H Upmann Corona Major AT ABR 10

[PapaDisco]

January 30, 2014

H Upmann

Coronas Major AT Box of 25, MOA ABR '10

Size: Mareva (129 by 42 Ring)

I bought this box 2 months ago to lay down (along with several other boxes) for a summer event I have coming up in 2014. Figured it had rested long enough from its travels that I could taste one and so lit one up last night. Medium Colorado wrapper, neat construction and well packed foot. You couldn't tell it was machine bunched. Some say you can get machine or hand made versions of this cigar, but this one, and it's brethren in tubes all looked equal to hand made. It's a very inexpensive CC, and a good alternative to the standard bearer Monte 4 in this size category.

Draw was perfect, cold scents were underwhelming but showed some light hay and faint barnyard. light was easy (my humi sits at 65% these days) and the burn was perfect the entire smoke. Large volumes of smoke the whole way, and smoke that had a definite spicy feel to it, but not harsh. The flavors were more alive with the thing lit than cold; hay, light leather, a sprinkle of cocoa, black pepper on the finish. Not well balanced or strong by any means, but still a very presentable smoke. It should be smoother in 6 months, although I wouldn't trust the flavors to hold up for another year or two.

If you need a box of decent sticks to hand out with flagrant abandon to total strangers en masse at a dinner or event this one certainly won't embarrass. I wouldn't even mind in in my regular rotation. It's no Monte 4, or PSD4 or other big robust, but it presents itself well and has its own light version of flavor complexity.

[dangolf18]

Thanks for the review. How do you think it stacks up to the petit corona.

[PapaDisco]

Can't say. Went looking for an H Upmann PC one day but the stores all said some guy name Salinger bought them all. Go figure.