Don Fernando’s cigarblog

This cigar came in a bomb from Shellie. The pretty 6 x 48 cigar, made by Rocky Patel, has a pretty wrapper with some light veins and feels pretty tight. It came packed in cellophane. The tobacco used for this cigar is triple fermented corojo and comes from Nicaragua and Honduras. The predraw is fine and tastes like straw.

I get a sweet coffee like flavor with a chocolate aftertaste. After half an inch the coffee is replaced with wood. At the 2 inch mark the flavors swap again, the wood is gone, the coffee is back. Halfway the chocolate disappears too and is replaced by hay. The chocolate aftertaste returns when I reach the 2/3^rd point and I can also taste a light pepper flavor.

The flavors are nice but mild to medium, just like the overall power of the cigar. The burn is perfect, the draw and the smoke are fine.

Would I buy this cigar again?  Yes, this is a nice cigar to start the day with.

Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 7 / 10
Appearance: 7 /10  
Smoke && ash: 6 / 10
Burn: 9 / 10
Aroma (first part)  7 / 10
Aroma (second part)  7 / 10
Aroma (third part)  7 / 10

This 6 x 50 Toro was a gift from Dan aka Hardcz. The first thing I notice is the aroma, which is full & strong and reminds me of a barnyard. The wrapper is quite dark and due to the rough looks with the nice veins it is a manly cigar. The predraw is great and peppery.

I can taste the flavor of black pepper, and a lot of it and I get flashbacks to the Oliva V belicoso I smoked some time ago. This is one spicy cigar with an aftertaste of toast. After an inch the flavors are pepper and cedar. Halfway the pepper is less overpowering but still present. The woody flavor and some chocolate are better noticeable now. Toast makes a comeback close to the turning point while the pepper fades away a bit.

No doubt about this cigar, full bodied, full flavored. The smoke is also full and the draw and burn are just great.  

Would I buy this cigar again? Maybe, so far I liked other Don Pepin cigars like the black, the JJ and the CI legends yellow better than this one. The pepper was a bit too overpowering in this stick.

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

As you may have read, last October I got to smoke two El Cobre by Oliva cigars, a torpedo and a robusto. The El Cobre is a very heavy cigar, nicknamed ‘the lobotomizer’ and ‘el muerto fuerte’ and till this month only available at Brian Shapiro’s shop but now Non Plus Ultra in Den Bosch will start selling them too. As the torpedo’s were not available, I ordered a bundle of toro’s. When I got them last Thursday I thought that there was a mix up, as there toro’s look more like coronas to me with the 152mm length and ring 46.

The El Cobre cigars have a very nice appearance, dark wrapper and a sophisticated black and copper band. The wrapper has some nice veins which give it a strong and rough look, the aroma is heavy and full but the cigar does feel a bit hard, rolled to tight and that causes the predraw to be kind of heavy. The cigar was a bit dry though, so hopefully it will improve if I let them rest for a while in my humidor. The predraw gave a black pepper flavor.

The pepper is also clearly there when I light the cigar. It’s like being kicked in the balls, this cigar is heavy, very heavy. There was a piece of paper at the bottom of the bundle warning me, it said “super fuerte” but I thought I was a big boy, until I lit the cigar, damn, what a power. To the palate again, heavy black pepper with leather and after a couple of centimeters a few hints of dark chocolate. The pepper is so strong it completely overpowers the chocolate and all other flavors, if there were any. I do notice that the pepper is not really consistent, with some puffs the pepper is stronger then with the next puff or the puff before, sometimes is heavier and spicier then the other time.

At about ¾ of the cigar I start to feel light headed, like I drank too much wine in a short period of time. This cigar is beating me, it’s too strong for me. I felt like Michael Spinks in a fight with Mike Tyson (Spinks was the reigning champion in the light heavyweight champion who had the idea that he could beat Tyson back in 1988, “the fight of the champions” lasted 91 seconds). I try to take control and keep on smoking, but like a fish on a line, I know I will lose the fight anyway. This cigar got me and it got me good.

The draw is heavy, maybe because the cigar is too dry. The smoke is white, but it could be fuller and the burn is pretty and straight. The ash is fantastic, strong and firm. It breaks only once.

Construction: 14 / 20
Draw: 12 / 20
Appearance: 16 / 20
Smoke && ash: 7 / 10
Burn: 16 / 20
Aroma (foot) 7 / 10
Aroma (body) 7 / 10
Aroma (head) 7 / 10

This 6 inch ring 52 Costa Rican cigar has a nice silky wrapper, a firm feeling and the aroma of hay. The predraw is fine and releases some hints of nuts, which I like.

After lighting the cigar I can taste distinct leather, the Cuban tobacco is noticeable. Soon the flavor becomes a bit creamy with hints of wood and toast. Toast is getting stronger and the creaminess disappears, just as the wood. After a third some spice, white pepper, appears soon to be replaced by a very soft chocolate which keeps on going for a while and then finally I get some of the nuts, which I tasted in the predraw too.

The cigar is full flavored, medium bodied, the draw is fine, lots of smoke coming from the cigar. Nice color light gray ash which is quite firm.

Would I buy this cigar again? Yeah, I will make an order soon.

Construction:16 / 20
Draw: 16 / 20
Appearance: 15 / 20
Smoke && ash: 15 / 10
Burn: 16 / 20
Aroma (foot) 7 / 10
Aroma (body) 7 / 10
Aroma (head) 7 / 10

Price/Value 18/20