cigar, with some leather and copper mixed in. The burn was pretty even but the tunnel was still giving me some fits. I did get a slight nicotine hit from it.
Overall it was a pretty good cigar. I really think the construction issues I experienced hampered the flavors of the cigar. I will say that I enjoyed it more than the other sizes of this cigar I’ve smoked.
Body: 7/10
Strength: 7/10
Complexity: 6/10
AFP Scale
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 1/2
Flavor: 3.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 7.5/10
