Vitola: Robusto- 5” x 52 ring gauge
- MSRP $8.45
- Purchased at Burns Tobacconist
Background
Joya de Nicaragua has been around as long as I have…literally, the company was born in 1970, the same year I was. Through the years they have produced some acclaimed cigars, mostly on the stronger side, like the Antaño, Antaño Dark Corojo, and CyB (that last one was decidedly more medium-bodied). In 2013 Juan Martinez took over the reigns of the company from his father and there has been a decidedly different, more modern, approach since then, with the Joya Red, Black, and Silver series and now what is probably their mildest offering in the US marketplace, Antaño CT (short for Connecticut).
This cigar uses Nicaraguan filler and binder, along with a nice Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade wrapper leaf. It was named Cigar of the Year for 2019 by halfwheel. I had smoked one when they first came out and frankly wasn’t blown away, so I thought it would be a perfect subject for a “Who Got It Right?” Entry here on Leaf Enthusiast. I gathered the guys after a lengthy break due to COVID-19 and we fired up this blend. Seriously, we were going to do this one the week everything started getting shut down in Chattanooga. For a while it looked like we wouldn’t get back to this series, but that fear was unfounded. This one and the next are in the can…and only one or two left after that…unless we find more victims.
As a reminder, the ratings scale for this series is 1 to 5:
1 – How much money changed hands for this review?
2 – Yeah, no.
3 – To Each His Own
4 – I Can See It
5 – They Got It Right!
Also a reminder: these articles are meant to be taken with a grain of salt and tongue firmly in cheek. Just because we don’t agree with what other blogs said doesn’t mean they are wrong…I mean, they might be!…but it’s just as possible that we are smoking the cigar wrong…I guess. Save your hate mail and have a laugh…at our expense, at the other blogs’ expense…whatever. In the end, with any and all pronouncements of “Cigar of the Year” it…is…all…subjective. Although I still feel pretty solidly that the Aging Room Nicaragua was completely bought and paid for. Not really…or maybe really…not…confused yet?
Notes
The appearance on these is really nice…rich and inviting. It had a grassy aroma that was almost “bale of hay” in its intensity. The foot was slightly sweet, with just a touch of earthiness, which surprised me because I would expect from all Nicaraguan filler and binder. The band got lesser remarks…”it didn’t help the cigar,” “it’s ugly and put me off of wanting to try it.”
The cold draw was light, sweet, and citrusy. One person described a “sweet, sugary cinnamon” note on the pre-light.
Lighting up, I got dry wood and hay, with earth underneath. One reviewer mentioned that it had a “pillowy” retrohale. Both remarked on notes of citrus and subtle sweetness. The finish was bready and nutty with a nice amount of sweetness. One remark we got was “for a mild cigar, it had tons of nuance.” The bread notes are particularly interesting because I find that more of a Dominican influence and this has no Dominican leaf in it.
After ten minutes or so we started noting that the sweetness diminished a bit and the finish stated to get a little papery. I got more citrus on the retrohale than on the palate at this point. We all agreed that as it got toward the end of the first third, it mellowed and lost quite a bit of complexity. It was still “good” but somewhat disappointing after such a spectacular start. The general consensus was that this was a very mild smoking experience, as opposed to the COTY review that called it more “medium to full.”
We experimented with different cadences and found that it sometimes brought out more flavor, but overall, it really fell flat as we got late into the second third.
“There are some books that while you’re reading it you can’t figure out why. This cigar is like that…halfway through I can’t figure out why I’m smoking it. Which is fine in general, but not for ‘Cigar of the Year.’”
As we cruised into the final third, everyone liked the Antaño CT, but no one found it all that special. Too be clear…it’s a good cigar, but really failed to have a “wow” factor that would be required to be named Cigar of the Year for the three of us.
We were a bit split on the final disposition of this one with two of us feeling it fell into the “3” category…basically “to each his own” but we weren’t really that impressed. One felt like it could have slipped up into the “4” range where they “could see it” being named, but obviously that guy was wrong.
