On the Las Vegas part of my US trip I hooked up with some American friends, including Andrew Wood, owner of Guillen Cigars and he gave me the coolest gift ever. He had cigars made in my honour, Don Fernando’s, in a box with the Dutch flag on them. He also hooked up another friend, Aldrin Pineda, with his own cigars, the Casa Pineda. Today some boxes arrived on my doorstep:
Johnny O is an American based roller that rolls farm rolled custom cigars in small batches, and it seems that every batch has a different flavor profile, depending on the tobacco he can get. The cigars are hard to get, and I was lucky enough to get this ring 54 and 6 ½ long Toro from an American friend.
The wrapper is nice chocolaty dark, smooth and oily with not a lot of veins. The aroma is a mild barnyard smell. The predraw is good though dry with a slight raisin flavor that I seem to get from the predraw with a lot of cigars.
After lighting the cigars I taste some earthy flavors with a hint of leather. After a few puffs the leather grows to be the dominant flavor with some pepper on the tongue and a slight sweetness. The smoke makes my mouth feel dry. After an inch the leather fades away and I get a sweet mellow chocolate that slowly grows in strength. A toast flavor shows up and the flavors get a little creamy. After smoking ½ of the cigar I also taste a slightly salt nut flavor, hazelnuts I guess. The saltiness stays with the nuts and the chocolate for the remainder of the cigar, the nutty flavor grows stronger slowly.
The smoke is a bit thin although the smoke became thicker near the end. The cigar produced enough smoke. The ash is frayed and quite dark while the burn is a little below average, I had to correct a few times. I think this is a medium/full bodied cigar, full flavored.
Would I buy this cigar again? If I can get them, yes I will
Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 7 / 10
Appearance: 9 / 10
Smoke & ash: 7 / 10
Burn: 6 / 10
Aroma (first part) 8 / 10
Aroma (middle part) 8 / 10
Aroma (last part) 8 / 10
Wotjes is a brand especially made for tobacconist W. Otten in Maastricht, a beautiful city in the south of The Netherlands and I heard a lot about those cigars that is a robusto size, which is an unusual vitola for a dry cigar and they are made with 5 different wrappers. Java, Sumatra, Brazil, Manila and Havana. They are sold in dress boxes of 25 and in samplers of 10, with 2 of each wrapper. I had to go to Maastricht for work last week and decided to treat myself to a sampler. This is the review of the Havana wrapper.
The wrapper of this 4 ½ inch ring 46 robusto has some veins and is light of color. The aroma is a barnyard aroma. I can taste dry leather with some sweetness. Of the 5 Wotjes, this is the one that packs the most flavor, although the flavors fade away a bit. Halfway the sweetness is gone and some spices accompany the leather.
The draw is fine and the smoke is ok. The burn is good.
Would I buy this cigar again? Don’t think so
Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 7 / 10
Appearance: 5 / 10
Smoke & ash: 6 / 10
Burn: 7 / 10
Aroma (first part) 7 / 10
Aroma (middle part) 6 / 10
Aroma (last part) 6 / 10
Wotjes is a brand especially made for tobacconist W. Otten in Maastricht, a beautiful city in the south of The Netherlands and I heard a lot about those cigars that is a robusto size, which is an unusual vitola for a dry cigar and they are made with 5 different wrappers. Java, Sumatra, Brazil, Manila and Havana. They are sold in dress boxes of 25 and in samplers of 10, with 2 of each wrapper. I had to go to Maastricht for work last week and decided to treat myself to a sampler. This is the review of the Java wrapper.
The wrapper of this 4 ½ inch ring 46 robusto has a lot of veins and the aroma reminds me of dry hay and some pepper. The predraw is fine and leaves a leathery taste on my lips.
After lighting the cigar I can taste some sweet leather, but not a lot. The flavor is quite mellow and low in volume and leaves me with a dry taste in my mouth. The little flavor that was noticeable slowly fades away until I taste nothing at all. If I try real hard I do find a faint flavor of chocolate. Once the cigar reached the halfway point it gets a little spicy, but nothing to write home about.
The smoke is quite thick and white, the ash is white too and the aroma is quite nice, a bit sweet. The burn is allright.
