Brand: Zigari
Size: 6 X 54
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo
Filler: Esteli, Jalapa, and Condega
Strength: Solid medium strength, to medium-full.
This stick was sent to me by Grant at Zigari Cigar Haven in Ontario, California. He had asked for some feedback, which I am always happy to give, and I thought I would turn it into a real review. I made myself a gin & tonic and grabbed a seat at the sliding glass doors. I’m watching Dan Aykroyd get mesmerized by Vigo the Carpathian in Ghost Busters II.
I apologize for the lack of pictures, my wife took the camera with her to San Francisco, and our backup is in her classroom at school. I did snap one from my cell phone, but didn’t feel like taking a bunch of crappy low-res pictures, as this isn’t really fair to the quality of this cigar.
Pre light:
This stick has some solid construction, with some faint veins running throughout, and has a good amount of weight in the palm of my hand. I punch the cap and take a few dry puffs. It draws quite well, and I picked up a sweet woody tobacco taste.
1” in:
Very obvious taste of wood, nice thick white smoke, and the burn is nice and even. The ash is a light gray color, and holding solidly.
½ in:
The woody flavor starts to intensify a bit more, but isn’t overpowering. The ash keeps it gray tint, and the smoke is just as dense as when I started.
¾ in:
The ash has started to darken at this point, but the smoke stays solid. The woody taste is still there, but I taste something else that I could only describe as, a slightly sweet sesame oil. It had the charred/smoked flavor, but wasn’t overwhelming, and was different, in a good way. The burn on this cigar was spot-on the entire time. No touchups whatsoever.
Overall:
If I hadn’t known this cigar was a house blend, I wouldn’t have ever guessed that it was. I have tried a few house blends at House of Cigar here in Columbus, and wasn’t really impressed. It’s hard to be mad at the quality (Or lack of rather) of a budget smoke, when we all know the saying, you get what you pay for. But this stick has the quality everyone expects, at a price everyone can afford as well. Zigari has them priced at $87 for a box of 25. That’s less than $3.50 a smoke.
If you are interested in trying these out, you can contact Grant at Zigari Cigar at:
(909) 980-9943
990 North Ontario Mills Drive,
Ontario, CA 91764