Saturday, August 13, 2011

Review: Sancho Panza Valiente


Image from Cigars International

  • Price: <$5
  • Size: 5.5" x 44
  • Wrapper: Connecticut
  • Filler: A blend of Honduran, Nicaraguan and Dominican
  • Time to completion: ~45 minutes


Smoking Experience:
After a long day at work, I wanted to head down to the pool with my wonderful girlfriend and have a quick smoke. I had some more work to do in about an hour, so I couldn't spend a lot of time down there, so I reached into my humidor, and pulled out this little guy. We headed down to the pool deck, and I lit up.

Unlike the maduro version of this cigar, the burn on this was smooth and steady. This could be due to the moisture content of the cigar, or a difference in the wrapper, im not really sure. The draw was pretty typical, and overall it was a pretty decent quick smoke on a cool night.

Flavor:
The first 2/3 of this cigar were very mild and sort of boring. It wasn't a -bad- smoke, it was just very one note. It had a woody taste for the majority of the cigar, but in the last 1/3 there was a sort or sweet undertone. I was actually about to put the cigar down and walk away when it hit. I was down by the pool with my girlfriend and she had stood up to head back to our apartment (as was I) but the new flavor caught me by surprise, so I sat back for a few more minutes to see how it developed. The ending was the best part of the cigar as the flavors intensified, but overall the cigar was average. It certainly didn't have that same memorable flavor intensity that it's maduro wrapped partner had.

Side Note: I very much like the box-press style of these smokes, especially at the smaller size, they seem to light and burn a bit more consistently than some others i've had.