Cigar: Pinal Del Rio A Crop
Size: 6×52 (Toro)
Wrapper: Ecuador Claro & Oscuro
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican & Nicaraguan
MSRP: $26.14 for a wheel of 19 at Cigar Page
Samples gifted to me by Kevin W.
The next cigar review comes courtesy of my friend Kevin W.. A local police officer, Kevin is a relatively new brother of the leaf. He came to cigars in the last year or so and between his son and myself and has been trying anything and everything that he can get his hands on. A couple months ago, he stopped by my office to drop off this next cigar for me to try. Kevin found an online deal (similar to the one in the link above) and figured the cost of the wheel would be worth the price, even if he didn’t care for the cigar. A big thank you to Kevin W. for the chance to check this one out.
No construction issues found in the cigar chosen for review (the last one out of six or seven he gave me). The pre-light aromas were really a single aroma of faint wood while the cold draw brought similar notes of wood with minor aftertastes of something earthy. The light after the guillotine cut was very open; the opening flavor notes consisted of the aforementioned woody notes along with something like a cooking spice. I would consider the start of this cigar just above medium bodied in strength. The cigar more or less stayed as described until the 72 minute, where I found the flavor taking on a bitter taste while being accompanied by aftertastes of pepper. In addition, the pre-dominant woody notes began taking on an almost burnt characteristic. The overall strength gradually moved into the medium-to-full bodied territory in the latter part of the first hour, but it really didn’t venture farther than that. The bitter and burnt flavor notes mentioned began to mellow in the last seven to ten minutes of the cigar. The overall smoking time on the A Crop was 1:34.
I didn’t find anything issues in the smoking of this cigar but I would note a couple of things that bothered me. The bitter notes mentioned above did get a bit on the harsh side but it wasn’t enough to put it down. I also found the A Crop to have a heavier than usual smoke volume. If the cigar had a better flavor, this wouldn’t be a big deal.
By-The-Numbers
Pre-light: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 3.25/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 8.25/10
To recap the Pinar Del Rio A Crop:
- It’s not a flashy nor complex cigar by any means but it gets the job done.
- The flavor profile is probably not going to be inclusive to all cigar smokers. Smokers who prefer an easy, smooth smoking cigar might be turned off by this one.
- The one bright side to this cigar is the price: Dirt cheap.
- Because the cost is so low on these, I think I want to buy a wheel of these and let them sit a few months to see if they improve. If you aren’t too picky and just need a cigar to smoke, these will fit the bill. However, I can think of many other value cigars that I would prefer over these.
A huge thanks once again to my friend Kevin W. for the cigars and thank you very much for reading. If you missed my last post, the 2018 NFL Pick’em League is open
I look forward to the next time I can share my thoughts with you.
