Friday, January 18, 2008

Cuesta Rey Centenario No. 5



Cuesta Rey Centenario No. 5
$4, Size: 5.5", Ring: 43
USA Connecticut wrapper, Dominican binder and filler.

Another cigar I got in a trade, the Centenario no. 5 is rolled at the A. Fuente facilities in the Dominican Republic.

The tawny gold Connecticut wrapper was fairly veiny, and with a texture between glossy and toothy. It also seemed thin and a little flaky when dry. To the touch, the cigar feel very packed, and the draw was restrained, suggesting a tight rolling job.

As the smoking commenced, the Centenario burned fairly straight, holding ash for a bit over an inch. The tight draw stayed that way to the end, while the fillers had swollen enough to split the wrapper in the last third of the cigar. Still, I would venture to guess that the construction issues may be isolated to this single cigar, or the storage or smoking conditions.

Centenario came alive with mellow and toasty flavors of tobacco with sweet cedar and a hint of nuts. After an inch fumed away, a mild pepper flavor came in the finish, but never jumped into the fore. It seemed to dovetail nicely with my coffee. While the overall body of the cigar never got near medium, I'd call it 'present' to denote middle ground between mild and medium.

Like the Casa Toraño, Cuesta Rey's Centenario line proves that mild flavors aren't necessarily missing flavors.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

thanks for the info, i just got mine in grand cayman and i thought it looked a little dry so i cut out the cap to make a hollow inside and i put a piece of tissue inside that was soaked with tortuga rum. i let ya know how it smokes, and thanks again.