Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The wrapper on the Broncano Classic Royal Blue Toro is light brown, with some thick, raised veins. The seams are smooth, while the top cap has some lifting edges. The band is blue, gold and white and carries the company and line names. The aroma from the wrapper is musty cedar and earth with some light ammonia. The foot brings a mellow mix of cedar, earth and bread. The pre-light draw brings cedar, earth and some floral notes.
Seth: The Broncano Classic Royal Blue Toro is finished with a nice soft chocolate colored wrapper. Natural to Natural Maduro in coloring. It is slightly firm throughout, and finished with small, scattered veins. It is silky in texture, and it has an aroma of cocoa powder, spices and leather. The foot has some wood notes with tobacco, wood, earth and soft spices. The band really pops off the cigar, and while simple in appearance, very nice. It focuses on tobacco and not the bands.
John: The Broncano Classic Royal Blue Toro came in cellophane and did not have a UPC sticker. There is a single, primary Broncano Cigar Company band. I weighed the cigar at 18.2 grams and measured the humidity to 63.9% with the HumidiMeter Pro. Aromas from the wrapper included bread, sweet barnyard and wood. From the foot, some sweet tobacco, hay, wood and faint barnyard.
Jiunn: The Broncano Classic Royal Blue Toro has a uniform Colorado wrapper shade. Veins are well pressed, seams tight, bunch and roll even with some minor soft spots and the head is well wrapped and capped. Pre-light aromas consist of barnyard and perfumey flowers.

Broncano Classic Royal Blue Toro

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with musty, toasted cedar, earth and mild black pepper. At a half inch in, the earth picks up a bit. The retrohale is toasted cedar and earth. At an inch and a quarter, the toast level increases a bit. At an inch and a half in, the pepper increases a bit and becomes a bit dull. As the third comes to a close, the musty, toasted cedar is up front, with earth a bit behind and dull black pepper in the middle of the profile. The strength was right at medium.
Seth: The first third begins with a nice, sweet spice that is paired with soft earth and cedar notes. There is some pepper qualities present as well, and it has touches of cocoa powder, leather and tobacco. It is a balanced cigar, not overpowering and very smooth. I would classify the cigar as being medium to medium-full in strength and body.
John: Sweet bread leads off the first third, mixing with tobacco as mild wood finishes. The post draw takes on components of wood and dry nuts, and a few puffs later some mild pepper joins in. A mild vegetal note joins the finish as the first third settles in. Some fresh wood at light-plus joins the post draw as it progresses towards the halfway point.
Jiunn: The first third provides a smooth flavor profile with plenty of softer notes of creamy roasted nuts, light cedar and accented minerality. Retrohaling gives a spicier and fuller baking spices and minerals. The finish is fairly clean with lingering cedar. Strength and body is medium.

Broncano Classic Royal Blue Toro

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, the toast level becomes pretty heavy. At a half inch in, the earth is now right behind the musty, heavily toasted cedar. The retrohale remains toasted cedar and earth. At an inch and a quarter, the dull black pepper mellows a bit. As the third comes to a close, the musty, heavily toasted cedar is just ahead of the earth, while the dull black pepper is in the back half of the profile. The strength remained at medium.
Seth: The second third is in line with the first. Sweet spices up front with bits of earth, cocoa powder and cedar. The pepper is slightly more pronounced in this third, and the finish has bits of toasted nuts, leather and tobacco. Like before, the cigar is smoking at a level between medium and medium-full.
John: Fresh wood at light-plus strength carries the cigar into the second third, as mild dryness finishes. Mild bread and wood make up the retrohale. That profile remains consistent and largely wood driven towards the halfway point. In the bottom half, green wood makes up the center of the profile with mild tannins and some sharpness on the finish.
Jiunn: The second third lends to more baking spices and minerality. The sweetness and creaminess of roasted nuts is now a tier 2 flavor component. Strength and body remains medium.

