Smoked: El Pulpo Toro Grande

Smoked at: West Chester, Ohio

El Pulpo Toro Grande is a box-pressed Nicaraguan covered in a dark brown toothy San Andres wrapper with a few tiny veins running through it. The primary band is striking, albeit a bit weird – a classy looking black, red and gold band centered by an octopus wearing a top hat. Now that’s something you don’t see every day. Well, maybe in Martha’s Vineyard. Quite an upscale Octopus. The symbolism relates to the name “El Pulpo” translating to “The Octopus” in English. The secondary band reads “San Andres” and “Artesano Del Tobacco” in smaller letters. A.J. Fernandez is involved. Isn’t he always?

Spice and heavy pepper to start out with charred oak, earthiness, walnuts & hazelnuts, semi-sweet creamy chocolate moving toward dark chocolate and dark roast coffee. I like the spice, although I can’t really identify specific spices. It’s my weakness in tasting cigar flavors even after all these years. I can identify nutmeg and cinnamon. A few times I have recognized clove. But in general when I taste spice it’s like opening the spice cabinet in the kitchen. It’s just a basic array of every spice in the bottles. Spice recognition is where I fall short – like the basketball player who can’t hit the midrange jump shot. It’s why I never made the varsity squad on my high school cigar smoking team. There are occasional background notes of dried fruit. The retrohale is spicy and quite the pepper bomb. Whew!

Sharp even burn line that went slightly askew, but the built-in gyroscope was functional well. It self-corrected each time. The ash fell off at an inch. Smoke output was adequate. This is a fast-burning stick This must be Nicolas Cage’s favorite cigar - a Toro that’s Gone in 60 Seconds? It’s medium-full bodied and strength that increases during the final third. It left me a bit parched.

The flavors were minimal, weak balance, no transition and lacking in complexity. It is an average smoke. I was not impressed. I will admit the hype and the price point persuaded (or dissuaded) my review. El Pulpo San Andres Toro Grande is an OK smoke – just not for the price.