A. Turrent Toro
This isn’t what I had originally scheduled for today’s review, but I just got back from eating Mexican food with my wife and cousin and thought this cigar would be fitting. Remembering I had a A. Turrent cigar from Mexico, I thought it would be a great time to try it out. I’ve never had one before but I’ve never been a fan of Mexican tobacco. Nevertheless, I’m going to give this one a try. A. Turrent is one of the oldest cigar families in the business. The A. Turrent cigars have a Mexican wrapper from San Andres, binder from Nicaraguan and a mix of Nicaraguan and Mexican filler. This blend was once only offered to special guest of the Turrent family, but is now made available to cigar smokers worldwide. The cigar comes in 5 sizes:
- Churchill 52 x 7
- Torpedo 52 x 6 1/8″
- Toro 50 x 6″
- Corona 44 x 5 1/2″
- Robusto 54 x 5″
Let’s see how it smokes.
Appearance
The cigar has a pretty gnarly look wrapper. It reminds me of wet leather. It’s very wrinkly, but it doesn’t have any large veins. There are no sunspots that I can see. The cap is also rough. It looks like the cap wasn’t really finished being applied. The box press is nice and looks uniform throughout the entire cigar.
Prelight Draw
The draw is just right. There is just enough resistance to not make the cigar burn hot. The flavors on the draw are pretty standard. A mix of barnyard and hay. Isn’t that most cigars though? Aroma on the foot isn’t much different. There is a hint of leather there though. I like that.
First Third
So far so good. I have to say I wasn’t expecting much because of my bias of Mexican tobacco. The flavors are fairly nice. I’m picking up toasty nuts, leather and sweet spice. I can’t put my finger on what sweet spice, but it’s there. The toasty nuts get way stronger on the retrohale. There seems be a hint of underlying creaminess also. What isn’t there that I expected was the telltale flavor of Nicaraguan tobacco: pepper! I don’t detect any hints of it in this cigar. Interesting.
Second Third
Not much has changed except the toasty nuts have become dominate. The creaminess has ramped up, but not a lot. It’s actually pretty good. The burn, for a box press, is pretty good. The flavors are staying about the same. It’s not a complex cigar, but a good straightforward smoke.
Final Third
Still nothing changed here. I did taste a hint of cocoa on the finish though. Other than that, not much else.
Overall Impressions
I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by this cigar. Considering my aversion to Mexican tobacco, I thought this cigar would be pretty bad, but it wasn’t. I wasn’t very complicated, but tasty nevertheless. The burn was really good and the cigar gave volumes of smoke. It was a nice medium bodied cigar. Not a bad cigar and considering a whole box is only about $55, a good bargain. Would I buy a box? Probably not because it’s not my style. Would I pick up a single here and there? Yea, probably so. Try it out and see how you like it.
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Might have to give it a try if I can find them at a store! Nice review. I am surprised about the non-pepper in it also, but since i do not like the pepper anyway, that is a good thing :)
Mike