Cigar Review – Cohiba Puro Dominicana – Part 2

This is the second in a 4-Part Series of reviews dedicated to exploring a single cigar size across each of the Cohiba brands offered by General Cigar (robustos from all four lines).

This extensive survey is made possible by Victoria McKee, Director of Public Relations at General Cigar Company.

Featured this time is the Cohiba Puro Dominicana Robusto, which we received from General Cigar back in May of this year.

Vitola: Robusto
Origin: Dominican Republic
Length: 5 1/2”
Ring Gauge: 50
Filler: Dominican
Binder: Dominican
Wrapper: Dominican
Strength: Medium-to-Full
MSRP: $444.75 (box of 25)
Average online price: $350

Produced at the General Cigar Dominicana factory, the Cohiba Puro Dominicana features a nice dark, well-aged looking wrapper and an attractive round head. The current Cigar Aficionado rating for it is 89 (Jan, 2009).

From the manufacturer’s website:

Cigar Master Daniel Núñez initially began development of this cigar in the late 1990's. After nearly 30 years of cultivating tobacco in the Dominican Republic, Daniel began growing, curing and aging tobaccos with different seed varieties in various locations within the Dominican Republic, with the goal of developing the perfect Dominican Puro cigar. Nearly 10 years and hundreds upon hundreds of sample blends later, Daniel is pleased to introduce Cohiba Puro Dominicana which features proprietary tobaccos aged in tercios and charcoaled wooden barrels to enhance their natural flavor. This new Cohiba is pure Dominican and has been masterfully blended to create the perfectly balanced cigar. Cohiba Puro Dominicana was made to fulfill the luxury cigar smoker's desire for an upscale, superbly crafted cigar with a smooth, ultra-refined taste.

Following Cigar Aficionado's 4-part rating system (Appearance & Construction, Flavor, Smoking Characteristics, and Overall Impression) nine of our club’s members plus one guest took part in the tasting survey for this review.

Upon initial examination, a few soft spots were noticed on a couple of our cigars. Though a few prominent wrapper veins were also discovered, everyone felt the quality of construction and appearance was quite good.

The draw of these Puros was great for most of us, but too tight for a few of the guys. Likewise, smoke output seemed to follow along those same lines. The stability of ash fared pretty well in our scoring. The quality of burn was split among our group, some cigars burned great, some not so good.

The flavors were found to be fuller and richer than the Classic Cohiba line. Tasting impressions led off with notes of dry woods like cedar, earthy hints; then moving into dark-roasted coffee. Unfortunately, some harshness was noted by some of the tasters going into the 2nd half of their cigars, however, most agreed on it smoothing out a bit before the ending.

After throwing out the highest and lowest, then averaging the remaining scores, The Cohiba Club's official rating for the Cohiba Puro Dominicana Robusto is 84. A ‘very good' cigar.

Here's the points breakdown:
I. Appearance & Construction: 13 pts (87% of the points possible)
II. Flavor: 21 pts (84% of the points possible)
III. Smoking Characteristics: 21 pts (84% of the points possible)
IV. Overall Impression: 29 pts (83% of the points possible)

All in all, we found the Cohiba Puro Dominicana to be a 50/50 cigar that some of us really liked and some of us didn’t like all that much. We do recommend that you give it a try and see for yourself.

Check back here in the coming weeks for subsequent posts on the Cohiba XV (Extra Vigoroso), and the Cohiba Black Tubo Crystal – both in robusto sizes.

Credit to Cigar World

© 2009 The Cohiba Club - All rights reserved.