Vitola: Toro
Size: 5.50″ x 54 ring gauge
Price $8.99
Purchased from Maxamar’s Cigars
Background
I had seen some posts about this cigar on Twitter but I hadn’t heard much about it when I walked into Maxamar’s and saw it on the shelf. From what I can find the new Nestor Miranda Collection will consist of a blend with a Connecticut wrapper, Ecuadorian habano wrapper, and this one a Connecticut Broadleaf maduro wrapper. The Connecticut shade one will be a hold over from the old line with the habano replacing the rosado and the maduro replacing the oscuro lines. The new cigars will differentiated by having this much more striking band (with either blue, green or red accents) packed in black lacquer boxes. They will all come in the same four sizes, a 6 x 46 Corona, a 4.5 x 50 Robusto, a 6 x 60 Gordo and a 5.5 x 54 Toro that is the subject of this review. They are also packed in 20 count boxes. This was my third experience with this cigar.
Prelight
The wrapper on this cigar was a nice, even dark chocolate brown with mostly fine veins. The wrapper also sparkled a bit when I had it out in the sun. This is something I’ve seen on other CT Broadleaf cigars so I don’t know if it is from the soil or bits of foil that fell off the band. The wrapper had some oil and tooth to it as well. I will say that the new bands for these cigars really make them stand out. I do like the new almost Art Deco look to them. When I gave it a squeeze it was fairly firm with no soft spots. When I put my nose to the wrapper I noted the aroma of barnyard with chocolate and leather coming from the foot. After clipping and taking a cold draw on it I got the slight taste of chocolate and cotton candy with a good draw.
Flavor
The cigar lights up with a blast of red pepper spice, typical of a Pepin made cigar. After taking a few puffs on it I started to get the tastes of chocolate, leather and coffee. Towards the end of this third I started to get hints of cinnamon and curry as well. The cigar starts off in the medium-full range. As I moved in the second third the spice had definitely toned down but didn’t go away completely. The flavors I noted in this third were of cocoa, coffee, earth, cinnamon and leather with a sweet finish. The cigar built to the upper end of medium-full as I started to get a slight nicotine hit from it. The flavors of the final third were very similar to the second third. The cigar did build into full strength and I got a nice nicotine hit from the cigar by the end.
Construction
The draw was pretty much perfect throughout and it produced a large volume of smoke. The burn while slightly wavy didn’t require any touch ups.
Value
Like the previous cigars in the Nestor Miranda Collection they represent a great value for the flavor and quality of cigar you get.
Conclusions
Overall I really enjoyed this cigar. I will definitely be purchasing more of these. I would recommend giving this a try when you find it in a shop, especially if you are a CT Broadleaf fan. I will caution those that are nicotine sensitive though.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10
The new look is very attractive.
Looks delicious.
I said it on Twitter and will say it here, totally dig that band. Has an awesome look to it. In saying that, the cigar sounds like a very enjoyable cigar!
Lucky they were at the booth next to us.. great cigars and you hit the flavors on the nose
boom 9.5 thats a strong score. I love me some CT Broadleaf so I will search this out.