Originally published at Tiki Bar Online
Toro, 6” x 54 ring gauge / $7.90, Burns Tobacconist
Last week I took a look at the Chupa Cabra, one of Esteban Carreras’ newer releases. Today I will be looking at another recent arrival from the company–Covenant. Again, the company’s website doesn’t have much information listed about this stick…actually, check that…the company’s website doesn’t even mention this cigar at the time I smoked this review stick. So I’m doing my research the old-fashioned way: doing a quick survey of what other sites (blogs and retailers) say about the make-up of the cigar and posting that as “unofficial” information (I met the new rep for the company, but I can’t seem to find his contact information at this point). The reports say this is a Nicaraguan puro, fillers being from Estéli, Jalapa and Ometepe and the wrapper being a Hybrid Habano Oscuro. This review stick is my first experience with this blend.
When these cigars hit the shop, they caught my eye immediately. The blue, silver and black main band along with the white background secondary band, all laid upon a dark tan colored leaf is striking and beautiful. Although defined as “Oscuro” this is not even close to the darkest Habano leaf I’ve seen in use. It’s probably about the same shade as the Ecuadorian Habano that adorned the Crowned Heads Four Kicks LE 2012 (AKA, Mule Kick), but that isn’t all that dark. I would call it dark tan or a light brown..slightly lighter than a milk chocolate. The box-press is sharp and impressive and the wrapper was oily and somewhat rough to the touch, with a distinct toothiness. Putting it to my nose, I got notes of rich leather and wood. The closed foot prevented getting anything really different on the foot, but the aromas seemed to be intensified a bit. The prelight draw was excellent; the cold flavor was a mix of earth and wood, along with something a little more astringent.
When lit the astringency was not as muddled tasting…it was actually just an aspect of the cedar flavor I was getting. I also noted some earth and white pepper on the palate, along with a blast of wasabi on the nose. The smoke was mostly light and wispy and definitely medium in body right at the beginning. The flavors were fairly bold and up-front. Shortly into the first third I dropped the cigar, knocking off the ash and causing some cinders to fly on subsequent puffs, but after recovering from that, there were no visible construction issues, so I hoped I hadn’t damaged what was turning out to be an enjoyable smoke.
As I started the second third, I noted that the ash was holding on quite well and the draw was excellent, although the burn line tended to be a little more uneven than I prefer and I had to correct it a couple times. Not a huge deal and possibly a result of the crash to the deck it took several minutes before. I still picked up plenty of earth and pepper in the flavor profile, but got some interesting citrusy notes as well.
The pepper on the palate kept creeping up in intensity into and through the final third, like a nice cayenne burn. It overlaid the earth, citrus and cedar flavors very nicely. And by the time I was done I was faced with the fact that for the second week in a row I had found a new favorite from the Esteban Carreras catalog. The body eased upward by the end to the medium-to-full category, but the strength stayed more medium. The Covenant turned out to be an easy cigar to recommend to fans of Nicaraguan smokes, especially since the price is quite reasonable.
Body: 7/10
Strength: 5/10
Complexity: 7/10
AFP Scale
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10