Robusto Prestige Selection

Two superb, top quality Prestige Robusto cigars – from Cuba and from Nicaragua.
How does the Nicaraguan compare with the Cuban: Flavour, construction, quality of burn? Make notes on the Tasting Score Sheet enclosed.
Are they worth the price – maybe for special occasions?

Then try the Cuban Petit Robusto – which is priced at budget levels.

Colin Wesley

H.Upmann Robusto Limited Edition 2012 (124mm x Ring 50)  H.Upmann Cuban cigars are of high quality – smooth, normally medium flavoured. However, the superior Ediciones Limitadas released every year are manufactured with two-year aged binder and filler, and two-year aged wrapper from the upper level of the plant - the corona leaves. These are richer and slightly thicker, giving the cigar a darker colour and a unique, full flavour. Reviews of these cigars have commented that they are slightly loosely packed, so make a smaller cut than usual and test the draw before lighting. (You can enlarge the opening if necessary.)

Davidoff Nicaraguan Puro Robusto (124mm x Ring 50)
Davidoff is one of the most famous cigar brands worldwide – originally for their great Cuban cigars. But in time Zino Davidoff became disenchanted with the quality from Cuba. So much so that in August 1989 he publicly burned over one hundred thousand of his cigars that he had deemed of low quality and unfit to sell (date and numbers from Wikipedia).
That was the end of Davidoff Cuban cigars – and the start of the Dominican Davidoffs.
And that is the ethos that Hendrik Kelner, cigarmaster at the Davidoff factory in Dominican Republic, still upholds today.
Davidoff cigars are known for their high quality - achieved through knowledgeable and innovative blending, careful construction, and rigorous quality control.
Certain blends of Davidoff cigars have included Nicaraguan tobaccos, but the demand for the fuller-bodied Nicaraguan cigars led to the advent of the Davidoff Nicaraguan Puro – leaf sourced only from Nicaragua. To maintain the high standards demanded of a Davidoff, the Nicaraguan leaf, from carefully selected plantations, was imported and rolled in the Dominican factory: 10 year aged Rosado for the wrapper, a Jalapa binder, and filler blended of leaf from Esteli, Condega, and Ometepe.
The result is an amazing cigar of medium to full strength, with a smooth rich flavour, which only improves as the cigar burns on.

Quintero Favoritos (115mm x Ring 50) Quintero is one of the few Habanos brands not born in Cuba’s capital city, Havana. Instead its founder Agustin Quintero with his four brothers set up shop in the south coast city of Cienfuegos, known as the “Pearl of the South”. Then as now all the tobaccos selected for Quintero came from the Vuelta Abajo region. Normally Quintero cigars are budget cigars, totally handmade, short filler, medium bodied. However, in April 2012, a new vitola was launched: - totally handmade, long filler, a Petit Robusto size, the Favoritos.
How does this “budget cigar” compare in flavour and smoothness?
Is it a possibility for an everyday smoke?