Would I buy this cigar again? Not a chance
Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 7 / 10
Appearance: 5 / 10
Smoke & ash: 7 / 10
Burn: 7 / 10
Aroma (first part) 6 / 10
Aroma (middle part) 5 / 10
Aroma (last part) 5 / 10
Wotjes is a brand especially made for tobacconist W. Otten in Maastricht, a beautiful city in the south of The Netherlands and I heard a lot about those cigars that is a robusto size, which is an unusual vitola for a dry cigar and they are made with 5 different wrappers. Java, Sumatra, Brazil, Manila and Havana. They are sold in dress boxes of 25 and in samplers of 10, with 2 of each wrapper. I had to go to Maastricht for work last week and decided to treat myself to a sampler. This is the review of the Brazil wrapper.
The wrapper is dark, rough and has a lot of veins. The size of this robusto shaped dry cigar is 4.5 inch with a 46 ring. The predraw is fine and the aroma reminds me of hay & straw combined with a damp horse. The flavor is the famous Brazilian sweetness, something I don’t like. I am not a fan of Brazilian tobacco anyway. The structure of the smoke is warm and the flavor I can taste is musty hay. At the end the cigar becomes a bit spicy. The cigar produces more than enough smoke and the ash is white.
Would I buy this cigar again? A simple NO is the only answer to this, but lovers of dry cigars or Brazilian tobacco might like this cigar a lot
Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 7 / 10
Appearance: 6 / 10
Smoke & ash: 7 / 10
Burn: 8 / 10
Aroma (first part) 5 / 10
Aroma (middle part) 5 / 10
Aroma (last part) 5 / 10
Wotjes is a brand especially made for tobacconist W. Otten in Maastricht, a beautiful city in the south of The Netherlands and I heard a lot about those cigars that is a robusto size, which is an unusual vitola for a dry cigar and they are made with 5 different wrappers. Java, Sumatra, Brazil, Manila and Havana. They are sold in dress boxes of 25 and in samplers of 10, with 2 of each wrapper. I had to go to Maastricht for work last week and decided to treat myself to a sampler. This is the review of the Sumatra wrapper.
The wrapper is light colored with lots of small veins and smells a bit musty, like most dry cigars that I’ve smelled. The flavors that I get have a warm feeling to it and I can taste spices with something metallic on the background, but the metallic flavor fades away after about a centimeter. After about an inch I can taste some chocolate through the herbs/spices and the finale brings back some of the metallic flavor.
The cigar produces a lot of smoke and a nice aroma. I would call this mild to medium, but closer to the mild side. Flavor wise this is a typical dry cigar, with a reasonable burn and a fine draw.
Would I buy this cigar again? Probably not, for less money I can buy a Jose L Piedra petit cazadores, which I prefer over this cigar, although if you like dry cigars this Wotje is good.
Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 7 / 10
Appearance: 6 / 10
Smoke & ash: 7 / 10
Burn: 7 / 10
Aroma (first part) 6 / 10
Aroma (middle part) 6 / 10
Aroma (last part) 6 / 10
Wotjes is a brand especially made for tobacconist W. Otten in Maastricht, a beautiful city in the south of The Netherlands and I heard a lot about those cigars that is a robusto size, which is an unusual vitola for a dry cigar and they are made with 5 different wrappers. Java, Sumatra, Brazil, Manila and Havana. They are sold in dress boxes of 25 and in samplers of 10, with 2 of each wrapper. I had to go to Maastricht for work last week and decided to treat myself to a sampler. This is the review of the Manila wrapper.
The wrapper is a nice color brown, with some nice veins. The predraw is just fine. When I light the cigar I taste a nice sweet musty flavor, not an unpleasant musty flavor but warm and familiar. The mustiness disappears soon and the sweetness sticks around. The flavor is mellow and after 1/3rd I can taste some liquorice. After 2/3rd I taste spices with a peppery finale. The aroma is quite peppery.
The draw is fine, the cigar produces a nice amount of smoke and the ash is light colored and firm.
Would I buy this cigar again? Probably not, for less money I can buy a Jose L Piedra petit cazadores, which I prefer over this cigar, although if you like dry cigars this Wotje is good.
Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 7 / 10
Appearance: 7 / 10
Smoke & ash: 7 / 10
Burn: 7 / 10
Aroma (first part) 6 / 10
Aroma (middle part) 7 / 10
Aroma (last part) 6 / 10
