Revisiting: Tierra Volcán Corto

• Vitola: Corto (Short Robusto)
• 4” x 50 ring gauge 
• MSRP $7.95
• Sample given by local area rep

Background

I tried to mow the lawn. It didn’t take. The long version: I borrowed my dad’s riding mower, got it to the house and was going to knock out the worst of the yard in about an hour…but the blade stopped turning. I tried a few times, but ultimately I saw it as a sign and gave up. The mower’s headed back to the shop tomorrow and I’ll be tackling the big-ass yard with my walk-behind mower…next week sometime, I expect. But with that out of the way, I had some time to kill…and another cigar to re-visit.

The Tierra Volcan line came to America a couple years back, originally distributed by RoMa Craft, but now they handle that task themselves. They are known in other countries as “Mombacho” but apparently that name threw up legal red flags here in the States so they came up with another name. Casa Mombacho is located in Granada, Nicaragua, at the foot of Volcano Mombacho.

The cigar is a Nicaraguan puro, using Jalapa Habano for the wrapper, Condega Criollo for the binder, and fillers from Jalapa and Condega. So they have eschewed Estelí leaf in this release…what has become the most common type of leaf used in Nicaraguan blends, at least if you read a lot of press releases.

You can read all about the debut of the line on halfwheel and you can read my previous full review HERE. I’ve smoked a few of these since I wrote that original review, mostly because our local rep is trying to get us to pick them up at the shop, so he gave me some. I saved one of them out to talk about here.

Notes

The Tierra Volcan Corto started off with a definite sweet chocolate note, backed up by earth and a floral flavor that I generally associate with Jalapa leaf. There were some peppery notes, especially on the nose, but nothing overpowering.

The body started off in the straight-ahead medium range and previous experience told me it probably wouldn’t veer off that course much.

Definitely lots of floral notes riding on top of the flavor profile as I finished up the first third and headed into the second. It pairs nicely with the Elijah Craig 12 Year Bourbon that I poured to go with it.

I think this is a cigar that would go well with most Bourbons (with the exceptions of a few very strong ones), but it should go equally well with a good well-aged sipping rum like Flor de Caña or a good Highland Scotch…something not so heavily peated as those Scotches I tend to prefer.

I like this cigar. I won’t go so far as to say I love it, but I definitely do enjoy it every time I have the opportunity to smoke it. I guess I prefer the strength of the Estelí leaf in a Nicaraguan blend for the most part. Tierra Volcan is a good change of pace, though, and something that should do well in the shop if we decide to bring it in.