Pre-light Experience

The wrapper on the Quorum Shade Toro is tan with a slight green tinge to it. There are some lightly raised veins along with some lumpiness from what lies beneath the wrapper. The seams are smooth and the double cap is well applied. The band is the traditional design for the line but has a creamy yellow, black and gold color combination for this variation and also denotes Shade on it. The aroma from the wrapper is slightly musty hay and earth while the foot brings sweet hay and light spice. The pre-light draw brings a good dose of musty hay along with some mild spiciness on my lips.

First Third

The cigar begins with a mellow combination of musty, toasted wood along with a subtle spice note. The retrohale is musty, toasted wood. At an inch and a quarter, the flavor profile has become a bit fuller. As the third comes to a close, some hay joins in with the musty, toasted wood while a mild spice remains in the background. The strength in this third was mild-medium.

Second Third

As the second third begins, the profile has continued to increase in fullness. At a half inch in, the hay has departed and the musty, toasted wood remains up front with mild spiciness in the background. The retrohale is now toasted wood with baking spice right behind. At an inch and a quarter, a light bitterness joins the profile. As the third comes to a close, the toast level increases as the mustiness decreases. The strength in this third bumped up to slightly below medium.

Final Third

As the final third begins, the bitterness picks up a fair amount. At a half inch in, the profile is heavily toasted wood, bitterness in the middle with light mustiness and spice in the background. The retrohale is now toasted wood with light mustiness and spice. As the cigar wraps up, the heavily toasted wood is up front, with bitterness right behind and light amounts of mustiness and spice. The strength in this third bumped up to medium.

Burn

The burn was straight throughout and the ash held on in near two inch increments.

Draw

The draw was perfect, with just the right amount of resistance that I prefer.

Overall

The cigar started fairly light in the fullness of flavors, but built up as it went along. The first two thirds had a nice balance but the final third dropped down as the toast became heavy and some bitterness joined in and built up. For a bundle cigar, the Quorum Shade Toro did quite well. I would pin this towards the top of my list as a cigar for a new smoker as it does a great job of easing you in to the experience. While it’s not something I would smoke often, it’s definitely a good yard cigar and at the price point, it’s really hard to do better.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.40

Cost/Point

$0.48

Scoring System

Personal Cigar Review: Quorum Shade Toro