A Bronx Tale Calogero Robusto seems to be 20 to 30 years late, but with how everything else is trending, maybe cigars like this are back in style. It is fairly one dimensional, but not offensive. It has a blend that is balanced by the Dominican and Nicaraguan tobacco, and a wrapper that has a profile in line with the filler blends. I would buy a box at an event with Chazz and even smoke through a handful of them at an event.
I found the JRE Aladino Fuma Noche Super Toro to be an elegant cigar. It doesn’t deliver that Honduran flavor profile you get with JRE releases, but it still has this aged Honduran flavor profile. It is not in your face, but balanced and constant. A lovely blend that is composed of well-aged tobacco. It smokes great now, but you can see it showing elegance with years of aging.
Yes, I prefer the CroMagnon PA to the original CroMagnon. You shouldn’t be surprised. I believe the blend to be more balanced and refined. The RoMa Craft CroMagnon PA Anthropology is balanced and smokes consistently from beginning to end. Yes, it is full, but it is blended well so you are picking up flavors. For those PA Broadleaf fans, this is a must.
I love the Drew Estate Blackened S84 Shade to Black Robusto. This is a great Connecticut release, and one with a fantastic price too. Great flavors with a nice strength and body level. You really can’t ask for more from a Connecticut of this nature. It’s not intended to be super elegant like some Connecticut releases, but just really good at a great price.
The Patina Oro de Nicaragua Toro is fantastic, right up there with the Anniversary, and completely different at the same time. This is the way to do it. Great flavor profile on this cigar with the body delivered. The profile really spoke to me as a smoker right now. Fuller in body and strength with complexity and depth throughout. Great stick that I hope many enjoy as much as I did.
This Crowned Heads Míl Dias Maduro Sublime was a fun Broadleaf offering. Nice rustic Broadleaf flavors. Not too much to scare some less seasoned smokers away, but still present enough to capture a heavier smoker. Size went well with the maduro blend. Nice offering and will be interested if we get another maduro/Broadleaf release in the future.
The Davidoff Year of the Dragon Limited Edition 2024 had a nice start. It is not as complex as other Davidoff releases, but still has that pattern of not showing much transitioning throughout. With this being a larger cigar too, it needed more complexity to keep my interest from start to finish. In some ways, I would have preferred the cigar to be a pepper bomb throughout, but even then, the cigar needed more.
This Joya de Nicaragua Cinco de Cinco Corona Extra was a nice Mexican wrapper offering. I don't think it was needed by the company for the Maestros portfolio, but it was good. Lots of other Mexican releases have been busts recently. The Corona Extra was not my favorite size in the portfolio in terms of blend performance, but it is a great size and an enjoyable flavor profile that I will come back to this offering.
This Davidoff Aniversario No. 1 Limited Edition was a nice Double Corona. From beginning to end it had my attention with the flavors delivered and it’s balance. Nice level of complexity. Not much transitioning, but you don't find that a lot with Davidoff. It did have that solid and fairly complex core flavor profile however, and the peanut butter notes were enjoyable. The combination of spices with that made for a nice touch on the finish.
The Aganorsa Leaf Supreme Leaf Gran Robusto was a good cigar, and a consistent one as well. All samples produced the same smoking experience which was to my liking. It has been a while since an AGANORSA smoked at this level, and this reminded me of some early AGANORSA/Casa Fernandez releases. It's not as refined as their offerings during that golden era, but a really good blend. A really good Nicaraguan puro.
