Cohiba Robusto AOR MAY 06

[stever]

Found myself over at CigarDawg’s Sunday afternoon for a nice relaxing smoke, safe and sound in the smoking lounge, staying warm in front of the wood stove, and seeking refuge from a second straight day of wind and cold rain. Having just smoked and reviewed a ’94 CORO last Friday evening, I decide to smoke an ’06.

The wrapper has a rich, red brown color, an oily sheen, and is silky smooth with no veining. Overall, the cigar is very well constructed and, like the ’94, densely packed with a nice weight in the hand. There is an aroma of barnyard and sweet leather at cold. Prelight draw is open (more than I prefer) and tastes of sweet hay and leather.

The first draw reveals sweet grassy, toasted tobacco, and light coffee flavors. Smoke production is excellent, perhaps due in part to the rather open draw. The aroma is strong and the smoke pretty dense. Within the first half-inch, a raw bean-like, vegetal flavor surfaces and the toasted tobacco flavor becomes stronger. At the one-inch mark, sweet cedar notes come to the fore and start to marry nicely with the toasted tobacco flavor. Soon thereafter, I pick out a burnt sugar overtone that sweetens and mellows out the rich toasted tobacco flavor. Although the cigar is producing some nice flavors, they are not yet balanced. Also, the flavors are pretty straightforward, without much complexity or subtleness.

The first ash is white, an inch long, dense, and striated. At the one and a half inch mark, the burn needs correcting, something I actually end up doing a few times during the smoke. Wonder if this is more of an issue related to youth, rather than to construction?

At the two-inch mark, the flavors start to balance out with a nice mix of sweet cedar and toasted tobacco. Halfway through, the balance further improves with sweet grassy, hay-like notes and a burnt sugar flavor mellowing out toasted tobacco and leather notes.

In the last third, toasted nut and sweet cedar flavors further sweeten and mellow what has been up to this point a pronounced tobacco and leather aftertaste. Mouth feel improves and there is a better roundness and blending of flavors. The smoke is also lusher and, overall, more enjoyable. The CORO has finally hit its stride.

This cigar will definitely benefit from more time and I think that it has good potential. The strength and intensity of its flavors would at least seem to indicate so. That being said, an earlier ’06 that I smoked from El Prez’s Twelve Days of Christmas sampler was definitely more immediately smokeable and more enjoyable throughout its duration than the CORO reviewed.

[Cam]

wow nice review, very detailed, well done bro!

[El Presidente]

Your reviews of the Cohiba Robusto mirror my own experiences. Is there a more consistent Cuban cigar? By that I mean that you know thay your May 06 example will turn into a classic Cohiba Robusto.

[stever]

» Your reviews of the Cohiba Robusto mirror my own experiences. Is there a

» more consistent Cuban cigar? By that I mean that you know thay your May 06

» example will turn into a classic Cohiba Robusto.

Excellent point. But are some of the '06s going to be more classic than others? Is immediate smokeability such as what I found with the CORO ENE 06 (smoked first week of January '07) a good gauge? Note that the MAY 06 I just reviewed is a just month shy of being a year old, but not IMHO as approachable as the ENE 06 was a year later. Or will the immediate "youthful?" differences disappear within the course of a few years?

[El Presidente]

» Excellent point. But are some of the '06s going to be more classic than

» others?

Absolutely and so it has always been. Ene/Feb are classics.

» others? Is immediate smokeability such as what I found with the CORO ENE

» 06 (smoked first week of January '07) a good gauge?

Not necessarily. I put more faith in mouth/flavour density, flavour definition, flavour complexity. I can have a young cigar which is unbalanced but holds these characteristics and I know it will age well. Now the Flavours can be muted at a young age but that does not really concern me...I just need to be convinced that they are there and aaiting to be released with a little time.

[stever]

» Not necessarily. I put more faith in mouth/flavour density, flavour

» definition, flavour complexity. I can have a young cigar which is

» unbalanced but holds these characteristics and I know it will age well.

» Now the Flavours can be muted at a young age but that does not really

» concern me...I just need to be convinced that they are there and aaiting

» to be released with a little time.

Thanks for the pointers. Given the ever-changing box codes and the limited supply of certain marcas and vitolas, its invaluable to have someone forecast potential classics. How about a "deemed to be a classic" sampler pack sometime in '07?