Aaron Loomis

 Seth Geise

Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The wrapper on the ATL Libertad Robusto is light brown with some darker marbling and the network of lightly raised veins also carry a darker color to them. The seams are smooth, caps well applied and finished off with a tightly wound pigtail and the foot is covered with folded over excess wrapper. There are two bands, both carrying a matte red, gold and white color combination. The primary denotes the company while the secondary denotes the line. The aroma from the wrapper is lightly musty wood while the covered foot gives sweet bread and mild spice. The pre-light draw brings musty and lightly sweet cedar.
Seth: The ATL Libertad Robusto is finished with an antique brown like coloring, and it is between Natural and Colorado in wrapper coloring I would say. Lots of veins throughout. Firm to touch. I enjoy the closed foot and pigtail cap. Aromas of rich spices, leather, dry earth and tobacco.

Team Cigar Review: ATL Libertad Robusto

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with heavily toasted oak and sharp baking spice. At a quarter inch in, the toast level lessens a bit and the baking spice transitions to sharp black pepper. At a half inch in, some mustiness joins the profile. The retrohale is toasted oak and a full on black pepper zing. As the third comes to a close, the profile is lightly musty, toasted oak with black pepper just behind. The strength in this third was slightly above medium.
Seth: The first third begins with earth, sweet spices, coffee and leather notes. Bits of cocoa present as well. Medium-full in strength and body.

Team Cigar Review: ATL Libertad Robusto

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, the mustiness picks up a bit. At a half inch in, a light, dry earth joins the profile. The retrohale is now musty, toasted oak with black pepper a bit behind. At an inch in, the dry earth is even with the musty, toasted oak. As the third comes to a close, the musty, toasted oak and dry earth are even up front with the black pepper in the background. The strength remained at slightly above medium.
Seth: The second third delivers a profile of coffee, earth, cocoa and leather. There is a touch of pepper spice on the finish as well. Medium-full in strength and body. Not much has changed from the first third. Nothing bad, just not impressive.

Team Cigar Review: ATL Libertad Robusto

Final Third

Aaron: The final third continues with how the second left off. At a quarter inch in, the black pepper is very light, but has a long finish. The retrohale is now just musty, toasted oak and dry earth. At a half inch in, the toast level becomes pretty heavy. At an inch in, the profile is musty, heavily toasted oak and dry earth with mild black pepper in the background. The strength remained at slightly above medium.
Seth: The final third was close to the second third in terms of flavors delivered. It had a little bit of harshness and heat, showing the cigar was almost over, but it was not a significant falloff from the second third. Medium-full in strength and body with flavors of coffee, earth, cocoa and leather.

Team Cigar Review: ATL Libertad Robusto

Burn

Aaron: The burn was slightly wavy and the cigar went out three times, requiring re-lights.
Seth: Nice burn throughout. Very tight burn line.

Team Cigar Review: ATL Libertad Robusto

Draw

Aaron: The draw was slightly tighter than I prefer, but didn’t seem to cause any issues with the smoking experience.
Seth: Snug draw, but I liked it.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with heavily toasted oak and sharp baking spice. The baking spice transitioned to black pepper fairly quickly and some mustiness joined a bit later. The second third saw some dry earth join while the final third saw the toast level become quite heavy. Overall, the flavor profile of the ATL Libertad Robusto was average throughout. The burn issues were a bit of a bummer but didn’t drag the profile down it seemed. The price point is OK, but the flavor profile just didn’t do it for me and I don’t see myself returning to this one.
Seth: All the ATL offerings are the types of cigars that I would not smoke on a regular basis and keep in my humidors, but I would support at an event or if the rep was in town. I may pick up a small variety of the offerings, but I would not commit to one specific cigar or the brand. They are average cigars, but they are consistent, and they perform well. Not mind-blowing, but somewhat enjoyable. I will say that the ATL Libertad Robusto is another example of recent releases from TABSA showing improvement. This was a good Nica puro for TABSA when looking at the past year.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.20

Cost/Point

$1.78

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

5.85

Cost/Point

$1.58

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: ATL Libertad Robusto