Cigar Review: Villiger Colorado

• Vitola: Toro
• 6” x 50 ring gauge 
• MSRP ~$9.00
• Received from Villiger rep

Background

My first brush with Villiger cigars was about 12 years ago when my friend, Vern, encouraged me to try the little square cigars they sold at the smoke shop: “They’re really good for a dry cure!” is what he said. I tried and he was right. Those little square cigars are pretty darn good for dry cured smokes. I found out much later that those are called “Villiger Exports” and they are still good little smokes that only cost about $2 each. A few years later, I first heard that Villiger was entering the premium cigar market. I believe it was around 2012…I tried a couple sticks. One was pretty good, the other was a bit forgettable…and I ended up practically forgetting about both of them.

Until earlier this year when one of our independent reps started talking to me about the possibility of bringing Villiger into Burns. Based on past experiences, I can’t say I was really excited about the prospect, but he assured me that a few things had changed even in the last couple years, including changing factories for the Colorado, which was the cigar I liked best from the ones I had a few years back. I couldn’t get any further clarification on that issue, but I was able to determine that the Colorado does now come in 6 different vitolas and appears to be a Nicaraguan puro, with dual Estelí and Ometepe binders, and a Jalapa wrapper leaf.

I’ve had a couple of the Colorados recently and decided to save one out for review purposes. This one was given to me by the rep sometime recently.

Prelight

The red and gold banding on the Colorado is attractive and flashy, without being so flashy as to be desperate. The gold foil and embossing help it to stand out on the shelves as a premium product, and the packaging blends well with the dark milk chocolate brown of the cigar’s wrapper leaf. The wrapper had a good deal of oiliness to the touch, although there were a couple spots where there were holes in the leaf, as well. One had a patch on it. The aroma from the wrapper was of earth and leather, with just a touch of sweetness. The foot had a stronger barnyard note with coffee overtones.

After cutting, the cold draw was very good and had flavor notes of sweet hay and light earth, along with touches of cedar and something cooling in the same way that mint or menthol is cooling (it didn’t taste anything like mint, but cooled in the same manner, if that that makes sense).

Flavor

The Villiger Colorado lit up very quickly with a single flame torch and immediately started giving off strong flavors of cedar, dried fruit, coffee bean, and pepper spice. By the time I got halfway through the first third, the fruit sweetness had died down a bit, along with the coffee, and there was more cedar with a bit of floral flavor. It was definitely interesting. I noted this as being medium in body during the first third.

In the second third, the woody notes faded a bit and more sweetness came through. Again, it was of a dried fruit variety, although what kind of fruit wasn’t exactly clear. It was good, though. The pepper that had died down earlier started to make a comeback, too, as a dull red pepper on the back of my palate.

During the last third, the sweetness resolved to more of a molasses note with undercurrents of earth, wood and hay. The red pepper didn’t progress further, but it didn’t back down, either.

Construction

I had an excellent draw, very tight ash, and an even-enough burn line.

Value

A $9 price tag for a middle of the road size like a Toro is quite good. Put it together with an excellent smoking experience and it’s great value.

Conclusions

The Villiger Colorado is a very good smoke with plenty of complexity, progressing from one dominant flavor to another with an orderliness that was very welcome. I liked this cigar in the beginning and loved it by the end. All the while, this cigar is in the “workhorse” line of the Villiger premium offerings, with a price tag below $10 a stick, making it very accessible to most smokers.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10