Fri 10 Mar 2006
Alright folks, if you are a big Nicaraguan cigar fan try to keep your composure as you read Part II of France’s Best Cigars of 2005. Personally I am a big fan of Nicaraguan tobacco. It seems that when it comes to non-Cuban cigars I have a tendency to go for the Nicaraguan variety again and again. I just appreciate a certain hearty quality to the tobacco and a certain unmistakable earthiness.
Now, which are the France’s Best 2005: Nicaraguan cigars? First I should mention that they didn’t actually have a “Nicaraguan” category. So, both of these winners were selected in the “others” category, which I suppose reflect the sort of afterthought nature of the selection. Now, without further ado, here’s the runner up from Nicaragua with a total of two stars out of six: The Nicarao Robusto…
This runner up gets slammed right from the start as sour from start to finish, with the sourness increasing sharply in the second half. As I have smoked a number of these in the past I definitely concur with the assertion that the cigar has a particularly odd taste right from the start. It’s like an acidy grassy taste that doesn’t appeal to me. So, what gets me from this selection is not the rating itself, but rather how they arrived at the conclusion that this is Nicaragua’s number two smoke. The cigar is very light and has hardly any richness to the smoke, though I could see how some people might like its unique taste. So, on a final note, the reviewers describe it as a generally boring sour cigar that boasts a nice appearance.
The 2005 Nicaraguan winner is another “petit” format, the Cumpay Short petit-robusto. A small cigar indeed, at just over ten centimeters, but one that got six stars out of six. Admittedly not one that I have had, the petit-robusto is hailed as a cigar that can be measured up to Cuban cigars, whose only weak point is how short it is. The smoke is described as dense and fresh, with an aroma of sweet peppers, dried herbs (an aroma I normally would not attribute to Cuban cigars), red peppers and honey; all in all, a delicate and well balanced cigar. Seeing that it hails from the Esteli region, this is a cigar I will most definitely try and review in the months to come.
And there you have it… two winners that most of us Nicaraguan cigar lovers would hardly recognize and wouldn’t buy.
March 11th, 2006 at 3:14 am
I haven’t tried either of France’s best Nicaraguans, so maybe I’m missing out. I will continue to do so while Padron and Torano are producing some of the best Nicaraguan cigars available in the US. It’s no wonder your shops are dominated by Habanos if this is representative of the non-Cuban offerings. The worldwide cigar industry has benefited by the US embargo of Cuba by promoting the diversity of tobacco production in areas that otherwise would have been undeveloped. Diversity is better. So are open markets. Are you listening, Mr President? No. I think it’s past his bedtime.