Cigar Review: Sorullos by Serious Cigars

Vitola: Torpedo-ish
Size: 6” x 50 ring gauge
Price $4.95
Samples provided by Serious Cigars

Background

A few weeks back, the offices of Leaf Enthusiast received an email (as we are wont to do) asking if we’d like to try something “new and different.” I say “the offices of Leaf Enthusiast” because both Keith and I got the email, and responded at roughly the same time, despite being separated by 3 time zones. And I add that fact as a way of explaining why you’ll most likely see Keith’s review of this same cigar soon…or perhaps, you’ve already seen it…at the time I write this, he hasn’t posted one yet. Bottom line, we both received samples of “Sorullos,” a completely handcrafted cigar from Nicaragua and made exclusively for Serious Cigars in Houston, Texas. This is the story of the cigar I copied from their website:

While walking through a Nicaraguan cigar factory, I observed a roller bunching leaves in his hand and rolling them with a binder. He finished them off with a medium, dark maduro wrapper and without using a mold of any kind. The cigars he made were rough looking torpedos. The roller then fired one up. He clearly was not making a production cigar for the factory or for our testing purposes. I asked the floor manager if he would allow me to try one. He hesitated a bit. He must have thought it to be improper to give me such a rustic looking cigar. The roller finally handed me his personal creation. I thanked him and went back to the small office in the factory where we were going to test many samples that day.

I cut the cigar and fired it up. My first impression was that the head was soft and slightly squishy. With the cigar foot being unfinished, it took a couple of puffs to get it lit properly. Once this little jewel got going, it was truly exceptional. Imperfectly perfect. Doing my best to contain my excitement, I wondered how I could get him to make us enough cigars to sell and bring this smoke back for everyone’s enjoyment. I asked the supervisor what the blend was. He told me he did not know. “The roller just makes those for himself.” Of course, my next question was: “Can he make these for us?”

And with that explanation, I’m not sure I need to add anything else: the cigar is 100% handmade without use of a mold. It’s a Nicaraguan puro made in Nicaragua and the wrapper is Habano Maduro. Serious Cigars provided 2 samples for me to smoke for this review and this review is based on my second one.

Prelight

I always try to evaluate a cigar’s appearance based on what it’s aim is. With Davidoff, the goal is to make the best looking, best built, most luxurious cigars on the market. If it looks the slightest bit “rough” they have failed. On the other hand, when you are dealing with a cigar with a claim to fame of not using a mold during construction…you would kind of expect the stick to be a little rough…and the Sorullos definitely is that. The shape is anything but perfectly round so this cigar will never roll off your desk. The wrapper is lumpy and bumpy. The cap has a long, fuse-like pigtail that, in the case of this sample, was tucked into the band. The foot was finished in a “shaggy” fashion very reminiscent of the later Viaje Summerfest brushfoot cigars I’ve seen. The wrapper had an oily feel and smelled of leather and sweet earth. The brushy foot had a stronger aroma of cedar and natural tobacco. So it’s a rough cigar, but I didn’t feel like the band went with that feel…the band was glossy with a script font and some embossing. With the rustic, handmade vibe going on with the rest of the cigar, I think a rough and rustic band would have completed the look better. Minor detail.

Once cut the prelight draw was excellent, featuring a mix of earth, wood and some sweetness.

Flavor

Lighting up the Sorullos proved to be an easy task as the shaggy foot took to flame very readily and burned pretty evenly. The unwrapped portion of the cigar had flavors of natural tobacco, cedar, earth and a big dose of red pepper. Once the wrapper leaf started burning, I noted an immediate increase in body from a little less than medium, to a bit more than medium, as well as an introduction of unsweetened cocoa powder and a bit of espresso.

As the second third got started, I picked up some sweetness in the mix, better balancing the cocoa powder, coffee and earth notes. I still got a good amount of red pepper on the palate and on the nose. The body picked up to the medium-to-full range during the course of the second third.

In the last third, I got some sour citrus notes and the pepper decreased significantly. Underneath were still notes of earth, cedar and coffee.

Construction

For a cigar with no time spent in a mold, I thought the cigar was very well constructed. Both samples had excellent draws, the burn lines were very even and the ash was solid.

Value

$5 for a cigar that delivers this much goodness? Sign me up!

Conclusions

There are times I get amazed with new and unfamiliar cigars…this was one of those times. While it wasn’t “perfect in every way,” the Sorullos was a very fine cigar with plenty of complexity underneath its rough exterior. This is definitely one that I would like to smoke again and again; I will probably order at least a 5 pack and see how they treat me…and if I like them enough, a box purchase wouldn’t be out of the question. Bottom line: with this much flavor and a price tag that is this low, this is a great every day cigar.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10