Don Fernando’s cigarblog

This oily maduro wrapper is quite beautiful, it is almost black and only has one vein running over it. The construction feels good, just like the predraw which leaves a dark chocolate flavor on my lips. The aroma is a bit sour.

I can taste a pretty full sweet coffee flavor with a bit of pepper. Soon those flavors are accompanied by some sweet chocolate while the texture of the smoke becomes creamy. The pepper is still hanging around in the back of my throat. Halfway the powers progress a little and after 2/3^rd the chocolate is gone and I get some wood and a bit of a minty freshness. Soon after, the chocolate returns as an aftertaste.

I get more than enough smoke from this cigar. Due to the trip from the US to The Netherlands and not enough time to recover the cigar dried out a bit which caused the wrapper to crack. This didn’t help the ash, which became quite dark and frayed. The draw was fine.

Would I buy this cigar again?  Yes, this is a very nice everyday smoke.

Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 7 / 10
Appearance: 8 /10  
Smoke && ash: 7 / 10
Burn: 6 / 10
Aroma (first part)  7 / 10
Aroma (second part)  8 / 10
Aroma (third part)  7 / 10

This 5 x 50 cigar is made from tobacco grown on a small tobacco field in Nicaragua with a broadleaf maduro wrapper. The wrapper is a bit rough on the edges with some veins, but that just makes the cigar manly. The minute I remove the cellophane I could smell the barnyard aroma, which means the aroma is quite strong. The construction feels good, I couldn’t detect any weak spots. The band is nice, modest, stylish but unfortunately also quite large and glued together too good, which annoys me as with big bands like these, you have to remove them at a certain moment and with good glue that can be a problem. Oliva has big bands too, but their bands are easily removed so it’s no big deal, but on this Perdomo it’s different. The predraw is just fine.

When I light the cigar with my Ronson jetflame I could taste a full flavored coffee and after half an inch, the coffee gets a mild chocolate aftertaste and about half an inch later, the chocolate becomes the main flavor with a mild creamy texture. There isn’t a lot of change in flavors, but I don’t care because I like what I taste.

Halfway the cigar becomes a bit peppery and the pepper grows a bit in strength with the chocolate on the background. This flavor is consistent almost till the end. The final few puffs are nutty and then I have to dump the nub in the ashtray.

The draw on this cigar is fine and the burn is even better. I had minor burn issues in the beginning, with some crooked burning but it corrected itself and was razor sharp from that moment. The ash is light colored and a bit frayed on the top, but it didn’t turn into a Don King haircut, as I expected it to be after a few puffs. The amount of smoke is fine but the texture is kind of thin and the color has a light blue glow to it. I would call this a full flavored cigar, but I am not sure if this is a medium or full bodied cigar. I mean, while I was smoking it, it felt like a medium bodied cigar, but I think it’s a mean old sniper because I could clearly notice an overdose on Vitamin N when I stood up.

Would I buy this cigar again? Yes, you can find these for $3 a stick and that makes it a very affordable cigar.

Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 7 / 10
Appearance: 7 / 10
Smoke & ash: 7 / 10
Burn: 8 / 10
Aroma (first part) 7 / 10
Aroma (middle part) 7 / 10
Aroma (last part) 7 / 10

An American friend send me this cigar in a bomb and I am glad he did, because I liked it a lot. This nice maduro cigar has a light salty scent to it and feels well constructed. The cigar is slightly box pressed

I taste full, almost Cuban, leather, spicy and full. After about half an inch a woody flavor accompanies the leather with a chocolaty taste on the background. When the chocolate disappears sweetness shows up. The sweetness is replaced by pepper for the final few puffs.

The smoke is full. The burn starts crooked but it gets better with every puff. The ash started dark but turns lighter the closer I get to the turning point.

Would I buy this cigar again? Yes, I liked it

Construction: 8 / 10
Draw: 7 / 10
Appearance: 8 / 10
Smoke & ash: 7 / 10
Burn: 7 / 10
Aroma (first part) 7 / 10
Aroma (middle part) 8 / 10
Aroma (last part) 7 / 10

A friend bombed me with this cigar and he said it was one of his favorites so my expectations of this 7 x 54 torpedo were pretty high. The wrapper is dark, almost leathery with one huge vein running over it. Even the feeling of the texture of the wrapper is leather like, dry and stiff or sturdy.

I tasted some coffee, not too strong though, with a bit of sweetness. After an inch the coffee turns into sweet chocolate. The texture of the flavor is mild creamy. The first half of the cigar is pretty blend and consistent with the flavors mentioned and in the second half I tasted some mild coffee which is replaced by chocolate and white pepper but unfortunately the pepper disappears quickly, only to return for the final couple of puffs combined with a strong dark chocolate flavor. This is the first Oliva that I wouldn’t have recognized as an Oliva stick in a blind taste, as it lacks the specific Oliva sweetness that you find in any of their sticks.

The draw is fine, the ash is white and the cigar produces a lot of smoke. The burn is very straight. This cigar is medium bodied and medium flavored.

Would I buy this cigar again? No, I had better cigars from Oliva

Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 8 / 10
Appearance: 8 / 10
Smoke & ash: 8 / 10
Burn: 8 / 10
Aroma (first part) 7 / 10
Aroma (middle part) 7 / 10
Aroma (last part) 7 / 10

When I opened my humidor tonight to pick a cigar, I noticed some flower o none of them, and to avoid further contamination I decided to smoke that particular cigar rightaway. It was the Cuesta-Rey Centenario No. 5 Maduro, a 139mm long 53 ring size cigar from the Dominican republic with a sun grown USA Conneticut wrapper and a Dominican binder and filler.

The wrapper is nice and dark, with some veins. The downside is that the wrapper contains some colordifferences. The band is one of the prettiest I’ve seen so far, very arty and colorfull, but I’de rather have a pretty cigar then a pretty band. The predraw was a bit hard, but not so hard that I would call it bad. The cigar smells like manure and dry hay.

After lighting I can taste leather and a bit of hay. Soon a hint of cacao shows up on the background. The leather isn’t any like the Cuban kind of leather, this flavor is much smoother and lighter. Halfway the cacao grows stronger and it keeps growing stronger when I get to the turningpoint. Right before I reach the turningpoint I can taste a strong fresh mint.

It took me about 65 minutes to finish this cigar. The smoke is a bit light, but the ash is pretty, firm and almost white.

Would I buy this cigar again? Perhaps, it’s not on top of the list.

Construction: 13 / 20
Draw: 13 / 20
Appearance: 16 / 20
Smoke && ash: 6 / 10
Burn: 20 / 20
Aroma (head) 7 / 10
Aroma (body) 7 / 10
Aroma (foot) 6 / 10
Price / value: 14 / 20