Cigar Review: Nomad C-276 Robusto

Vitola: Box-pressed robusto
Size: 5″ x 50 ring gauge
Price $8.75 MSRP
Obtained From Fred as a Tweetup sample

Background

Today I’ll be taking a look at the most recent release from Nomad Cigar Company (@GodFadr), the C-276.  Dave took a look at this cigar here.  I don’t know if Dave’s accusation deserves a response, but I do agree with Dave that if you don’t follow Fred, you should.  I was definitely curious to try this cigar seeing as how much I liked the S-307 from last year.  As most of you are aware I like fuller bodied cigars so I try every one I can get my hands on.  This was the first one of these cigars I was able to try.

Prelight

The wrapper on this cigar was a nice and even milk chocolate brown with some slight mottling.  The box press on this cigar was very well done, but not too sharp.  There also were some medium and fine veins as well as some oils to the wrapper.  While the band on this cigar looks similar to the other releases, it very clearly shows the blend name on the side, which I really appreciate.  I like not having to guess what it is.  When I gave it a squeeze there was a slight amount of give but no soft spots.  When I put my nose to the wrapper I noted lots of barnyard with leather and nuts coming from the foot.  After clipping it, which took a bit of doing as the cap was very thick, and taking a cold draw on it I got hints of cinnamon and basil with a good draw.

Flavor

After getting the cigar lit it started off with cinnamon and sugar, with leather and nuts thrown in.  The spice was pretty strong after a few puffs.   It was definitely full bodied to start.  Towards the end of the first third I noted hints of chocolate as well.  As I moved into the second third the spice had started to tone down a bit.  The flavors I noted in this third were chocolate, leather, coffee and earth.  When I started into the second third I started to get a slight nicotine hit from the cigar and it was definitely in the upper end of full at this point.  The flavors changed slightly to black coffee, leather and wood and started to intensify even more.  The spice did start to come back as well.

Construction

This cigar was very difficult to light.  The tobacco seemed like it didn’t want to burn and because of that I didn’t get it started evenly, which caused some uneven burn throughout the cigar.  I also felt like I had to keep puffing on the cigar to keep it lit, like it was very oily or wet.  I didn’t think it felt wet or especially oily.  I do think these problems hampered my enjoyment a bit.  However I do think that this was a fluke seeing as Dave didn’t experience any of these problems.

Value

I think Fred has things dialed in from the value perceptive with these cigars

Conclusions

I think the construction issues made it less enjoyable that it would have otherwise.  I thought that the dark flavors were right up my alley and it didn’t leave me wondering if I was actually smoking a cigar.  I would definitely like giving this another try and seeing how one without the construction issues would fare.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 1/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 8/10