Aaron Loomis

 John McTavish

Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The wrapper on the Joya de Nicaragua Cinco Décadas El Cumiche is medium brown and has a network of lightly raised veins. The seams are smooth and the caps very well applied. The cigar is a quarter inch shorter than its advertised length. The band is the traditional design for this line. The aroma from the wrapper is a mix of musty cedar and earth while the foot brings cedar, bread and stewed fruit. The pre-light draw brings stewed fruit and cedar.
John: The Joya de Nicaragua Cinco Décadas El Cumiche comes in cellophane and has a UPC with integrated tear space so it remains intact when opened. The cigar has an additional artisanal complication of being box pressed. For bands, the cigar has a single, essentially double wide band indicating Cinco Decadas. Aromas from the wrapper included some barrel aged sweetness, almost sickly sweet tobacco, with mild barnyard and damp wood underneath. From the foot, I was picking up on dry barrel wood, sweet aged tobacco and mild earthiness.

Team Cigar Review: Joya de Nicaragua Cinco Décadas El Cumiche

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with lightly toasted cedar, mustiness and black pepper. At a half inch in, the black pepper mellows a bit. The retrohale is toasted cedar with mild black pepper and mustiness. At an inch in, the black pepper increases a bit and is showing a long finish. As the third comes to a close, the profile is toasted cedar up front, black pepper a bit behind and light mustiness in the background. The strength was right at medium.
John: My first few puffs bring flavors of sweet tobacco, bread and delayed black pepper and wood into the post draw. Creamy wood is present through the retrohale. As the first third continues, a delayed earth, wood and black pepper combine through the post draw palate. Barrel aged sweetness comes through, bringing dry wood both at the end of the draw. As the cigar continues to the halfway point, pepper has fallen away with creamy sweetness defining the retrohale, and tannic wood to finish.

Team Cigar Review: Joya de Nicaragua Cinco Décadas El Cumiche

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, the mustiness increases to just behind the black pepper. At a quarter inch in, the black pepper increases a bit. The retrohale is now toasted cedar, black pepper and light earth. At an inch in, the toast level increases a bit. As the third comes to a close, the profile is heavily toasted cedar with black pepper right behind and light mustiness in the background. The strength bumped up to slightly above medium.
John: Graham cracker gets the second third started, with sweet, creamy bread to follow, cinnamon and icing sugar sweetness underneath, and dry wood to provide a finish into the post draw. The profile remains consistent until it is almost at the halfway point, where creamy spices have moved to the front of the draw.

Team Cigar Review: Joya de Nicaragua Cinco Décadas El Cumiche

Final Third

Aaron: As the final third begins, the toasted cedar transitions to light char. At a quarter inch in, some light earth joins the profile. The retrohale is now toasted cedar and earth with light black pepper. At three quarters of an inch in, the cedar moves back to a heavy toast. As the cigar wraps up, the profile is heavily toasted cedar with earth right behind and black pepper a bit further behind with light mustiness in the background. The strength remained at slightly above medium.
John: Creamy, syrupy sweetness combines with graham cracker and spices through the middle of the draw, as tannic wood and earth finish off my puff here. Powdered cocoa at light-plus takes up the center of the retrohale. As the last third continues, tannins fade away, and earth moves from the post draw to the center of the profile. By the bottom half, earth has faded to a background note.

Team Cigar Review: Joya de Nicaragua Cinco Décadas El Cumiche

Burn

Aaron: The burn line was a bit wavy at times and the cigar went out twice, requiring re-lights.
John: The burn starts uneven, and carries into the second third with unevenness, eventually requiring a touch-up to intervene. The cigar goes out at the halfway point, requiring a re-light.

Team Cigar Review: Joya de Nicaragua Cinco Décadas El Cumiche

Draw

Aaron: The draw was slightly tighter than I prefer, but didn’t cause any issues with the smoking experience.
John: The draw had some firmness to it, roughly 2-1/2 – 3 notches into the resistant spectrum.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with lightly toasted cedar, mustiness and black pepper. The second third saw the toast level become heavy. The final third saw the toast transition to char for a bit and some earth joined in. The Joya de Nicaragua Cinco Décadas El Cumiche was pretty average throughout, focused around toasted cedar, black pepper and mustiness. This iteration didn’t have the same flavor dynamic of previous vitolas and this is probably my least favorite of the line. I don’t see myself coming back to this vitola.
John: I heard some complaints that the Joya de Nicaragua Cinco Décadas El Cumiche was just Joya de Nicaragua re-releasing a great cigar in different vitola sizes every year. I’m not sure how that can be a bad thing when they’ve managed to dial in a blend that is consistently good and engaging through the entire cigar. The burn had some issues with a touch-up and re-light required, and the draw was a bit on the firm side. Both of these things would be minor in nature for me, except that the price point for the El Cumiche is in the premium category. Would I smoke this again? Absolutely I would and I’ll continue to look forward to each new size for as long as they want to continue this project. Total smoking time was 2 hours and 25 minutes.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.30

Cost/Point

$3.49

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

6.67

Cost/Point

$2.77

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Joya de Nicaragua Cinco Décadas El Cumiche