Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Cigar Review: Casa Magna Colorado robusto

Cigar Name: Casa Magna Colorado
Wrapper: Nicaragua (Colorado)
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Size: Robusto (5.5 x 52)
Strength: Full strength.
Body: Full bodied.
Price: $5.xx-$6.xx per cigar
Smoking time: 1 ½ - 2 hours


The Casa Magna was created by Manuel Quesada and Nestor Plascencia. It’s rolled in Esteli, Nicaragua and is a Nicaraguan puro. Tobacco used for the cigar is all Cuban-seed and grown in EstelĂ­ (produces stronger tobacco) and Jalapa.

I finally got around to the box of Casa Magnas I split with Adam, plus a few singles I bought before the boxes finally arrived. They’ve been sitting in my humidor for 6 months. The weather has been great for sitting on the patio and enjoying a cigar and a book. Over the last three weeks this is the only cigar that I have had. What a great three weeks. The Casa Magnas are all gone and here is the review:

APPEARANCE: One of the best looking cigars I’ve ever seen. The wrapper is reddish brown that shined with oil. There were small veins on all of the cigars (I like this), but nothing too big or to worry about. The cigar looked tough and striking. The Casa magna sports an elegant and masculine band that is thick and embossed. (This is the 2009 release, but I do remember the 2008 release having problems with the glue on the band not loosening up and it was a fight that ended in tearing the band every time to get the band off—I did not have that problem at all with the 2009 release.) 10/10

CONSTRUCTION: Beautifully triple capped. Seamless wrapper. When squeezed there was a slight give and the cigar felt very solid…and heavy too. I felt no soft spots on any of the cigars. You could tell that these cigars were made with care and quality control was working nicely. 10/10

BURN: I did not have to make a single touch up with a flame. Half of the cigars I smoked burned straight, perfect and even. The other half had a slight uneven burn—one or two of those burned almost uneven enough to warrant a flame touch up and I think this meddled with the taste a little bit. But I might be able to blame the uneven burns on my lighting skills or some of the windy days we’ve had this spring. The ash was solid on every cigar and really only needed to be ashed 3 or 4 times per cigar. The ash was ringed with alternating light and dark gray. The cigar that burned the most unevenly had a bit of a yellow tint to the ash. Either way, the burn was good. 8/10

AROMA: I’m not that good at picking up on aroma notes, but I enjoyed the smell of the smoke very much. It was thick, and strong, but not a cigar you would want to light up at a bar because of the strong aroma. The aroma was of tobacco, earth and I think maybe something sweet too. 10/10

DRAW: The draw was perfect on every single cigar. I used my double guillotine to snip off the head and each time the draw was the same. The draw was a bit snug, but not too snug, and sometimes required a second ‘toke’ to create that REALLY good draw. The snug draw was expected because of the weight and tightness of the cigar. I like a slight tug of a draw in a cigar. Another great result of the slightly snug draw and plethora of tobacco was the COOL draw that lasted to the nub and fingertips each time. 10/10

FLAVOR: Again, I’m not great at picking out flavors either, but the cigar was spicy to the lips and tongue pre-light and had an earthy smell. I used a triple torch flame to light the Casa Magna and the expected spice was up front and center. I was able to ’roll’ the smoke with much enjoyment and no discomfort even with the large amount of spice (a few strong cigars are too strong for me to ‘roll’ the smoke and fully enjoy the cigar). Coffee was in the background. During the second third the spice faded to the background and coffee, earth and the taste that I loved—the taste of chocolate that reminds me of my grandma’s homemade chocolate cake. These flavors balanced very well and made the cigar very complex. The last third the spice came back a little bit to the front and the chocolate, coffee and earth flavors jumped out here and there. This cigar had a lot of different flavors going on, but in a very good way. 10/10

AVAILABILITY: The 2008 release was like hunting for Sasquatch, but the 2009 release isn’t hard to find at all. Some online tobacconists are on backorder, but so far most retailers are keeping this cigar stocked and in several more vitolas than the 2008 release (which was only the robusto). The price is a HUGE bonus for this cigar as the robusto is only $5-$6. Not too many cigars of this quality are priced this low. So, availability may become scarce as the year goes on, but so far so good. 10/10

PERSONAL OVERALL EXPERIENCE: The strength of this cigar is labeled as full bodied…and it was just as expected. Now, it is not the strongest cigar that I’ve had, but it does not rate itself as a super strong cigar either. The Casa Magna is superbly made and beautiful to look at. I’ve been smoking cigars for almost a year and a half now, and after trying MANY cigars, this will be one of the first boxes I will buy to stock my humidor once room as been created. The price is very affordable and I really enjoy the flavors. I enjoyed every one of these cigars this wonderful spring. With the smoking time at over an hour and a half, they’ve thankfully helped me be outside and enjoy the weather. The Casa Magna Colorado robusto is a wonderful cigar. 27/30

Total Score: 95/100

Take care-
Joe

6 comments:

  1. Great review of a stellar smoke!

    I can't believe you are just now finishing up the Casa Magnas, man. Nice work on saving them for the better smoking spring weather. (I'm pretty sure I smoked most, if not all, of those bastards within a week of you picking them up for me.)

    Adam

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  2. Awesome review man. I also have about 10 left from my box purchase. Well worth it. Joe, I agree with you on two things. One, an earlier statement you said 100 will be very hard. If the Casa Magna can't make 100 it may be impossible. And two, this cigar will always be in my humidor. EXCELLENT cigar. Very Box worthy.

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  3. Thanks. I really enjoyed every single Casa Magana I have smoked. The 100 just might be unattainable, but it will be fun trying new (and old) cigars to see if we can get a 100, plus rating a cigar is very subjective, one of you may have rated the Casa Magna a 100. I had to be unbiased about the slight burn issue (which did cause a little flavor change in a couple of the cigars) and docked it points accordingly. I may be looking to split another box of these if any of you are interested.

    Enjoy-
    Joe

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  4. Ask me about the box split on January 1, 2011. I think next years resolution will be to buy a coolodor or stand up humidor and fill the fing thing.

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  5. Ask me about the box split now. Count me in.

    Adam

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  6. Coolodor? Doesn't Joe have the patent on that?

    Adam

    ReplyDelete