This West Tampa Chef Rick was a bold and rich cigar that felt satiating. The candy sweetness paired with big spice retrohale, earthy, and herbal background was just the right amount of full flavors and fuller strength to keep me wanting more draws. I'd for sure want to smoke more of these.
The Smoke This Trust Me Habano Robusto is a good cigar. The flavor profile is lovely from beginning to end, and the profile itself has nice components. It was balanced and complex. There was not a lot of transitioning throughout the cigar, but there was enough complexity to provide for a good smoking experience. Great burn and draw as well, which helps in an easy smoking experience.
Overall, the Joya de Nicaragua Clásico Original Green Room Selection is a good cigar, capturing a good amount of complexities to never bore the palate. The combination of spice, wood, natural sweet creaminess and a mouth coating oiliness worked really well. It's not the typical profile that I gravitate towards but I respect and enjoyed the blend.
Can one flavor note make a cigar good if it pops that much? My answer is no, although I LOVED the jammy stone fruit delivery of this JRE Aladino 250th. But the jam was accented very nicely by marshmallows creamed coffee, zippy minerals and cedar. On a side note, I'd love to know what tobacco is giving that great jammy stone fruit taste.
Overall, the ATL La Carrousel 1960 Gran Toro was a solid but ultimately uncomplicated cigar. The first third offered the most complexity, particularly with the interplay between sweet tobacco, wood, chocolate and evolving pepper. The cigar never fell apart, but it gradually became more linear as it progressed, with bitterness and tannins becoming more noticeable toward the end.
I like the Patina Connecticut Copper. It has a good flavor profile that has depth and complexity. There is not a ton of transitioning, but there are shifts in the flavor profile throughout the cigar that help deliver a good experience. The body and strength match with the flavor profile, and this is a cigar that will speak to many smokers. With a great burn and draw, this is a cigar I will come back to in the future.
The La Aurora Family Creed Series Perseverancia Box-Pressed Robusto is a good little cigar, and I don’t think I would have this blend in another vitola. The cigar would either lose its qualities with a larger ring gauge and/or be too much for me to even smoke. Great flavors of rich earth, leather, warm spices and pepper.
The Curivari Gran Reserva Edición 2025 552 is an average cigar. It has a good start, but the second and final third don’t deliver the qualities in the first. The flavors don’t completely fall off, but they go down just enough to take away from this cigar being good. I am not sure if this is a cigar I would seek out, but depending on the blend, I can see myself picking one up to try again down the road.
The Don Pepín García Clásico 20th Anniversary is an average to good cigar. I enjoy the flavor profile, but with a cigar of this size, it needs more depth and complexities. The flavor profile in general would be great in a smaller offering, but with a cigar of this size I need some transitioning. I am interested in the blend and brand, but I would definitely come back to this cigar.
The EGM Ninfa managed to maintain enough flavor interest to earn a Good overall rating. The combination of unusual paper and cardboard notes with strong baking spices, black pepper, bread and sweet tobacco made this a cigar that was more memorable than its construction issues might otherwise suggest.