Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The box pressed Cohiba Riviera Robusto has a wrapper that is on the lighter side of medium brown, has some lightly raised veins and some fine tooth. The seams are a bit raised and the caps are applied fairly well. The band is purple, silver and black and denotes the brand and line. The aroma from the wrapper is dark earth and light wood, while the foot brings cedar and some red pepper spice. The pre-light draw brings musty cedar and faint floral notes.
Seth: Finished with an antique brown colored wrapper, the Cohiba Riviera Robusto has a light Colorado Maduro coloring. Nice reds and browns. Small veins scattered throughout. Silky in texture with a nice bit of resistance. Aromas of rich earth, warm spices, currants and rich tobacco.
John: The Cohiba Riviera Robusto comes in cellophane and has a UPC sticker that tears in half when opened. There is a single band indicating Cohiba with Riviera underneath, and it is box pressed. I weighed the cigar at 14.2 grams on the first cigar and 12.9 grams on the second cigar. The humidity as measured with the HumidiMeter Pro was 59.8% on the first cigar and 62.5% on the second cigar. Aromas from the wrapper were a distinct sweet raisin, and wood. Similar sweet raisin out of the foot combining with hay.
Jiunn: The Cohiba Riviera Robusto has a Colorado Maduro wrapper shade. Veins are well pressed, seams tight, bunch and roll even and head is well wrapped and capped. Aromas from the wrapper tell of barnyard, cardboard and cedar. Aromas from the foot reveal barnyard and a blast of black pepper spice. Cold draw provides sweet mixed nuts and aged cedar.

Team Cigar Review: Cohiba Riviera Robusto

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with a mix of dark earth, cocoa powder and baking spice. At a quarter inch in, toasted cedar joins the profile. The retrohale is toasted cedar and earth. At an inch in, the cocoa powder is barely hanging on. As the third comes to a close, the toasted cedar and dark earth are even up front, with baking spice in the middle and faint cocoa powder in the background. The strength was right at medium.
Seth: The first third opens up with this aromatic spice with this patchouli quality. Cedar and hay present as well. Dry earth. Creaminess present as well. Medium in strength and body.
John: The first third opens with sweet tobacco followed by graham cracker which combines with wood into the finish. Post draw spices push into the profile at medium strength as it settles in. Chocolate is the primary flavor on the retrohale. As the first third continues, spices fade to light strength, as the retrohale settles into a creamy, baking spices, chocolate combination with graham cracker and wood on the post draw. Some citrus fruit sweetness comes into the finish moving to the halfway point.
Jiunn: The first third has a cohesive and delicious flavor profile. A well melded delivery of cocoa, cedar and leather. The finish is long with semi-sweet chocolate. Retrohaling brings a hot chocolate effect. Strength and body is medium.

Team Cigar Review: Cohiba Riviera Robusto

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, the earth takes a slight lead over the toasted cedar. At a quarter inch in, the baking spice transitions to black pepper and the cedar transitions to oak. The retrohale is now toasted oak, earth and some black pepper. At an inch in, the toasted oak and earth are back to even. As the third comes to a close, the toasted oak and earth are even up front, with the black pepper a fair bit behind and the cocoa powder just dropping out. The strength remained at medium.
Seth: The second third delivers that similar aromatic spice with this patchouli quality. Cedar, dry earth and creaminess present as well. Bits of coffee on the finish. Still medium in strength and body.
John: Chocolate leads off with citrus sweetness to follow and wood to close out the puff. Fruit sweetness becomes more defined as grapefruit with some sour offsets as it settles in. I find the strength quite restrained, just under medium. Dark chocolate is lingering on the post draw and mixes with wood continuing towards the halfway point.
Jiunn: The second third adds tannins to the leather, while the dominant note is still cocoa/semi-sweet chocolate based. The tannins help with the body, but it’s still overall medium. Strength remains medium.

Team Cigar Review: Cohiba Riviera Robusto

Final Third

Aaron: As the final third begins, a light wood bitterness becomes present. At a half inch in, the toast level increases a bit. The retrohale remains toasted oak, earth, along with some black pepper. As the cigar wraps up, the toasted oak and earth remain even up front, with black pepper in the middle and light wood bitterness in the background. The strength bumped up to slightly above medium.
Seth: The final third is right in line with the second. Aromatic spices, dry wood, patchouli qualities, cream and cedar. Coffee on the finish. Still medium in strenth and body.
John: Creamy chocolate leads off with citrus sweetness on the finish and cocoa and wood combining on the post draw. As the cigar settles in, wood moves to the forefront of the profile and the center with chocolate and mild tannic wood to linger between each puff. Tannic wood moves up to medium strength and is present through the finish of the draw into the next.
Jiunn: The final third shows the leather tannins show up a bit too much such that the chocolate notes are diminished a bit too much. Strength and body finish the same medium.

Team Cigar Review: Cohiba Riviera Robusto

Burn

Aaron: The burn was a bit wavy at times, but never required any intervention. The ash held on through each third.
Seth: Burn was a little uneven, but it never got out of hand.
John: Both cigars reviewed had some waviness through the first third, with the second cigar having waviness through the second third as well. There was some lopsided burning on both in the last third. No touch ups were required to intervene.
Jiunn: Burn performance was perfect. Even burn, ample smoke production, tight ashes and cool burning temperature.

Team Cigar Review: Cohiba Riviera Robusto

Draw

Aaron: The draw was perfect, with just the right amount of resistance that I prefer.
Seth: Draw was a little loose.
John: The first cigar had some resistance to the draw, roughly 2 to 2-1/2 notches into the resistant spectrum while the second cigar was perfect.
Jiunn: Draw performance was on point, providing the ideal balance between air flow and resistance.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with a mix of dark earth, cocoa powder and baking spice. Toasted cedar joined in fairly quickly. The second third saw the baking spice transition to black pepper and the cedar transition to oak. The cocoa powder dropped out at the end of the third. The final third saw a wood bitterness join in. The Cohiba Riviera Robusto had an average flavor profile throughout. The flavor components I described sound like they could be interesting, but the balance of those flavors never really worked in harmony. An interesting cigar to smoke, but not something I’d see myself coming back to.
Seth: I think there are too many Cohiba offerings out there. I am not entirely sure what the purpose of the Cohiba Riviera is. Cohiba doesn’t need a Mexican San Andres offering of this nature. The Cohiba Riviera Robusto was flat for the most part, very similar from beginning to end. The aromatic spice and patchouli flavor profile got annoying as well.
John: I thought the Cohiba Riviera Robusto was good, with the best flavor combinations delivering in the first and second thirds. There was a fair amount of balanced chocolate driving the profile and the strength was restrained just under the medium mark. Both cigars had wavy burns but did not require any touch-ups, with one cigar having some resistance on the draw and the other being perfect. While I enjoyed the flavor profile on both, given the premium price point, the inconsistent burn, draw and weight between the two cigars certainly isn’t something I would expect. I would definitely smoke this cigar again. Total smoking time averaged 1 hour and 42 minutes.
Jiunn: This Cohiba Riviera Robusto is the first Cohiba that’s not made at El Titan de Bronze that is well worth it. Even though it’s Mexican San Andres, it kind of smokes like a quality Connecticut broadleaf without the heavier chewiness. The price is a bit steep for what it is, but since I care most about flavors, I’m all in on this one.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.65

Cost/Point

$3.54

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

5.00

Cost/Point

$4.00

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

6.67

Cost/Point

$3.00

Scoring System

Jiunn Liu

SCORE

6.82

Cost/Point

$2.93

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Cohiba Riviera Robusto