Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The RoMa Craft CroMagnon Clovis is a barberpole, with most of the visible wrapper being medium brown with some darker marbling. The less visible wrapper is kind of an army green. Both wrappers have some veins, with the candela having larger ones. The seam work is well done, and the caps are also well applied. As with most of the bands from the brand, there are two bands stacked on top of each other, with the inner band being white and the outer band in black with silver text, denoting the line. The aroma from the wrapper is a mix of dark earth and light cocoa powder while the foot brings bread, cedar and some stone fruit sweetness. The pre-light draw brings floral perfume and light cedar along with a mild spiciness on my lips.
Seth: The RoMa Craft CroMagnon Clovis has a great barber pole finish. The candela wrapper really pops against the dark maduro wrapper. The Candela has a nice dark green, and the Broadleaf is solid Maduro. Toothy with medium veins throughout. Dark cocoa powder coloring. Rich aromas on the foot of tobacco, rich earth and spices. Some wood is present as well with pepper.
John: The RoMa Craft CroMagnon Clovis came in cellophane and has a UPC sticker with the cigar information and an integrated tear space so it remains intact when opened. There is a CroMagnon band, which is stacked on top of a white band. For artisanal complications, the cigar features a candy cane style of barber pole wrapper with candela against a dark Pennsylvania broadleaf wrapper. I weighed the cigar at 17.4 grams and measured the humidity to 61.1% with the HumidiMeter Pro. Aromas from the wrapper included sweet tobacco and wood. The foot has an increased intensity to the tobacco sweetness from the wrapper.

RoMa Craft CroMagnon Clovis

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with toasted cedar, slightly sharp black pepper and some light earth. At a quarter inch in, the pepper loses the sharpness. At a half inch in, the earth picks up a bit and a light chocolate note becomes present. The retrohale is toasted cedar and earth with some black pepper. At an inch in, the earth and black pepper are now even in the middle of the profile. At an inch and a quarter, the earth increases a bit more. As the third comes to a close, the toasted cedar is a bit ahead of the earth, with black pepper in the middle of the profile and a faint chocolate note in the background. The strength was right at medium.
Seth: The first third begins with strong pepper and tobacco notes. Earth, barnyard and oak are present as well. Some faint herbal hay notes, grass as well from the candela, but nothing major. Really a focus on the earth, pepper and tobacco. Some meaty qualities. Medium-full to full in strength and body.
John: Through my initial puffs, I’m noting flavors of sweet tobacco at light-plus intensity, sweet wood through the finish and a delayed spice note on the post draw. On the retrohale, sweet baking spices are present at a restrained medium strength level. As the cigar progresses, it’s being driven primarily by a malty sweetness retrohale and some mild grassiness on the finish. Mild chocolate comes into the finish of the retrohale as the cigar approaches the halfway point.

RoMa Craft CroMagnon Clovis

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, the earth is now even with the toasted cedar up front. At a half inch in, the black pepper is pretty mellow. The retrohale is now an even mix of toasted cedar, earth and black pepper. At an inch in, the pepper picks back up a bit. At an inch and a quarter, the earth takes a slight lead over the toasted cedar. As the third comes to a close, the earth is just ahead of the toasted cedar, with the black pepper just behind the middle of the profile and some faint chocolate in the background. The strength remained at medium.
Seth: The strength picks up in this third. Body as well. Solid full in strength and body. Earth, tobacco and oak notes. Some leather and meatiness as well with a lot of black pepper. Faint grass and hay notes are present as well.
John: Creamy wood leads off the second third with chocolate at the end of the finish and grassy accent notes on the post draw. Some earthiness comes in at medium strength on the finish as the second third settles in, and combines with the grassy accent notes for the post draw. The earth recedes to light-plus intensity after the re-light, as wood also joins the post draw. Not long after, sweet tobacco is present on the retrohale finish and post draw. Through the bottom half, sweet tobacco leads the profile.

RoMa Craft CroMagnon Clovis

Final Third

Aaron: As the final third begins, the toasted cedar and earth are even once again. At a half inch in, the chocolate drops from the profile. The retrohale remains an even mix of toasted cedar, earth and black pepper. As the cigar comes to a close, the toasted cedar and earth are even up front, with the black pepper just behind the middle of the profile. The strength remained at medium.
Seth: The final third delivers a flavor profile of strong tobacco, earth, barnyard with strong oak notes and some mineral qualities. Still getting some meatiness. There are touches of hay and grass as well from the candela, but they are secondary notes. Full in strength and body.
John: For the final third, I’m greeted with sweet tobacco, mild spices in the center and a combination of spices and wood to finish. Earth returns to the finish as the last third settles in, at medium-minus strength. Through the bottom half, there is some mintiness as the cigar begins to heat up.

RoMa Craft CroMagnon Clovis

Burn

Aaron: The burn line was a bit wavy, but never needed any intervention. The ash held on in two inch increments.
Seth: Burn was great from start to finish.
John: The burn was straight to start in the first half, and went out at the halfway point of the second third, requiring a re-light. Burn continued to be straight for the remainder of the review.

RoMa Craft CroMagnon Clovis

Draw

Aaron: The draw was perfect, with just the right amount of resistance that I prefer.
Seth: The draw was good from beginning to end.
John: The draw had some snugness to it, roughly 2-1/2 to 3 notches towards the resistant spectrum.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with toasted cedar, slightly sharp black pepper and some light earth. The sharpness departed fairly quickly. A light chocolate joined a bit later. The second third saw the earth become even with the cedar up front and then later took a slight lead in the profile. The final third saw the cedar and earth become even again and the chocolate note dropped out. The RoMa Craft CroMagnon Clovis had a pretty average flavor profile throughout that became a bit mundane. There is a bit of a wrapper change along with the larger ring gauge over the CroMagnon PA we reviewed previously, but this cigar didn’t really compare to that one. Just a cedar and earth forward blend that didn’t capture my attention. I wouldn’t see myself coming back to this cigar.
Seth: The RoMa Craft CroMagnon Clovis was a nice smoke, but not a RoMa I would come back to in the future if available. The size is not my cup of tea. The flavor profile was consistent from beginning to end, and you could get qualities from the barber pole wrappers which is nice with cigars like this, but there was a lack of depth and transitioning. I would have liked it to be a little more complex. The draw and burn were not a problem, and this was a filling cigar that took time to smoke. With that being said, it smoked cool and slow all the way to the end.
John: The RoMa Craft CroMagnon Clovis is a solid example of a cigar that’s blended to incorporate the barber pole wrapper into the profile, rather than something that’s just a gimmick. I found the first third to be the most engaging in terms of flavor combinations, and the rest of the cigar was still pleasant to smoke. The draw had some snugness to it and the cigar went out once, requiring a re-light. I enjoyed the flavor profile, and as I’m a fan of RoMa Craft in general, this is a cigar that I would likely pick up at a B&M if I saw it on the shelf. Total smoking time was 2 hours and 9 minutes.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.65

Cost/Point

$2.33

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

5.35

Cost/Point

$2.46

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

5.60

Cost/Point

$2.35

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: RoMa Craft CroMagnon Clovis