Vitola: Robusto Gordo- 5.5” x 60 ring gauge
- MSRP ~$12.95
- Sample provided by Serino Cigars
Background
Time for part 2 of my look at the four inaugural blends from Serino Cigars. Last week I looked at the Royale Connecticut and today I am featuring the Royale Medio. For the second time in a row, they have selected a vitola that I wouldn’t have chosen for myself…last time it was a Torpedo (I would have done the 7 x 50 Churchill) and this time it’s a “Robusto Gordo”…also known as a 6×60 with half an inch chopped off (I would have gone with the 6 x 52 Toro…though since that is the smallest ring gauge vitola available, I’m wondering if this blend is designed to work better in a thicker cigar…we will see).
As with the other Serino Royale blends, this was a collaborative effort of Carson Serino and Omar González Alemán. The cigars are made in Nicaragua using 5-year-aged leaf from Estelí and Jalapa in the filler, a Jalapa binder, and—in the case of the Medio—an Habano 2000 seed Ecuadorian Habano Claro wrapper.
I am smoking a single sample for review purposes for these cigars and they were provided by Serino Cigars. I did get some background for this series from Cigar-Coop’s news article on the company.
Prelight
As I noted in the previous review, the banding for all 4 blends is the same. It’s a good look, but the retail (and designer) side of me would like to have seen some added differentiation. The only point of differentiation really is box color; while the Connecticut comes in a white box, the Medio box is bright blue.
As the color of the Connecticut wrapper was darker than a lot of Connys out there, this “Claro” leaf was a little darker than I would normally use that term for…I might have gone with “Colorado.” It really was a brown about the same color as the bark used for cinnamon, although with slightly less red. It felt oily under my fingertips and had quite a rich molasses and wood aroma to it. The foot was more earthy in aroma, though also having some woody notes.
The cold draw was very good, as I would expect on a large ring cigar like this. The cold flavor was mostly cedar with a touch of sweetness.
Flavor
The Royale Medio lit up fairly quickly for a 60 ring cigar. Right away I got a heavy cedar flavor, with earth and a medium amount of pepper backing it up. There was a touch of cinnamon on the finish and a stronger pepper kick on the nose. It was about 5 minutes into the first third before the cedar notes relented a bit, allowing some additional earth and sweet citrus notes into the mix. As I continued on, the sweetness morphed into more of a molasses note while hay and floral notes were added to the mix. So far, this was a more interesting and complex cigar than I had anticipated based on the ring gauge.
The second third was medium-bodied but full-flavored, featuring hay, molasses, and cedar up front, with earth and pepper coming up behind. The retrohale continued to be peppery and cedary.
The notes of hay and molasses and cedar continued in the final third, with the cedar moving up to a prominent position. The peppery finish increased as well.
Construction
I had great construction on this stick. I needed to touch up the burn line a couple times, but it was minor. The draw was fantastic and the ash was as solid as I would expect.
Value
I felt like this blend delivered on the relatively high price tag.
Conclusions
The Serino Royale Medio proved to be quite a full-flavored, complex smoke even with its large ring gauge. It was a medium-bodied stick with plenty of notes you might associate with “sungrown” wrapper leaves and continued to be interesting to me all the way through to the end. While the price tag is a bit high, I would pay it occasionally for this cigar…and I wonder how the blend plays in a more reasonable ring gauge!
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10
