Guest Review: G.A.R. by George Rico

Posted by Nice Tight Ash

March 6, 2009

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Our first guest review comes courtesy of dk_fxn.

The G.A.R comes to us from George Rico. Known as a blender for the Gran Habano and 3 Siglos lines of cigars, the G.A.R is his personal line of cigars. I noticed this cigar in a few of my local shops. The simple look of the cigar with the band placed neatly at the foot drew me to want to give it a try. Alas, I never picked one up for myself, but a fellow BOTL, Al from Key West, threw a couple of these my way.

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Company: George A. Rico
Made in: Honduras
Made by: Gran Habano
Size: 5.5â€ x 52 (Robusto Grande)
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Corojo
Filler: Vintage Nicaraguan Long-filler
Binder: Honduras
MSRP: $8.25 each or $162.50 for a box of 20

Pre-light

Inspecting this cigar, you will discover that its construction is firm, the wrapper has some slight veins and smells sweet with a bit of spiciness. The scent of brownies can be detected at the foot of the cigar and the pre-light draw is loose leaving a bit a pepper on the lips.

Smoking

The first third of the smoke reveals some vegetal flavors and as you work through that, some toasty, nutty flavors make their way to the surface. As we near the end of the first third, there is a bit of licorice (which I love). When I was transitioning into the second third, I was literally wowed by a strong hazelnut flavor that was really nice. After that, the flavor was primarily tobacco with a little bit of sweetness, but very nice all the same. The final third was toasty and filled with hints of cocoa. The finish on the palate was short-lived, but very pleasant with a bit of licorice present.

Final Thoughts

Originally, I felt that this might be a stronger cigar, but as I plugged through, this smoke was more in the middle of the spectrum. Overall, this cigar is definitely one to keep in the humidor. I love the simple look of it and I am a sucker to how a cigar (and its band) look. Give one (or three) of these a shot next time you are at you local B&M. A big thanks to Al for turning me on to this stick!