Cigar.com Corojo Label Cigar Review
In my quest to find a good cigar for very little money I have decided to do some testing. Due to Cigar.com’s easy form of delineating their house blends (colors, wrapper variety or Cuban) I decided that would be a good place to start. After trying all of these cigars I can safely say that none of them are excellent but that is not much of a surprise since the purpose of these cigars is not to wow people but to provide them with a quality alternative for an everyday type of smoke.
That is why I am going to change the format here a little and either give the Cigar.com house blends a PASS or FAIL. To keep things fair, all the cigars sampled are in the 5″ x 50 robusto vitola. Now onto the cigar.
Here is what Cigar.com has to say about their budget Corojo Label:
Like all Cigar.com House Blends, the Corojo Label is an extraordinary value, utilizing only the finest tobaccos to blend a cigar worthy of bearing the Cigar.com name. Full-bodied with a long and pronounced finish, the Corojo Label is a bit dry on the palate and features a robust, spicy aroma that rounds out into a complex mix of wood and earth tones.
These cigars come in four different sizes: churchill (7.5″ x 50), corona (6″ x 42), robusto (5″ x 50) and torpedo (6″ x 52). As of the publishing of this post, they cost less than $3.00 when individually purchased and can cost less than $2.50 when purchased in a box of 20. That is pretty cheap.
Having already reviewed the Sun Grown and Cuban varieties I can tell you that there are some worthwhile smokes in the Cigar.com stables. This cigar is more tightly packed than the Cuban variety and it has a different look to it as well. Being both smoother and less veiny than the Cuban line it looks like a very well made cigar. The wrapper is a normal brown.
Offa Blaze!
It starts off with not much more than a dud. Flavors? Well, there is wood and a minute amount of sweetness. But both of those flavors are very watered down. It is not an unpleasant cigar it just isn’t much of a cigar.
The second third does take a good turn. With flavors picking up and becoming richer this cigar is evolving into something respectable. There is a bit of spice on the fringes and the core is a mixture of rich dirt and charcoal. Maybe a little meaty as well.
It took a bad turn during the final third. The flavor became burnt and harsh. Very little redeeming qualities during this third. For the price it is not a terrible cigar. Medium bodied with a good draw and burn and there is some flavor. Just not good enough flavors in my opinion.
FAIL
Room 101 Cigar Review
I must admit that I am a big fan of Camacho cigars. They are full bodied and extremely tasty – basically what I am looking for in a cigar. So, when I found out that they were releasing a new line in collaboration with a Los Angeles jewelery maker, I knew I had to try a couple. (And if I liked those couple I would definitely be going back out to find some more!)
The Room 101 cigars that I smoked were the 305 (robusto) series. It looks good with a slight sheen of oils. Well packed, although on the verge of being too tightly packed. The pre-light draw is actually a little loose and there is a slight sweet taste to this draw as well. I just hope that this fusion of tobacco and style leads to a great cigar.
Cigar Stats
Robusto
Length: 5″
Ring Gauge: 50
Wrapper: Semilla 101 (Honduras)
Binder: Honduras
Filler: Honduras, Dominican Republic
Price: around $7.00
Tricked Flame!
An effortless draw reveals what could turn out to be a very good cigar; even though, right now, it’s merely above average. There are a group of deep, dark flavors that add a certain grittiness to this cigar that I like. Chocolate and some spice add some of the accent flavors to what is an extremely earthy cigar. And, by earthy, I mean dirt – good dirt though. As was the case with the other cigar I have smoked it starts out really well after a brief lull in the beginning.
As the cigar progresses that “dirt” flavor only increases. Now, as a flavor in a cigar, I like dirt but this is a new frontier of earthiness for me and I’m not liking it all that much. Sure, the flavors are pure but is that really a good thing when that flavor is dirt? Luckily, the final couple inches of this cigar has a change in the flavor profile that I like.
Spice really starts to come through and it becomes a more robust, full bodied cigar. In addition to the reinvigorated spiciness there is an oak flavor. The draw, which started out effortless, has become a little too loose and, as a result, the cigar is burning too quickly. The burn itself is even. There is also a slight hint of an herbal flavor at this time.
As the final puffs of this cigar leave my mouth I am finding myself loving this cigar. But then I start to think of the dirt, which lasted for more than half of the cigar, and I realize that this cigar isn’t a great cigar for me. It was just too much dirt – rich, kind of tasty dirt, but dirt nonetheless.
If only the second one-third-plus of this cigar had been the flavor from start to finish I would have loved this cigar. The spice, with a little bit of dirt, and some oak really mixed well together. It was a dark, complex cigar nearer the end and that is what I liked about this cigar. Maybe I’ll pick up a few more if the price drops a little.
88 points
Perdomo Reserve 10th Anniversary Maduro Cigar Review
According to Perdomo’s website: “A Decade in the making, the PERDOMO RESERVE 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY cigars are here to celebrate the next generation of Tabacalera Perdomo’s award winning and highly acclaimed original La Tradicion Perdomo Reserve line.” Awesome but for the small fact that I haven’t smoked the original one so I can’t compare the two. What I do know is that the maduro version of this cigar is a Nicaraguan puro that comes in five different vitolas: perfecto, robusto, toro, double corona and a torpedo.
This Perdomo Reserve 10th Anniversary Maduro has a multitude of veins, bumps and an inconsistent color pattern. There are some oils on it and it feels like it is well packed. Maybe a little tightly packed by the cap and a little loose nearer the foot but, overall, well packed. The wrapper feels rough to the touch.
Cigar Stats
Robusto
Length: 5″
Ring Gauge: 54
Wrapper: Nicaragua
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua Nicaragua
Price: around $5.50
Cabin Light!
This quite possibly represents the easiest draw in a cigar I have ever encountered and I like it. Tons of creamy smoke coats my mouth.
Chocolate is the main flavor followed by coffee grounds and dirt. The burn is even and I would peg this as a medium bodied cigar, maybe a little bit stronger than that.
Even though it is not an overly complex cigar the flavors are well above average. A cigar with these flavors relax me, very mellow. This is one of the better examples of this type of cigar: chocolate, coffee, etc.
But, in the end, there is just something that is missing from this cigar that would have put it up into another echelon of cigars for me. It’s missing spice, which would have cut the sweetness of the chocolate and brought in another level of complexity. While still being a great cigar it could have been better.
92 points
Examples of cigars I liked with more spice:
CAO L’Anniversaire Maduro Belicoso Cigar Review – 93 points
Partagas Black Label Piramide Cigar Review – 93 points
Cuvee Rouge Robusto Cigar Review – 92 points
I feel that the Perdomo Reserve 10th Anniversary Maduro could have been better than all of these cigars if it had some spice mixed in with it. Of course, by changing the mixture of tobaccos that would change the overall flavor profile for this cigar and that might mean reducing what is the best and most dynamic chocolate flavor I have ever tasted.
Perdomo Habano Maduro Short Cigar Review
Pre-Smoke: It feels too tightly packed and the wrapper is dry. The wrapper doesn’t show any imperfections except for one raised vein.
Smoke: Weak flavors. Tobacco, dirt and a mild sweetness, which is grassy, that occasionally pops in. I think it tracks really nicely with a heavily watered down coffee.
Mild-medium bodied with a loose draw and an even burn. The wrapper begins to crack and unravel as I near the end of it.
After-Smoke: Frankly, I had no idea what to expect from this cigar but I expected more than what I got from it. Completely mundane.
2 points
Price Range: $5.00 – $7.00
