Now that the autumn equinox is upon us, with these months that follow summer and precede winter, perhaps it is a great time to bring to the fore a quartet of Habanos that will bring back the best sensations and pleasures.
The pleasure of tasting a Havana cigar comes from the moments we can find to enjoy those times when we can put aside our professional occupations and even share with good company those moments that go from choosing the cigar, cutting it, lighting it and smoking it.
As if it were a symphony of chamber music, I have once again selected a quartet of Habanos, thinking that if pianists like Arthur Rubinstein and composers like Musorgsky could enjoy Cuban cigars, no one will prevent us aficionados from enjoying them today, just like other famous people like Michel Jordan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Gerard Depardieu, and among women, from Maddonna to Demi Moore, Sigourney Weaver and Shalma Hayek.
Smoking a Havana cigar should always be a pleasure and not an obligation, since it is all about pleasing our senses with its aromas and flavors, so we can be sure to make the right choice from the wide range of Habanos that markets 27 Premium brands made and protected by the Protected Designation of Origin (P.D.O.P.).
Tasting a Premium (handmade) cigar has become synonymous with elegance and sophistication, and within the existing variety, Habanos, in particular, are the most popular.
Among them are Cohiba, Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta, Partagás, Hoyo de Monterrey and H. Upmann, and it should be noted that Cuban cigars have been made entirely by hand for more than 500 years and since then they have been a reference for the whole world.
For this reason, and given that the cataloguing of the strengths of each of the brands clearly indicates which are more notable in degree in the tasting, I have chosen for this fall four of the main brands such as Montecristo, Partagás, Hoyo de Monterrey and Romeo y Julieta, and some of their main vitolas with the certainty that they will please the fans of Cuban cigars.
Ordered by their respective strength levels, we can start with the Partagás Serie D No. 4, with the highest rating of five out of five and which in recent years has become the best-selling cigar in the world, followed by the Montecristo No. 4 (with four out of five), which is the best-selling premium cigar of all time with more than one billion units.
After them comes Romeo y Julieta No. 1 in a tube, which is the best choice to keep it in perfect humidity conditions and guarantee its transport, which has a strength of three out of five.
And finally, the Hoyo de Monterrey Le Hoyo de Río Seco, a fairly modern cigar, launched only four years ago, which perfectly represents the taste for milder cigars, with a strength of one out of five, but at the same time with an exquisite proportion between its length and its filler to ensure that our aspirations have a great draw.
PARTAGAS SERIE D No 4
FORMAT: Length: 124 mm., Diameter: 19,84 mm., Strain: 50. Weight: 12,75 gr.
TOBACCO: Vuelta Abajo (Pinar del Río, Cuba)
BEFORE LIGHTING: Color: ripe carmelite. Aroma: vegetal
COMBUSTION: First third: good character and very defined tobacco traces. Second third: hints of black pepper, some spice and cocoa. Third third: earthy touches while the spicy ones continue mixed with woody notes.
Smoking time: 45/50 minutes
SHOT: Excellent
ASH: Steel gray
COMMERCIAL PRESENTATION: Boxes of 25, 10 and packs of three cigars in tubes.
COMMENT: Undoubtedly the most tasted vitola nowadays are the Robustos and this one from Partagás contains a whole complex of nuances in which the strength, the earth and the spiciness play in the first line.
MONTECRISTO No 4
FORMAT0: Length: 129 mm., Diameter: 16.67 mm., Strain: 42. Weight: 8,46 gr.
TOBACCO: Vuelta Abajo (Pinar del Río, Cuba)
BEFORE LIGHTING: Color: carmelite. Aroma: herbaceous
COMBUSTION: First third: simple, smooth beginnings and good tobacco traces. Second third: spicy notes well present and some cocoa. Third third: soft earthy tones, with a great balance of flavors and aromas.
Smoking time: 35/40 minutes
SHOT: No problems
ASH: Medium-toned gray
COMMERCIAL PRESENTATION: Boxes of 25 and packs of 5 and three cigars.
COMMENT: This galera vitola called Mareva is the cigar that has sold the most in the whole world in the history of Habanos and the favorite of many older Spanish smokers because of its size and fidelity to the pleasant and tasty blend of the Mon-Tecristo house.
ROMEO AND JULIETA ROMEO NO 1 TUBE
FORMAT: Length: 140 mm., Diameter: 15,87 mm., Strain: 40. Weight: 8,11 gr.
TOBACCO: Vuelta Abajo (Pinar del Río, Cuba).
BEFORE LIGHTING: Color: carmelite.Ar oma: floral.
COMBUSTION: First third: smooth and light spicy notes mixed with spices. Second third: increasing aromas and parallel earthy touches somewhat faint. Third third: toasted, cocoa and saline notes to finish.
Smoking time: 40/45 minutes
SHOT: Uncomplicated.
ASH: Medium-toned gray.
COMMERCIAL PRESENTATION: Boxes of 10 and cases of 3 cigars in tubes.
COMMENT: From a galley vitola called Cremas, this cigar significantly marks the brand’s own blend of medium character and strength, in which one can perceive very tabaqueros traces and nothing aggressive in the mouth.
HOYO DE MONTERREY LE HOYO DE RÍO SECO
FORMAT: Length: 140 mm., Diameter: 22,2 mm., Strain: 56. Weight: 20,87 gr.
TOBACCO: Vuelta Abajo (Pinar del Río, Cuba)
BEFORE LIGHTING: Color: carmelite. Aroma: deep vegetal.
COMBUSTION: First third: traces of tobacco without stridency, soft and somewhat spicy. Second third: the earth appears while it is combined with some slightly spicy tips. Third third: a strong flavors without increasing the strength and a good balance with the aromas.
Smoking time: 60/70 minutes
SHOT: Excellent.
ASH: Medium-toned gray and very consistent.
COMMERCIAL PRESENTATION: Boxes of 10 cigars and packs of three in tubes.
COMMENT: With the curious denomination of vitola de galera as Aromosos, this cigar responds to a strength a little above the usual blend of the Hoyo de Monterrey brand, which is rated as one out of five.
