Smoked: Cohiba Black Maduro

Smoked at: West Chester, Ohio

Cohiba Black Maduro Robusto uses Dominican filler and binder covered in an almost pitch black toothy oily sheen Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro wrapper with a fair number of raised thin veins.

Oak and hickory, earthy with a forest floor backdrop, chocolate and dark roast coffee dominate the flavors from the first puffs. Add mild spice/pepper, roasted nuts, a touch of cream (maybe vanilla), a tang of fruit (cherries?), and leather. A few puffs of chalk and licorice pop in during the second third. The flavors are not very complex but generally balanced until the final third when some sour acidic notes creep in. Pepper picks up steam midway, although it never escalates to a pepper bomb. Retrohale: earth, leather, wood and pepper. The cigar starts out medium-full bodied and cranks up to full tilt boogie full bodied by the finish. The strength is medium-full.

I had issues lighting the stick. Wrapper issues at the foot persisted for a few minutes before resolving themselves. Wavy burn line, light on smoke production, flaky ash that sometime held until tapped but did drop off twice, and a loose draw that could have used more resistance. It was hard to fully experience all the flavors due to the loose draw and limited smoke output.

As rich and bold as it tastes, there is a smoothness to the blend. In my opinion, Cohiba Black is a better than average cigar but nothing special. I really should smoke another. Without the construction issues, I would likely enjoy this Cohiba more. The hefty price may scare some from buying it. Franklin, I’m not sure I can justify the quality to price ratio myself.