Vitola: Robusto
Size: 5″ x 50 ring gauge
Price $8.25 MSRP
Review Sample from Fratello Cigars
Background
Today I’ll be taking a look at the first time Omar de Frias used Ecuadorian Connecticut tobacco in a cigar blend. The company was kind enough to send me out samples for me to review. This is fairly recent release from the company and the third blend from the company. This blend is comprised of fillers from Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, and Columbia, with a Cameroon binder with an Ecuadorian Connecticut shade wrapper. They come is six sizes and range in MSRP from $7-$10 and come 20 to a box. This was my second cigar smoked.
Prelight
The wrapper is a nice golden color that matches nicely with the gold foil bands. The wrapper had a good amount of oils and some tooth to it. When I gave it a squeeze there was a slight amount of give and no soft spots. When I put my nose to the wrapper I noted the aroma of hay with raisins from the foot. After clipping it and taking a cold draw I got the flavor of balsa with a great draw.
Flavor
The cigar starts off with a little spice on the tongue and retrohale with flavors of wood, leather, green herbs with a slightly sweet finish. The cigar’s strength is at the bottom end of medium at the start. In the second third the spice that had built up slightly in the first mellowed out. I noted the flavors of basil, wood and leather with the slightly sweet finish. The cigar maybe moved up to medium strength in the second third. As I got into the final third the flavors were pretty familiar; wood, leather, and green herbs. The strength stayed in the medium range at the end.
Construction
The draw was very loose throughout. The burn line was only slightly wavy throughout.
Value
At a MSRP of $8.25 this cigar fits in with many of it’s competitors.
Conclusions
As many of you might be aware I’m not the biggest fan of Connecticut shade wrappers, and this was another one that didn’t do much for me. I couldn’t find anything bad to report about it, it just didn’t hit my palate. However with the reasonable price and medium strength it makes it possible for pretty much anyone to give it a try to see if they might like it.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 3/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 8/10
