Antonius Red Label Robusto

[Don Fernando]

Antonius is made at Intercigar, the factory of the Dutch cigar manufacturer Maurice Koks. His grandfather used to make Dutch dry cured shortfillers in The Netherlands back in the day and Maurice decided years later to step into his grandfathers footsteps and make cigars too. He packed up all he had and moved to the Dominican Republic and that’s something I admire and respect, moving away to another country to chase your dreams takes balls especially when you downgrade when it comes to luxury, social security, safety, healthcare and income, although when moving to the Dominican you upgrade in climate and relaxation I guess. It’s something I always wanted to do but never had the guts to do, and when I finally had the balls and the reasons, after I married my Asian wife, she decided she rather lives in The Netherlands instead of me coming to Singapore so here I am. Not that I’m complaining though, I have a nice house with my man cave, walk in humidor, waterfront garden, little speed boat and friends & family close so life is good.

Well, Maurice created a cigar and named it after his grandfather Antonius. For The Netherlands he signed a deal with a group of retailers, all independent retailers but they work together in a cooperation, called Compaenen and at my local Compaenen shop I saw these new cigars years ago, I guess its 7 or 8 years ago by now. There were two different blends available, both in 3 packs for €12 per pack, which made it a €4 cigar. I bought them, smoked one of each and gave the others away with a warning that they were horrible. And I guess I wasn’t the only one with that opinion as it took the Compaenen group years and years to get rid of their order, they couldn’t even give them away, that’s how bad they were received by the Dutch public. I found the red label in my humidor recently and decided to see what age did with it. The wrapper is a habano rosado over Dominican and Nicaraguan filler and it’s made at the Dominican Republic.

The cigar comes wrapped in both cedar and cellophane which is a nice way to protect the cigar and I hope that the cedar rubbed of after all these years and improved the flavor of the cigar. The downside of the cedar is that the cellophane didn’t turn yellow, something I always like when I unwrap a cigar that has been aging for a long time. The wrapper is quite pale but smooth and oily. The construction feels good although at the head I can clearly see a vein of the binder sticking out like a pimple on a teenager. The aroma is nice, manure with some cedar and quite strong for an aged cigar. The ring is nice, burgundy top with a crest that has the logo of Den Bosch, the Dutch city where Koks grew up, and the logo of Santiago , where he spends his time now. All with golden details. The bottom is yellow with a red banner and white letters Antonius.

I punched the cigar and the cold draw good, I taste dried raisin and some pepper. I lit the cigar with my Ronson varaflame and I taste a musty flavor that reminds me of Connecticut Shade wrapper with some pepper. After a few puffs I taste fried egg (!?!?) with lemon. After a centimeter I taste sugar, harsh cedar, pepper and lemon. Halfway I taste cedar with some chocolate and a metallic lemon flavor. After two thirds the mustiness is back, some harshness is still around and the pepper grew stronger.

The smoke is good, thick and plentiful. The draw is great, no complaints there. The ash is white with black smears and firm. The burn is crooked though. It’s a medium bodied, medium plus flavored cigar. The smoke time is an hour and twenty minutes.

Would I buy this cigar again? No, I won’t. I wish I could write something different but I can’t. It got better over the years but it’s still not good enough for me.

Score: 85

with pictures: https://cigarguideorg.wordpress.com/...label-robusto/