Bolivar Suntuoso Corona Extra

[BlackIrish]

A few months ago I picked up a box of these from JR during some crazy sale or other. I had my first the other day. Sorry, boys and girls; no photos for this one.

Nutritional information:
The cigar: Bolivar (Cofradia) Suntuoso corona extra
Dimensions: 5.62 x 45
Origin: Honduras
Wrapper: Ecuadoran Sumatra
Binder: Honduras
Filler: Honduras

Here's what JR's marketing team has to say about it:

"This incredibly well-made masterpiece from Villazon absolutely drips with flavors so rich that they had to seal them in glass tubes! Featuring a rich chocolate brown Sumatra wrapper grown in Ecuador on the world famous farms of the Oliva family, this bold cigar is a delight to the senses. Complex flavors abound as the Suntuoso is smoked through its entire length, and believe me, you will want to smoke every inch of this superb cigar until it burns your fingers. Utilizing the last of the Oliva’s 2002 crop, these Bolivars were made in a limited run of 100,000 cigars."

Here's my take:

First, it is a great looking smoke, a lonsdale sporting a cedar sleeve and nestled in its glass tubo. The wrapper is dark and inviting, with moderate veins. It's firm, well filled, and very well wrapped. The head slices cleanly and the burn is outstanding. The broadleaf binder is a bit thick, but the ash is firm, white, perfect, dropping in solid little pellets about an inch or so long. It produces a ton of smoke.

It is indeed a strong cigar, spicy from the start and building in strength throughout. Flavors are leather and spice, in the same part of the flavor spectrum as Tatuajes and similar smokes. There's cedar, too -- no surprise given the sleeve -- and black pepper, occasional hints of coffee, a whiff of black licorice. It was good and complex, but there were times when it seemed out of balance, with the pepper overwhelming the other flavors. I'm going to let the others rest for a while to see if a little aging helps to tame it.