Cigar Review: Puro Ambar by Exactus

Cigar: Puro Ambar by Exactus
Size: 54 x 4.75
Wrapper: Dominican T13 (Exclusive of Tabacalera El Artista grown in Rancho Elba Maria)
Binder: Dominican Wine Fermented Criollo 98
Filler: Dominican Criollo 98 & 1900 (Exclusive of Tabacalera El Artista grown in Rancho Elba Maria)
Price: Around $7.00
Samples were received from Tabacalera El Artista

Coming off my last review and the less-than-desirable outcome of it (determined to likely be improper humidification), I was hoping the next cigar I reviewed would be less problematic. As luck would have it, I was contacted by Jonas Santana of Tabacalera El Artista a couple weeks ago to see if I would be interested in giving a review to one of their offerings. The day that the cigars arrived was great except for one problem: I started coming down with a sinus and chest cold that took full affect a couple days later, leaving the cigars to sit in my humidor to taunt me. As I write this now, the congestion is almost all gone but I couldn’t wait any longer and just had to dig into this cigar.

No construction issues were found with the cigar, although by my fingertips, the cigar did feel like it was more tightly packed than others I had in the humidor currently. Besides light tobacco and straw notes pre-light, I couldn’t detect any other pre-light notes, likely a function of the residual cold in me. My light and first draws gave me immediate hits of leather notes and a touch of spice right on the front of the palette that only stuck around for a few minutes before disappearing. About a quarter into the cigar, woody notes came across the palette and coupled well with the leather notes already present. In the last third of the cigar, the cigar finished off with an light addition of spice. I would characterize it closer to something you would cook with, similar to the aftertake akin to an all spice or nutmeg. All in all, the total smoke time of 1:25 (taking my time) was very pleasant.

I would characterize the strength of the Puro Ambar as medium to full with it even mellowing out just a little bit at the end. The draw had a nice balance to it in using a punch. No burn issues or relights were to be found and thankfully, the cigar had no wrapper issues or errant explosions of loose tobacco. For my first cigar in a week and a half, it was problem-free.

By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10

To recap the Puro Ambar by Exactus:

• This was one I enjoyed. It had a nice balance of strength and flavors without being overpowering.
• For someone who prefers milder cigars or has a low tolerance to nicotine, the Puro Ambar would likely be fine. I know for someone like my wife who enjoys medium bodied and weaker strength cigars, this is probably right at the top of her comfort zone but doable.
• The price point to me makes this competitive with similarly priced cigars out today.
• Looking at the link to the retailers on the Exactus website, they are not carried by any shops around me but I’ll be looking into acquiring a few for my humidor. If anyone has had any experience with their other lines, please let me know your thoughts on them. This is one brand and company (Exactus and Tabacalera El Artista) that I will be looking into doing more reviews of in the future.

Thank you to Jonas Santana of Tabacalera El Artista for the opportunity to review the Puro Ambar. And as always, thank you very much for reading and I look forward to the next time I can share my thoughts with you.