Originally published on Tiki Bar Online.
Robusto Extra, 5.5” x 54 ring gauge / MSRP $8
The limited edition or regional edition cigar isn’t anything new to the cigar world. Pretty much every cigar company has a limited edition cigar at one time. Miami Cigar has even done this before with the Special Selection with the Buckhead Cigar Club, Danno, and Not For Sale releases. This one is slated to be for the Midwest retailers. This cigar is differentiated from the other cigars in the Special Selection line by having a Mexican San Adreas maduro wrapper. Barry Stein at Miami Cigar was kind enough to send this sample, through Dave, to me. This was the only one I smoked.
The cigar was a little rough in appearance with the bands skewed and the divot below the band. This isn’t something that I normally see with this line or even with the pictures of this cigar I’ve seen on other sites. I’ll just chalk that up to this sample or something happened in transport. The wrapper was a very dark brown with an almost sand paper line feel to it because of all of the tooth to it. The wrapper also showed a good amount of oils and some medium veins. As soon as I took it out of the cello there was an intense barnyard aroma even though I had the cigar a couple feet away from my nose. After photographing it the same aroma was still wafting from the wrapper with the same coming from the foot. In spite of the divot there were no soft spots to the cigar with only a slight amount of give. After taking a cold draw on it I tasted cinnamon and sugar with a good draw.
As I lit up the cigar I got a blast of red pepper spice on the tongue and retohale. After a few more puffs I started to get some leather and cream. The cigar produced a large volume of smoke with a great draw and a slightly uneven burn. Towards the end I started to get some earth and green herbal notes coming through.
The spice started to die down a bit as I moved into the second third. The flavors changed slightly to leather, earth and a hint of chocolate. Towards the end of this third I started to get cinnamon and sugar sweetness on the sides of the tongue. The draw and burn continued to be spot on. The cigar stayed in the upper end of medium range.
When I moved on into the final third the spice started to build back up, but not to the level of the first third. I did get a very slight nicotine hit from it as well. The flavors in the final third were pretty much the same as the second third. The draw and burn continued to be great.
Overall this was an enjoyable cigar. However it didn’t seem as complex as the other limited editions in this line I’ve had. I don’t know if that was me or the cigar. I would definitely try this cigar again to figure that out. On another note I really like the box press. I know it isn’t for everyone but I really like boxed pressed cigars.
Body: 7/10
Strength: 7/10
Complexity: 6/10
AFP Scale
Prelight: 1.5/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 8.5/10
