Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The wrapper on the Warped Isla del Cocodrilo Corona Gorda is dark tan with hints of green and carries some lightly raised veins. The seams are smooth while the caps have some raised, wrinkled edges. The band is gold, black and silver and denotes the line along with a repeating company and line pattern towards the bottom. The aroma from the wrapper is cedar, musty hay and dusty earth while the foot brings cedar, bread and anise. The pre-light draw is cedar and light anise along with a mild spiciness on my lips.
Seth: The Warped Isla del Cocodrilo Corona Gorda has that rustic and old school look of a cigar, which is classic with Warped. The band seems from another generation, but also modern with the times. The cigar has a nice Colorado coloring, and it is slightly oily and gritty with small veins throughout. Some tooth, but not much. Slightly soft throughout with aromas of spices, tobacco, wood and earth.
John: The Warped Isla del Cocodrilo Corona Gorda came in cellophane and had a UPC sticker with the cigar information, a QR code and an integrated tear space to remain intact when opened. I weighed the cigar at 13.4 grams and measured the humidity at 61.7% with the HumidiMeter Pro. Aromas from the wrapper included sweet bread and wood. From the foot, I could pick out sweet wood and tobacco.

Warped Isla del Cocodrilo Corona Gorda

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with toasted cedar, black pepper, leather and some light earth. At a quarter inch in, the earth picks up a fair amount. At a half inch in, a light mustiness joins the profile. The retrohale is toasted cedar, zingy black pepper, leather and some earth. At an inch and a half in, the black pepper mellows a bit. As the third comes to a close, the toasted cedar is up front, with the leather just behind, earth a little bit further, black pepper in the middle of the profile and mustiness as a supporting note. The strength was right at medium.
Seth: The first third begins with a profile of dried tobacco, earth, cedar and oak, and mineral spices on the finish. There was some pepper present, black pepper, but it had some mineral and slight bit of herbal qualities with it as well. Medium in strength and body.
John: Sweet green wood starts the first third with mild earth combining with wood on the finish. The retrohale consists of light plus strength spices. As the first third settles in, dry wood moves into the post draw. Some time later, bread and spices define the center of the retrohale. By the halfway mark, sweet, light wood and light spices are driving the profile.

Warped Isla del Cocodrilo Corona Gorda

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, the leather now becomes even with the toasted cedar up front. At a half inch in, the black pepper is now pretty mellow. The retrohale is now toasted cedar, leather, earth and mild black pepper. As the third comes to a close, the toasted cedar and leather are even up front, with the earth a bit behind. The black pepper is a bit behind the middle of the profile and some mustiness remains in the background. The strength remained at medium.
Seth: The second third showed some burnt wood, dry earth, tobacco and mineral spice qualities. Medium in strength and body, the cigar has a slightly rough finish in this third.
John: The second third gets going with sweet bread and wood with mildly dry wood and a lingering sweetness on the finish and into the post draw. Citrus sweetness comes into the center of the retrohale as it settles. The retrohale takes on spices and sweetness that quickly move up to medium strength. Tannins have joined the post draw by the halfway point.

Warped Isla del Cocodrilo Corona Gorda

Final Third

Aaron: As the final third begins, the earth becomes even with the toasted cedar and leather up front. At three quarters of an inch in, the earth takes a slight lead in the profile. The retrohale remains toasted cedar, leather, earth and mild black pepper. At an inch in, the black pepper moves back to the middle of the profile. As the cigar wraps up, the earth has a slight lead over the toasted cedar and leather, with the black pepper in the middle and mustiness in the background. The strength remained at medium.
Seth: The final third is right in line with the second. In some ways, the minerals and spices are overbearing, and I am just getting oak, tobacco and mineral spices. Finish of pepper. Medium in strength and body still to the end.
John: I’m greeted by medium plus strength spices, medium strength sweet tobacco to follow as wood with a sharp quality to it finishes into the post draw and lingers. Medium strength earth joins the finish as it continues, combining with the wood on the post draw. The earth has dropped to medium minus strength by the bottom half of the last third.

Warped Isla del Cocodrilo Corona Gorda

Burn

Aaron: The burn was straight throughout and the ash held on in inch and a half increments.
Seth: The burn was decent from beginning to end. At times waves and off. I had to touch it up once.
John: The burn was wavy at times in the first third, and straight through the second and last thirds.

Warped Isla del Cocodrilo Corona Gorda

Draw

Aaron: The draw was slightly tighter than I prefer, but didn’t cause any issues with the smoking experience.
Seth: The draw was a little loose from start to finish. I would have expected some snugness, but that was not the case.
John: The draw was at most one notch towards the resistant spectrum, putting it in the ideal range between open and resistant for an amazing draw score.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with toasted cedar, black pepper, leather and some light earth. Some mustiness joined a bit later. The second third saw the leather become even with the toasted cedar up front. The final third saw the earth increase and take a slight lead in the profile. The Warped Isla del Cocodrilo Corona Gorda had a nice start, with a good combination of flavors. The second third dropped a level as the flavor combination tailed off a bit and maintained that level the rest of the way. Overall, a decent cigar, but not something I’d see myself coming back to with any real frequency.
Seth: The Warped Isla del Cocodrilo Corona Gorda is a cigar with a cool name and logo design. The blend comes off as appealing, and I imagine if this was a release from Warped from years back that it would be good, but that was not the case. La Isla Factory has really been hit or miss as well, and this blend was lacking from beginning to end. I was going back and forth on the rating of each third throughout, and that is never a good sign during these circumstances. It’s hard to smoke Warped, and I would be interested in having a conversation.
John: The Warped Isla del Cocodrilo Corona Gorda had some engaging and dynamic flavor combinations through the first third. The second third started out promising but didn’t match the same delivery as the first third. Both the draw and burn were perfect. Overall, I think the Warped Isla del Cocodrilo Corona Gorda delivered above average flavor performance with perfect construction. This is one of the better offerings from Warped I have reviewed in a while and would return to it in the future to see how the same vitola or the Toro size performed on a second pass. Total smoking time was 1 hour and 54 minutes.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.95

Cost/Point

$2.18

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

5.00

Cost/Point

$2.60

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

6.10

Cost/Point

$2.13

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Warped Isla del Cocodrilo Corona Gorda