Pre-light Experience

The wrapper on the PDR El Criollito Robusto is light brown and has some thick, lightly raised veins. The seams are smooth and the caps decently applied. The band is brown, white, gold and orange with the line name on front and company logo repeating around the rest of the band. The aroma from the wrapper is a musty hay/barnyard combination while the foot brings earth, floral notes and some cedar. The pre-light draw brings floral notes, cedar and light earth along with a mild spiciness on my lips.

First Third

The cigar begins with cedar, earth and baking spice. At a quarter inch in, some mustiness joins the profile. At a half inch in, the baking spice has transitioned to black pepper. The retrohale is toasted cedar, earth and light black pepper. At an inch in, the toasted cedar is slightly ahead of the earth, with black pepper in the middle and light mustiness in the background. As the third comes to a close, the earth moves back to become even with the pepper in the middle of the profile. The strength was right at medium.

Second Third

As the second third begins, the toast level increases a bit. At a quarter inch in, a burning paper note joins the profile. The retrohale remains toasted cedar, earth and light black pepper. At an inch in, the earth increases a bit to be back in between the toasted cedar and black pepper. As the third wraps up, the profile is toasted cedar up front with earth a bit behind, black pepper in the middle and mustiness and burning paper in the background. The strength remained at medium.

Final Third

As the final third begins, the earth is now even up front with the toasted cedar. The retrohale continues with the toasted cedar, earth and light black pepper. At a half inch in, the mustiness has departed. The cigar wraps up with toasted cedar and earth even up front, black pepper in the middle and burning paper in the background. The strength remained at medium.

Burn

The burn was wavy throughout and the cigar went out three times, requiring re-lights. The burn issues in combination with the open draw probably are due to being a bit underfilled.

Draw

The draw was quite open to start, but tightened up a little bit as it went along, but was still more open than I prefer.

Overall

The cigar began with cedar, earth and baking spice. Some mustiness joined in a bit later. The second third saw the toast level pick up a bit and a burning paper note joined in. The final third saw the mustiness depart. The draw and burn issues were likely due to the cigar being under filled. The flavor profile was average throughout, but the takeaway for me from the PDR El Criollito Robusto was the construction issues. Having to babysit the burn and draw just aren’t something I’m interested in. I’d be interested in revisiting a better constructed version, but it’s not really high on my list to do so.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

4.68

Cost/Point

$1.53

Scoring System

Personal Cigar Review: PDR El Criollito Robusto