Wrapper: Dominican Corojo Maduro (Aged 10 Years)
Binder: Indonesian Sumatra
Filler: Dominican Piloto Cubano Ligero, Nicaraguan Ligero, Pennsylvania Ligero, Dominican Olor
Size: 5 x 52 Robusto
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $22.00
Date Released: 2024
Quantity Released: 180 Boxes of 20
Factory: Tabacalera El Artista, Tamboril ~ Dominican Republic
My cigars received 3 months of naked humidor time.
BACKGROUND:
From Luxury Cigar Club:
“2024’s release marks the 4th time this blend has hit store shelves.
To age this Corojo wrapper and achieve the desired Maduro color, the wrapper goes through a rigorous fermentation process that renders 30-40% of the leaves unusable. This causes this cigar to be limited in production—180 boxes of each vitola, to be exact.
“The cigar comes in 2 chunky new vitolas and wears a 10-year-aged Maduro Corojo wrapper, a Sumatran binder, and fillers from the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and the USA. The filler leaves are a mix of 3 ligero leaves and one seco. “
THE WHOLE MEGILLAH:
I’m a sucker for exotic blends. It shows that the blender is passionate with a good dose of lusty experimentation. Of course, there is still a safety valve as only 3600 cigars were released. The other attraction was that the cigar has nearly two years of box aging.
The stick has a Frankenstein’s monster look with huge veins and multiple colorations. But it’s solid with the appropriate heft I like. The second thing that I look for when I hunt for eggs in my humidor is the weight. If a cigar feels light, I tend to put it back and seek out a cigar that feels better in the hand.
Aromas from the wrapper are abundant and unashamed that present as double dark chocolate, espresso, floral, sugar cane, baking spices, and rich earth.
As is mostly the case, my PerfecPunch stands at attention waiting to be called into service. I plunge its round face into the cap, give it some gentle pressure so that it can’t breathe, and pull out a plum sized manhole cover. The cold draw brings forth notes of baking spices, dark chocolate, espresso, leather, brown sugar, rare earth, and black walnuts.
Sweet and savory start. There are plenty of flavors to choose from as it seems that this is one of those blends that’s dealers’ choice. Your palate is going to discover what your palate and brain do best: guess. I taste a syrupy sweetness balanced by a lovely rich earthiness and an upfront mocha java. With a light combo of red and black pepper.
The initial presentation was great. But it quickly became a cigar whose first inch was merely testing ground as it leveled off and was dull. On a big cigar, it’s no big deal. But on a Robusto, that’s 20% just to warm up. I donated $4.40 to the cause hoping that the balance of the cigar is gold. All I can say for the first inch is that it shows potential. Not my favorite premise.
I need to see some real depth as inch number two begins. I know you’re not supposed to figure in price when you review a cigar, but that’s incorrect by every standard. It’s all about money unless you have more of it than common sense. Dropping a C note on a fiver ain’t fucking around.
Construction is top notch. The roll is slow and the char line is tight.
I like the spiciness. It’s very much like those cinnamon toothpicks or Red Hots candy. It amplifies the chocolate and steers it towards the familiarity of Mexican Mole sauce. Which then triggers some welcome creaminess. A rich oakiness is a lay about which adds some needed depth. As an old man, I have my preferences as to what I like to smoke. I realize that we all through phases in our cigar journey, and that being said, this blend is out of my comfort zone. I understand where this concoction is leading me, I understand its qualities, so I shift gears from what I prefer to what I need to do.
As inch two fades into oblivion, I realize how naïve I have become in my old age. As I said, I steer my choices away from the hyper grownup blends. I’ve reviewed 10 Sinistro cigars since 2019 and liked them all. The folks at Sinistro are sneaky good as they aren’t afraid of rocking the boat. Instead of falling into a narrow parameter of blends to soothe the savage breast of their followers, they spread the limbs wide open so that you get a peek inside their curious minds. I admire that. And if it seems I’m killing time, you’re right. And then things just blossom. The horizon expands. The blend finds its core. And I’m now enjoying the offering. If this cigar fell into the average price point of $10-$12, I probably wouldn’t have dissected it as I have. I want as much kapow to my buck as possible, as we all do. Nothing pisses off a cigar smoker more than seeing his hard-earned dollars go down the toilet with a cigar we wish we hadn’t bought. It’s one thing to buy a couple sticks from your local purveyor, but most of us cast aside the rigmarole of visiting a lounge and opt for the convenience of buying online. Unfortunately, it’s rare when you can only buy one or two sticks. The fiver is in our lexicon.
The second third soars and the first third lay prostrate. This is the price for trusting our betters.
As I am near the start of the second half, I finally get it. The flavors shift to black grapes, blanched almonds, deep earth, a touch of malt, mild spiciness, and milk chocolate. The blend made a massive transition from confused to dialed in. There was little complexity from the first $10. The next stage seems to offer a truce.
The blend isn’t so much about disparate flavors as it is about delivering a solid finish unhampered by an unbearable lightness of being. I wonder about the strategy of only releasing 180 boxes.
I reviewed this same blend three years ago in Lancero. I didn’t read the review prior to this critique. But as I peruse it now, I see it was a different experience that makes me wish I had bought more of those and less of the Robusto.
And then it becomes clear. I took a gander at the sales page at Luxury Cigar Club. A box is the size of a VW bus. That’s where some of the cost comes from. A design like this can’t be cheap and while Sinistro wants to make a splash with its presentation, it could have lopped off $4 a stick if they were delivered in a reasonable box. How big is this cigar box? So big that LCC politely declines to ship the cigars overseas.
The last third checks all the boxes. A fine cigar. No doubt. If the blend delivered the serious attributes of the second half in the first half, I’d have rated this cigar much higher. The cigar is also offered in a giant box pressed Belicoso (6.5 x 60) for $25. Bigger is not necessarily better. It’s a shame that the Lancero is no longer available.
You can read my reviews of ten Sinistro blends HERE.
I have two leads for this cigar. First is Luxury Cigar Club (not a sponsor) and second is Privada Cigar Club (not a sponsor). At Privada, you can buy singles.
RATING: 90
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