Pre-light Experience

The wrapper is a medium brown with one easily noticeable vein that runs the length of the cigar. The seams are nearly invisible and the triple cap is very nicely applied. The band is very simple with primarily being a forest green with very minimal gold and white lettering and artwork. The wrapper aroma is a pretty good dose of leather and cedar. The foot gives what I would describe as coffee that has been mixed with a significant amount of milk/cream. The pre-light draw is a noticeably dry leather.

Pre-light Experience

The Patoro Brasil Gordito has a Colorado Claro to Colorado wrapper shade. Veins are roughly pressed and seams tight. The roll and bunch feels well done as there are no soft spots and has a uniformed give. The head is finished off with a thick triple cap. Nosing the wrapper tells fresh barnyard and cedar. Nosing the foot gives sweet cedar and black pepper. Cold draw tells black pepper, mango (no really) and cream.

First Third

Initial draws bring a creamy and slightly spicy cedar. An eighth of an inch in, some coffee joins in with the cream and cedar. The retrohale is also carrying some spicy cedar that provides a nice zing. At a half inch in, the creaminess mellows out quite a bit with the cedar and coffee up front. At an inch in, the cream comes back and the cedar drops back a bit while the coffee remains the same. The retrohale gains some cream which knocks down the spiciness, but the cedar is still there. The strength in this third was mild-medium.

First Third

First third has what I expect out of Brazilian tobacco given the medium bodied sweet cream. But there is a nice surrounding cast giving notes of dry oak, ripe and creamy stone fruit, soft black pepper and effervescence/zest. Through retrohaling, notes of cedar, medium level black pepper and creamed nuttiness. The finish is comprised of cinnamon, wood bitterness and lightly sweet cream. Body and strength within the entire third is at the medium point.

Second Third

As the third begins, the coffee goes away while the cedar bumps up a little to go along with the cream. At a third of an inch in, the cedar transitions to a general woodiness and gains a bit of a char to it while the cream remains consistent. The retrohale is now a mild dry oak. At three quarters of an inch in, some mintiness joins in with the slightly charred wood and cream. As the third comes to a close, the mintiness makes a bit more sense as it turns more into a green wood note as the char leaves. The strength in this third was right at medium.

Second Third

The second third is a mirror to the first third, aside from the finish. The finish loses its cinnamon characteristic and is now encompassed by dry wood, wood bitterness and faintly sweet cream. Through the mouth draws, still the same flavors remain, medium bodied sweet cream, dry oak, ripe and creamy stone fruit, soft black pepper and effervescence/zest. The retrohale also remains unchanged, still providing cedar, medium level black pepper and creamed nuttiness. Body and strength remains at the medium levels.

Final Third

As the third begins, the cream ramps up a bit while the wood loses most of it’s greenness and becomes a bit more defined as oak. At a half inch in, the profile continues with a good amount of cream and the slightly green oak. The retrohale is also a slightly green oak. The cigar finishes out with the same slightly green oak with cream the rest of the way. The strength in this third was slightly above medium.

Final Third

The last third loses quite a bit of complexities. I am now mainly left with soft black pepper, dry oak and wood bitterness. The sweetness and cream is entirely lost. Halfway through the first third, the cigar becomes hot, forcing me to pull back on the interval and length of draws. The retrohale is made up of cedar and medium level black pepper. The finish is now full of wood bitterness, dry nuts and subdued black pepper. The cigar finishes at the medium level for strength and body.

Burn

The burn line was razor sharp the entire way and the ash never dropped which was slightly expected from the short length and large girth.

Burn

Aside from the final third’s hot burn, the burn was amazing. Total smoking time of 1.5 hours for this fatso. Ashes held on strong averaging 1.5 inch increments. Burn line was razor sharp, never needing a touch-up or re-light.

Draw

The draw had just the right amount of resistance I prefer. I didn’t care much for the mouth feel due to the large ring gauge, but that’s not something I detract from the score on. Also, there was a raised vein right at the head which I could feel on my lips when I took draws, but again, not something I would detract from the draw on.

Overall

The flavor profile was nice in the first third, but settled into an average profile the rest of the way. Perfect construction made the smoking experience one I didn’t need to think about. I would be very interested in trying this in a longer length and thinner ring gauge, just to see how the profile may be different allowing the flavors more time to evolve as this cigar didn’t take very long to smoke. This is a decent offering for my first experience with Patoro and makes me want to try others from their portfolio.

Draw

Perfect draw. All cigars should draw like this.

Overall

I find most cigars utilizing Brazilian tobacco (especially Mata Fina) to be too sickening sweet. This isn’t the case with the Patoro Brasil. Perhaps it’s due to the hybrid wrapper and/or Dominican tobaccos. The cigar was tasty up to the last third, when complexities died down and draws became annoyingly hot. I would smoke this cigar again but $12 MSRP seems a bit steep for a Gordito.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

6.33

Cost/Point

$1.89

Scoring System

Jiunn Liu

SCORE

6.53

Cost/Point

$1.84

Scoring System