Broncano Classic Royal Blue Toro

Final Third

Aaron: As the final third begins, the earth is now even with the musty, heavily toasted cedar. The retrohale remains toasted cedar and earth, but the toasted cedar now shows some of the mustiness that is also present on the mouth draws. As the cigar wraps up, the musty, heavily toasted cedar and earth are even up front, with dull black pepper in the back half of the profile. The strength remained at medium.
Seth: The final third was fairly in line with the second. Sweet spices paired with earth, cocoa powder and cedar notes. Some additional wood qualities were present as well along with strong pepper, leather, toasted nuts and tobacco. The cigar finishes at a medium-full level for strength and body.
John: A tannic and mildly sharp wood starts the final third with some dryness coming into the finish. Earth joins the finish as the last third settles in, with the tannins moving up to medium strength. The earth begins to linger into the post draw and has moved up to medium-minus strength. The post draw gains an acrid note as the cigar continues to the halfway point. Some minor tobacco sweetness at the draw through the bottom half, but it doesn’t offset the acrid note on the post draw.
Jiunn: The final third’s flavor profile is very similar to the second third. It’s still quite baking spice and mineral heavy with the softer/sweeter notes on the backend. The profile at this point feels redundant and lacks character. Strength and body finish the same medium.

Broncano Classic Royal Blue Toro

Burn

Aaron: The burn was straight throughout and I tapped the ash off at the end of each third, but it would have probably held on longer.
Seth: The burn was nice from beginning to end. It was nearly perfect with a nice ash that holds onto the cigar.
John: The burn was straight through the review process.
Jiunn: The burn was almost great. Just needed my lighter a couple times to get the wrapper burn back on track.

Broncano Classic Royal Blue Toro

Draw

Aaron: The draw was perfect, with just the right amount of resistance that I prefer.
Seth: The draw on the cigar was great from start to finish.
John: The draw was somewhat towards the resistant spectrum, roughly 2 to 2-1/2 notches. Measuring the draw with the Cigar Medics Factory Draw Tester, the draw was 40 inches of water pressure.
Jiunn: The draw was perfect, giving the ideal balance between air flow and resistance.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with musty, toasted cedar, earth and mild black pepper. The earth picked up a bit later and then the pepper increased and became a bit dull. The second third saw the toast level become pretty heavy, the earth increased a bit and the pepper mellowed a bit. The final third saw the earth become even with the cedar up front. Construction was absolutely perfect. The Broncano Classic Royal Blue Toro had an average flavor profile throughout, focused around musty, heavily toasted cedar, earth and dull black pepper. Not much in the way of transitions and it was a bit mundane. Overall, not a very exciting flavor profile and not something I’d see myself returning to, but I’m interested to try some of the other offerings from the brand.
Seth: I enjoyed the Broncano Classic Royal Blue Toro. I thought it was a balanced blend that delivered great Dominican flavors. There was a nice core flavor profile with some minor transitioning throughout. The flavors of sweet spices, earth, cocoa and cedar are classic flavors, and with the tobacco qualities present as well, it led to great experiences in each third. Solid construction was present with the cigar as well, and that is always a plus. KBF does great stuff, no matter what the project, and this was a perfect example of their quality with tobacco and blending.
John: I thought the Broncano Classic Royal Blue Toro had a promising start to it, with softer notes of bread, tobacco and wood. As the cigar continued, the profile became more unbalanced until it reached the last third where it was discordant. The burn was perfect while the draw was somewhat into the resistant spectrum. I think the price point is right around the average mark for 2025, so I think I’d be interested to try the Broncano Classic Royal Blue again if it was available in a different vitola. Total smoking time was 2 hours and 7 minutes.
Jiunn: Call me nostalgic and perhaps unreasonable, but when I smoke anything that has the Kelner name on it, I expect the “good” Davidoff days of cigars with complexities, nuance and a treat to smoke (at times despite the price). The Broncano Classic Royal Blue Toro did not live up to my expectations. This cigar started off with a core flavor profile that was full of soft/white notes but quickly turned into a mundane flavor profile capturing one dimensional baking spices and minerals. I’ll still hold my expectations high, but I’ll pass on this cigar.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.75

Cost/Point

$2.78

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

6.47

Cost/Point

$2.47

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

5.45

Cost/Point

$2.94

Scoring System

Jiunn Liu

SCORE

5.90

Cost/Point

$2.71

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Broncano Classic Royal Blue Toro