El Trovador corona gorda

[borndead1]

This is a cigar from Pinar Del Rio, a company that was hit or miss for me years ago but has been pretty consistently good recently.

The first thing you notice about this cigar is that they were going for a classic Cuban look. The band looks like a Cuban band, the rosado wrapper looks Cuban, triple cap, and the cigar is box-pressed.

I gotta say...they did a really good ripoff job. I trust my palate, and I'm being serious when I say that this cigar tastes like a Cuban cigar. HOLD ON...before you scoff and laugh at me and call me a noob, let me clarify. It doesn't taste like a Cohiba or Monte. It tastes like a 'cheap' Cuban, like Piedra, Quinteros, La Flor de Cano, etc. It even burns a little uneven like a short filler CC. If you handed one of these to me unbanded and told me it was a Quinteros, I would believe it.

Certainly an interesting cigar, and one that I will hold onto to fool somebody in a blind taste test. But even at auction prices (starting bid of $23 for a fiver), I'd rather smoke a Piedra or Quinteros.