Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The wrapper on the Armando Artamendi Cabinet Selection Sun Grown Robusto Extra is light brown with a hint of green to it and there are some lightly raised veins present. The seams are a bit raised while the caps are very well applied. The cigar seems weighty for its size. There are two bands, both in a red and gold color combination. The primary denotes the brand and the secondary denotes the line and vitola. The designs are very nice, but I think some embossing would do them wonders. The aroma from the wrapper is musty cedar and light earth while the foot brings aged cedar that is sweet and musty along with some baking spices. The pre-light draw brings an airy, well aged cedar.
Seth: The Armando Artamendi Cabinet Selection Sun Grown Robusto Extra is a nice-looking cigar. The bands are sharp and pop against the wrapper. This is my style of packaging. Elegant and old school. The cigar has a nice Colorado coloring and is oily throughout. Small to medium sized veins on a firm cigar. The cigar has lovely aromas of barnyard, tobacco, rich earth, warm spices and coffee beans. Leather as well.
John: The Armando Artamendi Cabinet Selection Sun Grown Robusto Extra comes in cellophane and has a UPC sticker with the cigar information as well as an integrated tear space to remain intact when opened. There are two bands, with the primary Armando Artamendi band and a Sun Grown Robusto Extra secondary band. I weighed the cigar at 16.0 grams and measured the humidity at 62.0% with the HumidiMeter Pro. Aromas from the wrapper were sweet, musty tobacco, aged wood and faint barnyard. From the foot, I could detect sweet, dusty tobacco and hay.

Armando Artamendi Cabinet Selection Sun Grown Robusto Extra

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with a mellow mix of sandalwood and earth. At a quarter inch in, a very mild black pepper joins the profile. The retrohale is sandalwood, earth and lightly zingy black pepper. At an inch in, a light saltiness becomes present. As the third comes to a close, the sandalwood is just ahead of the earth, with the black pepper just past halfway in the profile and then some saltiness in the background. The strength was slightly below medium.
Seth: The first third opens with damp tobacco and barnyard qualities. Damp earth with some richness. Bits of cedar are present as well with soft spices that are muddled. Bits of mushroom on the finish. Medium in strength and body.
John: My initial flavor impressions are sweet tobacco with a dry, musty center and light leather combining with wood through the finish. Mild spices are present through the retrohale. As the first third settles in, wood joins the post draw. Some time later, graham cracker and chocolate move into the center of the retrohale.

Armando Artamendi Cabinet Selection Sun Grown Robusto Extra

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, the saltiness picks up and seems to be in good harmony with the sandalwood. At a half inch in, the sandalwood gains a decent level of toast to it. The retrohale remains sandalwood, earth and lightly zingy black pepper. As the third comes to a close, the toasted sandalwood is just ahead of the earth, with black pepper just behind the halfway point and saltiness in the background. The strength remained slightly below medium.
Seth: The second third delivers that damp tobacco and barnyard flavor profile. Cedar and rich spice notes are present as well. Soft, faint pepper spices. Medium in strength and body. Fairly similar to that of the first.
John: Graham cracker leads off the second third, followed by tobacco and a mildly bitter wood on the finish. The post draw wood moves towards medium rapidly and gains some tannins along the way. Earth joins the finish and lingers into the post draw as the second third progresses.

Armando Artamendi Cabinet Selection Sun Grown Robusto Extra

Final Third

Aaron: As the final third begins, the toasted sandalwood and earth are now even up front and the black pepper and saltiness have both mellowed. At a half inch in, the toast level increases a bit. The retrohale is now just toasted sandalwood and earth. As the cigar wraps up, the toasted sandalwood and earth are even up front, with the black pepper and saltiness in the background. The strength bumped up to medium.
Seth: The final third delivers a profile of earth, cedar, warm spices and barnyard notes. It has some stronger spices, but there is a smooth finish and not a mineral or pepper spike. I really believe this cigar needs some time to open. Medium in strength and body.
John: Tobacco and earth combine to start with wood in the center and a mild leather and earth combination on the finish. On the retrohale, some chocolate is detectable underneath the earth as it settles. Hay joins the finish as the cigar progresses to the halfway point. Bitter earth begins to define the post draw in the bottom half, increasing as it continues.

Armando Artamendi Cabinet Selection Sun Grown Robusto Extra

Burn

Aaron: The burn was off a bit through the first two thirds as the back half of the cigar didn’t really want to burn, which may have been leaf placement and two touch-up were required to keep everything in line.
Seth: The burn was decent, but not great.
John: The burn was straight through the first third, becoming uneven into the second third. Eventually a touch-up is required to correct. The burn remained relatively straight for the remainder of the review.

Armando Artamendi Cabinet Selection Sun Grown Robusto Extra

Draw

Aaron: The draw was perfect, with just the right amount of resistance that I prefer.
Seth: The draw was snug at times. Seemed damp.
John: The draw was slightly into the resistant spectrum, roughly 1-1/2 – 2 notches, which puts it into the very good scoring category for a draw.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with a mellow mix of sandalwood and earth. Some black pepper joined in pretty quickly and then some saltiness a bit later. The second third saw the sandalwood become toasted and the saltiness pick up slightly. The final third saw the earth become even with the sandalwood and the toast level increased a bit. This Armando Artamendi Cabinet Selection Sun Grown Robusto Extra had a nice profile through the first two thirds and then took a step down in the final third as the earth and toast increased. This profile shows what Santana is known for with good flavor delivery in a low to medium strength profile. I just wish it made it through the entire cigar. I would come back to this cigar and I’d also be interested in trying it in the 60 ring gauge offering to see how that performs as well.
Seth: The Armando Artamendi Cabinet Selection Sun Grown Robusto Extra is a great looking cigar with a solid flavor profile. I find a lot of Santana’s stuff out of Costa Rica has a lovely core flavor profile, but the musty wood and barnyard notes sometimes become too much and prevent the cigar from developing. I think that dry boxing them helps the cigar open more, and I imagine that if you let them age, they would develop further. Investment cigars. I would come back to the cigar and would love to see how it smokes with age and a low RH. I believe it would perform very well.
John: The Armando Artamendi Cabinet Selection Sun Grown Robusto Extra had a promising start with interesting combinations of tobacco, mustiness, leather, graham cracker and chocolate. The profile flattened out through the second third but remained pleasant. In the last third, the flavors became unbalanced and took on bitterness through the bottom half. The draw was slightly into the resistant spectrum and the burn required a touch-up to correct. While the first third showed promise, the overall flavor delivery fell to subpar by the final third. The minor draw and burn issues aside, the overall delivery didn’t impress enough for this to be a cigar I’d want to return to. Total smoking time was 2 hours and 3 minutes.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

6.52

Cost/Point

$2.15

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

5.10

Cost/Point

$2.75

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

5.50

Cost/Point

$2.55

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Armando Artamendi Cabinet Selection Sun Grown Robusto Extra