Wrapper: Havana Connecticut 2017 (USA) ~ Aged 7 Years
Binder: Mexican San Andrés
Filler: Dominican Criollo 98 Ligero & Seco, Mexican San Andrés, Dominican Vuelta
Abajo, Viso & Seco
Size: 6 x 52 Toro
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $150.00
Date Released: June 2025
Quantity Released: 600 boxes of 10
Factory: General Cigar Dominicana

This cigar has been aging in my humidor for 10 months.

This is a good-looking cigar. There’s a nicely embossed foil band positioned over a full body sleeve emblazoned with the word COHIBA. Undressed, this stick is beautifully crafted and has a nice, hefty feel. The original humidor is quite the work of art and wouldn’t look out of place birthing a drooling, hissing, fang-toothed hatchling in the next Alien movie.

Katman reviewed this cigar in October 2025. He was not impressed. The batch was rolled almost exactly a year ago now. The big question: did this Cohiba Spectre age with grace and dignity? I’m about to find out.

I hit the cap with my punch and test the draw. Perfect. I fire it up.

I plan to savor this experience, so I take my time. I take the first lingering puffs and watch the abundant smoke curl into the breeze while waiting for the opening act. I gaze at this smoking bundle of leaves in awe, wondering when some sort of flavor note might appear. I watch the ash form, almost pure white with a slightly wonky burn line.

I read a few reviews which mentioned an intense, burning pepper spice on the retrohale. I prepare myself and blow it slowly out of my nostrils. No burn, no spice, no flavor notes. Age seems to have mellowed this cigar dramatically. If nothing else, it’s smooth and mild.

The ash has a very unusual characteristic. The binder ash peels back and sloughs off as this cigar burns down. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. There are little flecks of very light gray ash peeling off and floating in the breeze, landing in my water glass and all over my keyboard. So much free-floating ash? Maybe Mt. Rainier erupted while I wasn’t looking? Naaah… I would have heard it.

I’m an inch in and still waiting for something to pop. The burn is a bit off, the profile is mild and smooth, and the retrohale is still a big nada. No pepper, no flavor notes.

Come on!! Where’s the frickin’ beef?? I want prime Wagyu beef at this price!!
I wait. Time passes. Another puff, a very light coffee-with-cream flavor note. The note is so subtle, barely discernible.

My appropriate song for this first third is on. Mick says, “You can start me up!!”

Please… start me up. I’ll wait.

The dog next door howls, sensing my disappointment.

Towards the end of the first third, I get a Brazil nut note, which continues, unchanging, into the second third. The retro remains unremarkable.

When smoking a $150 cigar, it is customary to pull out your finest bourbon or scotch, sip it slowly, and roll it over the tongue to cleanse the palate so as to better savor the exquisite notes of a finely blended, masterfully crafted cigar. I think about the prime Wagyu steak I’ll have for dinner.

Then I wake up. This is no Wagyu-and-fine-bourbon cigar. This stick is more likely to pair with cheap tequila and a Costco hot dog.

I pour some rum to dull the pain of knowing that I was tempted to actually buy this expensive cigar at one point. Fortunately, a friend sent me one for free.

Fuck. It goes out. I relight.

Into the second third, the Brazil nut note morphs into wood dust with a faint minerality. On the retro, still nothing to write about. The extra year of age has mellowed the retro into a “why bother.”

I am smoking this slowly and deliberately, hoping to find some sort of amazing, sweet spot or a beautiful flavor note. I enter the final third and continue to live in hope. Something? Anything? Please???

Here comes the flavor now: charred wood and freshly drowned campfire. Great…and right on cue, the burn completes the Boy Scout camp scenario: it’s canoeing. I’ll need a paddle to finish the cigar now. Sheesh. My journey up shit creek continues.

I take another sip of rum and queue up “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”

This cigar cost some poor sucker $25 per inch, which reminds me of a joke. “A prostitute charges $25 per inch, and in walks Rufus who only has $25 to his name….” Oh, never mind.

I’m well into the final third now. The flavor doesn’t die; in fact, it doesn’t do anything because there’s kinda no flavor… just mild creamy smoke.

I let it burn out. I’m done. I leave fifty bucks’ worth of cigar in the ashtray.

Next song to finish the day: “Money for Nothing.”

I follow with “This Is the End”… my only friend, the end.

This Spectre has sullied the Cohiba name. I will go to my humidor and pull out the real deal: a Cuban Cohiba Robusto for tomorrow. Maybe I will review it.

Total time wasted: 2 hours and 8 minutes.

RATING: 76

Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS

Tags: charlie schink, cigar reviews, cigar reviews by the katman, cigars, Cohiba Spectre 2025 ~ Guest Review by Charlie Schink | Cigar Reviews by the Katman, katman, phil kohn