2006 Condega Connecticut - Tabacalera Tropical
 

I picked up a couple boxes of these back in 2006 when they were being closed out. I smoked a few and liked them, and I put the rest into storage for a while. These are no longer in production, although Tabacalera Tropical is producing Casa Fernandez cigars now.

The filler on these is Nicaraguan from 3 valleys - Condega, Jalapa and Esteli. The wrapper is a shade-grown Connecticut.

On the light, I got a nice peppery blast with cedar notes. There was no bitterness whatsoever! The pepper kept up for about 10 minutes, eventually settling into wood and leather flavors with a slight musty background. Bitterness started to enter the picture at about halfway in, but I was already enjoying the stick too much to really care.

These were a good buy, they were cheap, they got better with age, and smoke like a champ. Whats not to like? Ill have to look for some of the Fernandez blends to see if they compare.