Vitola: Robusto- 5” x 54 ring gauge
- MSRP $6.99
- Provided by General Cigar
Background
One of Toraño’s most celebrated lines of cigars is the “Exodus” series, which was launched in 2001 (coincidentally the same year I started smoking cigars) with the original Exodus 1959. It commemorated the year that Carlos Toraño fled Cuba. A second installment—Silver Edition—was added the next year and in 2009 the “50 Years” was added. Just before Toraño sold off their brands to General Cigar, they released the “Exodus 1959 Finite 2013” and 2016 sees the 5th installment, called simply “Exodus.”
The Exodus uses Dominican, Honduran and Mexican fillers, a Connecticut Broadleaf binder, and a Honduran San Agustin wrapper leaf. It is available in 4 sizes at prices ranging from about $7 to almost $9. General provided me with a couple samples, one of which I smoked before this review sample. (Some background taken from Cigar-Coop’s news item) On a personal note, the original “Gold” Exodus 1959 used to be a mainstay in my humidor…I smoked more of them than I can rightly remember…but I didn’t care for the Silver or 50 Years editions, and I never got a chance to try the Finite 2013 version. So this ended up being a cigar I looked forward to quite a bit.
image courtesy General Cigar
Prelight
You may remember me criticizing the new Toraño packaging as too much of a copy-cat of Camacho when I reviewed the new Vault Series installments. The packaging is very similar for the Exodus, except that they’ve taken a wholly new direction with it, using inspiration from the Wynwood art district of Miami. The boxes are still shiny, high gloss and very colorful. The band is still sideways and quite wide. But the addition of the extra color and artwork makes for a much better, more original appearance for the packaging as a whole. In fact, if this had been the first new Toraño to make an appearance, I probably wouldn’t have made the connection with the Camacho packaging at all. Here that design language is used as “inspiration” for the start, with the final direction diverging greatly.
The wrapper looked much more like a Connecticut Broadleaf (that is used for the binder) than a Honduran San Agustin…at least based on the San Augustin leaf that I’ve seen in the past, such as CAO Osa Sol. It had a milk chocolate brown shade with a bit red when viewed in sunlight. It was lumpy and oily and had an aroma that mixed sweet hay with rich earth. The foot smelled of earth, cocoa powder and cedar.
The cold draw was excellent and the cold flavor had notes of creamy coffee and hay with just a touch of pepper lingering on the lips.
Flavor
After lighting the Toraño Exodus, the first flavor that came through was a definite woodiness, a little cedar and a little oak. Citrus and hay notes followed on pretty quickly, along with a nutty and citrusy retrohale. After a couple minutes of puffing, my first impressions were that this cigar would be medium or so in body, with a fairly high amount of complexity, although I wasn’t sure if the flavor profile was going to really be in my wheelhouse.
As I neared the end of the first third and headed into the second, I noted that the flavor profile had already changed quite a bit. I was getting a more solidly earthy flavor, with a black coffee note and some baker’s cocoa. The nuttiness and woodiness hung around on the background, but the citrus notes had basically disappeared. The body had moved up in the medium-plus region, as well. The second third burned through without much other change.
The last third smoked much the same as the second…lots of earthiness, touches of espresso, cedar and baker’s cocoa. There was the introduction of some pepper in the mix, as well, but just a touch.
Construction
I had a very solid ash, excellent draw and mostly even burn line. I had to touch it up from time to time, but nothing major. I did encounter a hollow spot in the bunch near the mid-point, but it actually didn’t cause any flavor interruptions or burn issues, which was a surprise.
Value
The price tag on the Toraño Exodus is right in the middle of the “sweet spot” making for a very good value.
Conclusions
I found the Toraño Exodus to be a very good cigar that had a pleasing amount of complexity, definitely taking the smoker on a journey that changed pretty radically from beginning to end. While it started off with a flavor profile that I wasn’t enamored of, it changed enough along the way that I was thoroughly enjoying the last third. The path the cigar takes symbolizes well the family’s journey from oppression to freedom and is a very fitting entry in the Exodus series.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10
