Cohiba Nicaraguan N54

Posted by Shawn

October 19, 2014

If you have been around cigars for a month or a decade, there is a very slim chance that you have never heard of a Cohiba cigar. Whether it be the infamous Cuban or the Dominican “Red Dot” Cohiba, the name is known by many. The Cohiba name is so famous,Â when I mention to people I like to smoke cigars, I would say 75% of them say “Have you ever smoked a Cohiba?” So the Cohiba name is world renown by the population; cigar smoker or not.

Recently a few cigar lines that are Dominican cigars are now venturing out into the Nicaraguan area of tobacco and implementing it into their blends; either in a mix or puro blend. General Cigars recently announced the Nicaraguan Cohiba, a puro blend that will be numberÂ sevenÂ in the Cohiba line of cigars.

Size: 5 1/2×54

Vitola: N54

Wrapper: Sun Grown Colorado Oscuro

Binder: Jalapa

Filler: Esteli, Jalapa

First Looks

The band is similar to those previous cigars of the Cohiba line; yet a bit more basic. ThisÂ band has an all black background, gold lettering and outlining stripe at the top and bottom. The ominous red dot has not been forgotten and helps throw in some contrast in the band. The wrapper has a very hearty look to it with its dark brown wrapper, some ample sized veins all adorned with a double cap. Wrapper aroma is fairly light with hints of straw and an even lighter amount of nutmeg. The foot has a stronger aroma of straw, nutmeg and a hint of spice. The entire cigar has an overall firm feel to it. The cold draw reveals the same notes of straw and nutmeg as I found in the wrapper aroma. But the nutmeg is a bit more stronger this time.

Construction

The prelight draw is fairly thick and just about too thick for my likings. The draw does lighten up some once the cigar is toasted, but it stayed fairly thick, some would say milkshake thick; which is almost too thick in my eyes. The burn was a tad wavy, but there was no need to give it any touch-ups. From said burn came ashes of dirty tannish white color. The ashes had some nice tight rings and a few flakes here & there and held for around an inch or so.

Flavor

The first few draws have a nice amount of spice, a bit of a charred dark wood and a note I can best describe as a bold herbal note, but not bold as the spice. Right from the get-go I notice the room note is pretty bold and has a somewhat spicy sense to it. Being a “seasoned” cigar enjoyer, the room note is bold and almost a little too strong for me. One who is not used to cigar smoke should be advised to move to another area as at times it was almost aÂ little much for my eyes. Easing off into the cigar more, the spice mellows a bit and mingles with the charred wood. The herbal notes now seem to drift towards the roof of my mouth and leave an interesting “kick” of spice. Going out of the first third, the edginess of the flavors ease off and become more rounded almost to a muddled sense.

Coming into the middle portion of the cigar, the herbal notes loose their spiciness and the signs of a slight sweetness start to show up some. Soon, a muddled slightly sweetened cocoa note appears that tries to overtake the spice and herbal note, but doesn’t succeed. The charred wood note is still in the mix, but is nothing too strong or weak. It does linger thoughÂ some on the finish towards the tip of my tongue. Heading out of the middle portion of the cigar, a salted caramel note appears and has been one flavor that I have been liking more and more as I start to notice it more and more in cigars. The sweetness that appeared minutes ago is all a thing of the past as I hope it would have lasted longer and mixed more with the salted caramel; but it didn’t.

Getting into the last third of the cigar, a musty & twangy bitter note hits me. Its not a very pleasing note, as I think the thicker draw is now starting to take a toll on the smoke. I think the thicker draw is restricting the airflow enough to cause the flavors to be off. A healthy purge does some good to the flavors as the bitterness leaves and I get a note of espresso, but it is short lived. The charred wood note appears back and is accompanied by the salted caramel from before, yet with some of the bitterness from before the purge. The bitterness is almost like the charred wood, was almost over charred. Eventually the bitterness arose more and I laid the cigar to rest.

Final Thoughts

This cigar is an interesting addition to the all Dominican lines that got Cohiba famous. This cigar was not the best Nicaraguan cigar I have ever had, nor the worst. Give this cigar a bit of rest. let it acclimate and allow the flavors to mingle and I believe it will be a bit better. The thicker draw did hold back some of the flavors as well as turn them off-key to what they could be. I had another one of these cigars prior to this review, the draw and flavors were a bit better, but not by much. I would suggest to grab two of these cigars. Smoke one fresh and let the other rest a few months or so. I think this was a decent smoke, but needs some more age.

NOTE: I will take another look at this cigar in a month or two and give my thoughts on it. I think the cigar had a nice amount of potential, yet the draw hindered it a good bit. I think being quite fresh off the truck may have been a factor as well.

*This cigar was provided to me, unsolicited, fromÂ General CigarsÂ for this review.Â Â Many thanks toÂ those great people for the opportunity to review this cigar!