Wrapper: Dominican Corojo
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican Cuban Seed
Size: 6.25 x 52 “Belicoso”
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $6.50

Casa Magna cigars by Manuel Quesada have been a popular and inexpensive cigar line. There is the original, highly rated Casa Magna, the Casa Magna Oscuro and this blend. All blends are pretty much in the same price range. This blend is the newest.

This cigar was already in production when Cigars International approached Quesada about an exclusive cigar. Negotiations began and the Dominican became a CI Conglomerate cigar blend.

A couple of these sticks that have been humidor aged for a month were sent to me by a reader that noticed I hadn’t reviewed it. So thanks to that reader that told me if I named him, he would get an IRA hit squad after me.

For some reason, CI sells the original Casa Magna in boxes of 27 and 55. The Dominican comes in boxes of 20.
It is a dreary and rainy day in lovely SE Wisconsin and of course, no sun. My apologies to your eyes.

The cigar feels light in the hand. Almost wispy. Construction is good with invisible seams and a handful of large and small veins. It appears to have a double cap or it is done so precisely, it is a triple cap and I can’t tell without a magnifying glass. That belicoso pointy cap is nearly a work of art. Clearly, the factory put some of their best rollers on this one.

The wrapper changes color based on the light it is exposed to. Lying on my dining room table, it is a medium brown with a hint of reddish tinge. In the light, the wrapper lightens up considerably to almost a milk chocolate/caramel color. There is a bit of tooth but most of the stick is smooth.

I clip the cap and find aromas of orange peel citrus, milk chocolate, spice, clove, charred meat, cedar, cinnamon, and leather.
Time to light up.

The draw is good but not great. A little on the stiff side. The middle part of the cigar feels hard. I use my cigar awl (ice pick) to clear what appears to be a plug and now is all well with the gods. Perfect draw.

The first flavor is red hot pepper. With a bit of buttery sweetness right behind. There is a nice oak element and a fast growing component of rich coffee with cream.

The sweetness and the red pepper compete with each other as they continue to grow in stature. Cocoa appears and complements the flavors we’ve accrued so far.

I’ve reviewed the Casa Magna Domus Magnus Optimus II (in 2013) and the Casa Magna Colorado (in 2012) here. But not the others. No excuse or explanation.

The pepper is extremely strong like what you expect in a Garcia blend. But instead of a blast of pepper, it climbs like a Kudzu vine on a wall.

At the 1” mark, I use the damn flash on my camera to try and show the oiliness of the stick instead of the dry creek bed look I’m getting without sun streaming through the window. It’s not much help as the flash always reflects off the cigar band.

The ash is hanging tough. I’m playing Russian roulette with it.

So far, I am not really impressed with the cigar. It was sent to me by a reader who said it had a couple months of humidor time. At a $6.50 price point, I shouldn’t have expected much. And to be perfectly honest, I’m not a big fan of Manuel Quesada’s blending skills.

A bit of honey and caramel show up in small doses helping the flavor profile considerably: Sweetness, creaminess, cocoa, coffee, cedar, oak, and a waning red pepper, and leather.

I check my two reviews and I felt almost the same way about the $6.50 CM Colorado. Not that impressed. But on the other hand, I was duly impressed with the $8.00 Domus Magnus Optimus II. That was a great cigar.

I will betcha a buck that when negotiations and haggling finished with the CI Conglomerate, the cigar blend took a hit because CI wanted the cigar in a certain price range removing Quesada’s impetus to swing one out of the park. So instead of a Domus Magnus, we get just another dull cigar that you can buy on Cbid for $3.00 a stick. CI and its affiliates are like the Rocky Patel of the online cigar outlets. Crank ‘em out and we don’t care if they are good cigars or not. Because more than half of cigar smokers wouldn’t know a good cigar from a twig.

That’s why you don’t see much of the real New Breed Tattooed Ones’ cigars for sale on their sites. Even Espinosa is cranking out crap now. Most of his cigars have fallen into the $6 range. Meanwhile, his old partner Eddie Ortega is knocking them out of the park.

With the first third behind me, flavors begin to improve. Prior to that, the cigar was no different than a no name house brand.

There is no way this cigar will even touch the hems of flavor bomb status. The pepper resurges and is now the top dog in the flavor department. The other flavors are subservient.

Then again, maybe 4-5 weeks is not long enough humidor time for this stick. Maybe Quesada is doing what he does best; crank out Old School blends. Wait 6 months for your mediocrity to appear.

The strength has been mild this whole time. Where the hell CI’s describes this as medium/full is beyond me.
So here we go, ladies and germs; another stick that waits til the last third to shine a bit.

Take a look at “The Katman’s List of 89 Great Cigars in the $5.00-$6.00 Range” and you will find oodles of cigars much better than this one.

It doesn’t even feel like the cigar is trying to become better.

And then at the halfway point, the cigar becomes the little choo choo that could. I’m afraid to type it but could the cigar be making a bid for having some decent flavors?

And like magic, the strength moves to classic medium bodied.

I don’t like cigars like this one. You have to suffer through 3” of mediocrity to get to the prize in the middle.

The flavors actually brighten prior to my prediction of it happening in the last third. And the list changes up a bit: Creaminess, spice, honey, caramel, cocoa, coffee, oak, leather, and cinnamon.

The cigar, which under normal circumstances would have tossed at the halfway point, redeems itself a little.
This only tells me that the cigar is either a stinkeroo or needs 6 months humidor time. Which the other Casa Magnas did not. Let’s just say that Quesada did not use some of his finest leaves for this blend.

I’m not sure at this point if the cigar deserves to have a hard fought for rock n roll story at its end.

This is how CI describes the cigar: “Notes of earth, oak, coffee, and pepper linger on the palate, while clouds of smoke emanate with every puff of this rich flavorful cigar.”

Any time a description uses half its space to describe the plumage of smoke, you know something is wrong.
Quesada is probably screaming laughter at CI over this one. Who pulled the hidden dove from the hat from whom?

I can pronounce that this cigar finally interests me as the last third begins. But it stems not from the cigar being excellent, but rather, I had hoped that it didn’t waste my time completely.

The strength is a touch above medium bodied now.

The flavors are smooth but not bold. In fact, I’m getting some hay elements. Most commonly associated with a mediocre blend.

I have to give the cigar its props when it comes to construction. The char line has been great. There have been no wrapper issues and the cap has stood up to my chomping better than most.

Normally, by now, I would have put the cigar down and walked away. It tastes like the last cigar of the day after your palate is fried and you can barely taste anything.

There are only a couple of reviews of this cigar and zero from the A List reviewers. Now I know why.

With less than 1-1/2” to go, the strength hits medium/full.

But the flavors are meandering in the summer grass. It has the attention span of 5 year olds playing Tee Ball.

The cigar confirms my lack of confidence in the Quesada blends. The man has only put out a small handful of really good sticks.

One nice thing is that there isn’t a drop of nicotine. This is a great newbie cigar because of that.

This cigar couldn’t spell flavor bomb if it had a tutor that looked like Angelina Jolie.

I cannot recommend this cigar. It is blah and inconsistent. The flavors come and go as they please. The strength at the first half is insufficient for an experienced smoker.

The cigar just goes dead on me. I can’t go on and leave it in the ashtray.
But if you want to try them, you can get them on Cbid for $2 or $3 a stick.
Their true value.

Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS

Tags: Casa Magna Dominican Cigar Review, cigar review, cigar reviews by the katman, cigars, manuel quesada