Troya Clasico robusto

Ladies and gentlemen; sometimes, a recommendation can get you in trouble. My friend and colleague, Uncle Booga, had the good fortune to be a reviewer for the Winter '09 Cigar Magazine, and one of the cigars to smoke was the Troya Clasico. On his recommendation, and against my better judgment, I picked up a pair of them at the shop.

"Holy crap!"
" $9.60!?"
" Plus tax?!"
" EACH!?"
"For a ROBUSTO?!"

I paced the walk-in humidor. I held the pair of robustos, almost putting them back in the box. Damn, Booga said these were good. How good could they be? Hell, Pepin's got a new cigar out as often as I fart. How good could they be? The La Aroma de Cuba was pretty good, and that was $8, and I still felt it was overpriced.

So, I went ahead and bought the pair of Troya and headed home, wondering if I've just thrown away good money. How good could they be?

So here it was, a month later, and I fished one out of the cooler. (Heh, "Hogan! 30 days in the cooler for you!")

The Troya Clasico robusto has a nice, medium brown Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper sporting moderate veining on an otherwise smooth surface with light tooth. This 5x54 cigar felt hefty in the hand, like it was decently stuffed with Pepin's Nicaraguan fillers, and the draw had some moderate restraint to agree.

The cigar started off with Pepin's trademark white & black pepper blast. Okay, Holt's 'Old Henry' started off this way too, and it only costs half that of the Troya. Great. La Aroma de Cuba, all over again.

And then, after the "Pepin is in da Hizzouse" beginning, the cigar changed. Wow. The flavors were simple: Cedar and leather with a thick, creamy white pepper alfredo sauce. So creamy, that it really coated the palate with a smooth pepper spice. I'd say this cigar was medium to full-bodied, and I didn't notice any outrageous nicotine content.

It was delicious. All the way to the finger-burning nub.

The flavor didn't change much the rest of the cigar, but that was fine with me, as this was a lovely blend. I didn't really want to like it, as I hate falling in love with expensive cigars. But, despite my resistance, Pepin's reeled me in on this one. I hate when that happens.

Verdict:

If the price were a buck cheaper, this would be a solid 4 Horseman stick.

Sapa Inca, by Dulce Vida Cigar

Sapa Inca is another blend by boutique cigar maker, Dulce Vida. Peruvian tobaccos are featured in many of Dulce Vida's offerings, and the Sapa Inca is no different. Well, okay, it's a lot different. This line has a much simpler flavor profile, and it's not as heavy and earthy as some of the La Bonita line.



Sapa Inca is another tasty cigar from Dulce Vida, and helps diversify their lineup. Keep at 'em Paula Pia!

Fonseca Signature Series Robusto

The passel of delights I received recently contained a Fonseca cigar that I've never seen before. Now, I've only had one other run-in with Fonseca, and it was terribly boring, so I've really given the brand no attention since. But, the dark, oily wrapper of this cigar just pushed all the right buttons to stir my interest, so I took it to the office for a lunchtime smoke.



The black band below the Fonseca label reads "Signature Series by Manuel Quesada". This cigar must be either pre-release, or a forgotten run from Fonseca, as there's not much info readily available on the web. Nice dark, oily wrapper, 5.25" x 50ish

The wrapper left a nice tingle on the lips on the cold draw, like the wrapper was a sun-grown Habano, or perhaps Corojo. The draw was fairly loose, and had a nice taste of leather.

After getting it lit, the cigar offered a nice blend of peppery spice and leather for the first inch. The medium-bodied flavors were quite a change from the Fonseca 5-50, which was about as exciting as a bowl of Cheerios.

In the second inch, the spice tailed off, leaving a solid, earthy leather flavor for a while. Getting into the last third, the leather flavor was joined with a sweet hay flavor, which would occasionally bury the leather flavors.

Overall, I enjoyed this cigar's array of medium-bodied flavors. The Fonseca Signature Series is another attention-worthy blend from Manuel Quesada.

La Bonita Purple Band robusto

Sometimes, you come across a quiet treasure, something wonderful that few people know about. I'm starting to believe that Dulce Vida's cigars are just that quiet treasure. I smoked their 'La Bonita' orange-banded, maduro cigar last weekend, and it was a pleasant shock.


The purple band is no less tasty:



I still have a couple more blends to sample from Dulce Vida, and I'm looking forward to them with eager anticipation.

Dulce Vida 'La Bonita' robusto

I love finding, and smoking, cigars that come from off the beaten path of most cigar shop shelves. All it takes is an ear to the ground, and a willingness to try something new.

I first heard of Dulce Vida Cigars on Social Cigar, and contacted proprietress Paula Pia Ventunelli for a sampler. a couple weeks later, the sampler arrived in a unique box with cameo, and the cigars with ribbon bands. I would have smoked it sooner, but seasonal allergies had me plugged up for quite a while.

Being a maniac for maduro, the 'Orange Band' La Bonita is what I dove for first, and I'm glad I did. Here's the description from Dulce Vida's website:

A blend of Peruvian ligero, Dominican Sumatra, Dominican Peloto with a San Andres Morron Limpio binder. The wrapper is a Dominican Sumatra sweated maduro.

The dark brown wrapper was soft like velvet, unlike any cigar I've touched before. It was resting in the humi a month, but still felt like it was either super oily or just wet. Just in case, I threw it into the dry box for a couple days. After the dry box, the wrapper felt like soft, Egyptian cotton terrycloth.

The cigar felt hefty in the hand and well packed, and I got flavors of earth and spice on cold draw.

Once toasted and lit, I had first impressions of earthy leather, Black coffee with nice spice lingering. Definitely in the medium to full-bodied category. Rich, earthy flavor. Lots of smoke. After first inch, flavor shifted a little to an earthy cedar with the spice still singing back-up.

I got the same feeling as when I smoked my first Illusione, like I had discovered a wonderfully complex, yet well-balanced blend. If you like Illusione, I have a strong hunch that you'll like this cigar as well.

Two inches in, and the cigar still was packing a solid medium-bodied punch, and spice still lingered on the palate. This cigar is fairly slow-smoking too, with 2 inches taking at least 30 minutes, so we're looking at an hour-long robusto.

The Dulce Vida 'Orange Band' may have a feminine touch to the exterior, but the blend is no shrinking violet.

Thanks to roller/entrepeneur Paula Pia Ventunelli for the samples. It isn't easy for a small biz to get noticed, and the people with the dream are wagering their backsides to succeed. Boutique cigar fans, best jump on these before they get discovered!