Humidor Archeology: Nosotros

Vitola: Churchill
Size: 7” x 48 ring gauge
Price $12.80
Purchased at Burns Tobacconist

Humidor archeology is looking for treasures hiding in your local tobacconist’s humidor, sometimes in plain site. Whether it is something that was limited production at the time or was discontinued, it’s always fun to find something a little on the rare side when you least expect it.

Background

A few weeks ago someone mentioned that we still had a handful of Nosotros Churchills in the humidor at Burns. “Really?” was my thought…I remembered them disappearing months before, but apparently I was mistaken. They were still there…a few sticks left over from the initial order that was received in May 2010. If you are new to cigars, you may have missed the story, so I’ll summarize:

Around the summer of 2009 it came to light that Drew Estate would be manufacturing a new cigar for Dion Giolitto, owner of the Illusione brand. This was DE’s first experience making a non-infused premium cigar for a company other than themselves and it was solid as a collaborative effort between Jonathan Drew and Dion Giolitto. The cigars were previewed at IPCPR that year and shipping was expected in the fall.

Shipment was delayed until Spring 2010 and when they did show up, they were pricey and, quite honestly, the flavor was somewhat disappointing. In reality, it seems that even with the delay they were shipped a little too early because I was told (and tested it for myself) months later than they were really hitting their stride. And that was right around the time the two companies had a parting of the ways and the Nosotros project was allowed to die. Sadly the joint effort was short-lived, leaving enthusiasts to wonder what might have been.

So, it’s been almost four years since these cigars shipped and thanks to the humidor at Burns, they have been ideally aged. According to a review by my friend, Will Cooper, the blend consists of the following: Nicaraguan filler, a Connecticut Habano binder, and a Nicaraguan Corojo 99 wrapper.

Thoughts

Interestingly, after 4 years the cellophane on the Nosotros was not significantly yellowed. I’ve seen yellowing after less time, so it leads me to wonder what specifically causes it. The cigar still looked as beautiful as it did when it first shipped, light brown with a slight blush to it. The band is not quite as simplistic as the normal Illusione bands were at the time…a little more ornate with a special die cut, and dark gray in color with white lettering. There were still ample amounts of oil under my fingers when I felt the Corojo wrapper and when I gave it a sniff, I picked up a ripe barnyard note with a hint of wood. The foot was even more manure-y, which isn’t a bad thing in this case…ripe, but clean. Once cut, I got an excellent draw that was earthy and cedary; there was a little sweetness, but also something that didn’t really taste that good on the cold draw.

Once I got the Nosotros lit and burning well, I got earth and a little pepper spice up front, along with more subtle cedar notes. The retrohale was more peppery. There was also a bit of a citrus sourness underneath. It didn’t really strike me as being in balance with the rest. It took about 7 or 8 minutes before that flavor went away and I picked up an increase in cedar, as well as a bit of peppery harshness on the back of the throat.

As I continued into the second third, the pepper started dying a bit and I continued to get a big cedar flavor with underlying earthiness and a bit of nuttiness. In the last third, the heat came back in the way of a mild red pepper spice, while the cedar diminished a bit and more earthiness came to the forefront.

The ash was a bit flaky at points, although more in the way it crumbled off when I tapped ash rather than flaking into my lap (or onto my keyboard). The burn line was straight enough that I wasn’t worried about correcting it and the draw was uniformly great.

When this came out, I considered the nearly $13 price tag to be too much. To be honest, it still is. While better than when it was first released, it is significantly more expensive than most of what is available from Illusione and perilously close to Liga Privada pricing.

To me, this cigar serves as a lesson in aging: not all cigars get vastly better with age. Anyone with enough experience will tell you that there is a sweet spot in the aging spectrum where the cigar hits its prime. Too fresh and the tobaccos may not have settled and married in a pleasing way (and I think this was the case when Nosotros first shipped). Too long aging and the flavors that were there start to ebb away (and I think that’s the case with Nosotros today). Having tried Nosotros at multiple times since it came out, I believe the sweet spot for them was between 6 months after shipping to probably around the 2 year mark. While it certainly isn’t a bad cigar now, it just didn’t hit me like it did half a year after it shipped. I’m not doing this is a scored review, but if I did, it would be slightly better than when originally released, but not as good as at its peak.