Vitola: Selectos (Corona Gorda)- 5.625” x 46 ring gauge
- $9.99
- Purchased from Small Batch Cigar
Background
A few weeks back I conducted an “HVC Month” where I tested out several of their blends that I had not tried before. I purchased a sampler of blends from the Small Batch Cigar website (Small Batch is a Leaf Enthusiast sponsor) and wrote a short piece on each one. The most outstanding cigar I had from that sampler was the 500 Years Anniversary.
Anybody who has been around cigars long knows that cigar-makers like nothing more than to celebrate an anniversary. When I heard about HVC’s 500th Anniversary, my first thought was, “500th what? 500th day anniversary? Because they haven’t even been around 5 years yet!” Turns out this cigar honors the 500th anniversary of the founding of Havana, Cuba, by the Spanish, on November 16, 1519.
Like other HVC releases, this cigar was blended by company owner, Reinier Lorenzo, working in the TABSA factory in Nicaragua and working with Aganorsa tobaccos. The filler is a mixture of Nicaraguan Criollo 98 and Corojo 99 grown in Jalapa and Estelí. The binder is from Jalapa, and the wrapper is a Jalapa-grown Corojo 99. (All those locations are in Nicaragua, for any newer smokers reading this…different varietals grown in different regions of the country will have different flavor characteristics.) This is about the 4th or 5th time I’ve smoked this blend; I bought mine at Small Batch Cigar.
Prelight
Presentation of the HVC 500 Years Anniversary is very much in the classic Cuban style: plain wooden box, although this one has some more adornment on the inside of the lid than you would see on most Cuban releases. The main band is red and white with gold foil…in other words, glance at it and you’ll think “Cuban” immediately. The secondary band stating “Limited Edition” is very much like the LE bands Cuban has been using for a couple decades (at least).
The wrapper leaf was a medium brown color, smooth and slightly oily to the touch. The wrapper had a grassy, floral note to it with slight underlying earthy and leathery aromas. The foot was stronger with earthy aromas, backed up with bell pepper and hay.
Once clipped, the HVC 500 had a good cold draw that had interesting flavors of orange, buttered popcorn, hay, earth, and cedar.
Flavor
I fired up the 500 Years Anniversary and was immediately rewarded with citrus sweetness, buttery creaminess, grassy notes, and black pepper spice. The retrohale had more of a red pepper heat to it, and the whole experience was just amazing and complex from the very start. As the first third burned along, the sweeter citrus notes backed down a bit, allowing more of a bell pepper note to come through with the grassy and buttery notes and spice.
The second third had more of that buttered popcorn note from the corojo leaf, along with hay and cedar notes. There was a lingering pepper burn at the back of the throat and a slight sweetness in the mix.
In the last third, the HVC 500 Years Anniversary had more hay and cedar, while the popcorn note backed off a bit. Pepper was a fading memory but there was some sweetness hanging around.
Construction
I had a great draw with just enough resistance, a very even burn line, and solid ash throughout.
Value
At $10, the experience this cigar imparts is really great, so I call it excellent value.
Conclusions
This is simply my favorite HVC blend ever. It is nice and complex with sweetness, pepper, hay, wood, and buttered popcorn notes riding on a medium-bodied smoke that is never overpowering. I don’t know if they are planning on this being a regular release limited edition or if it’s a “once they’re gone, they’re gone” type of thing, but either way, I would get suggest getting your hands on some soon. This may be the best $10 cigar I’ve had in several years.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 10/10
