Cigar Review: The City by HVC Cigars

• Vitola: HVC-44
• 4.5” x 44 ring gauge 
• ~$7.49
• Purchased at Burns Tobacconist

Background

A few weeks back I took a look at the HVC Cerro, the first cigar from this new-to-me brand that I tried…and also the first from this brand that I fell in love with. I first tried Cerro when brand owner, Reinier Lorenzo, dropped by Burns. We ordered cigars and a few weeks later the new sticks hit our shelves…including a cigar we started calling “The City,” mostly because that’s the name that is on the box and band. The secondary band, though, states “First Selection,” which is another name that has been applied to this blend. I’m just going to keep referring to it as “The City” until I hear otherwise from the owner’s mouth.

Like Cerro, The City is a Nicaraguan puro, made from Aganorsa Leaf at TABSA, the Casa Fernandez factory (when I started sniffing the wrapper, it occurred to me that it smelled very similar to some Ecuadorian Habano wrappers…so the wrapper could be other than Nicaraguan). It is blended by Lorenzo using their tobaccos and is available in at least 3 sizes, all at very reasonable price points.

The City most likely refers to Havana, Cuba (HVC is short for Havana City), Lorenzo’s original home. The band also declares, “I Will Never Forget.” I have smoked at least one of this blend before I got to this review sample. I bought both of them.

Prelight

The band and box use the traditional red, black and white colors that it seems like half of the Cuban brands use in their banding. This is a very modern design and usage, though, with interlocking letters, arched text in banners, blind embossing, red to black gradient, and other touches not likely to be seen in “classic” style banding. It’s nice, but also somewhat basic. I like it, but at the same time think it might not stand out enough on store shelves to get noticed readily.

The wrapper leaf was the color of peanut butter with a nice oiliness to the touch and minimal veining. It had a rich, somewhat sweet smell combining earth with touches of molasses. The foot had a mixture of earth and cedar aromas. Clipping the end freed up a very nice draw that had cedar, natural tobacco, earth and mild pepper spice flavors.

Flavor

The City by HVC started off with a very heavy smoke production and a strongly cedary flavor, enhanced by notes of sweet hay, earth and roasted nuts on the palate, as well as red pepper and more roasted nuts on the nose. The smoke was in the shallow end of the medium-bodied pool, but with a lot of the flavor characteristics you would be more apt to find in fuller-bodied smokes.

I puffed slowly through the first third and into the second third of The City, experiencing mildly sweet notes that bolstered the ever-present cedar and pepper spice. The body so far had not climbed above medium.

The last third had more cedar along with natural tobacco. The sweetness diminished a bit and the pepper died off almost completely. It was a very satisfying end to a very good blend.

Construction

The draw was flawless, the burn line was very even and the ash was as solid as I would expect.

Value

The price on these is excellent and the experience is great…this is a steal!

Conclusions

I found The City by HVC to be a very pleasant and well-balanced smoke. It delivered consistently good flavor with enough complexity to avoid becoming boring. It had just the right amount of body and strength, as well. I would put this in the same category as another cigar that issued forth from Casa Fernandez’s factory, Illusione’s Fume d’Amour. To remind you, that smoke was named the number 3 cigar of last year by that big lifestyle magazine. This one is right up there and the price is great, too. If your store doesn’t already carry these, ask for them. I really liked this cigar…almost as much as I enjoyed HVC’s Cerro.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10