Inca Secret Blend Crystales Lonsdale

[Don Fernando]

I got this cigar from a cigar distributer that asked me for my opinion so he can decide weather to carry these cigars or not. So I went online to learn something about the brand as I never heard of them. I did know that there is some tobacco cultivation being done in Peru, I once met a Dutch pensionado that made cigars in Peru with his Italian business partner, his cigars were okay but way to expensive for what you got. So the claim on the Inca Cigars website that they are the only Peruvian puro on the market isn’t true, Polman Recency is also a Peruvian puro.

What I read on the website is that Inca Cigars is partly owned by Mitchel Orchant, a name that a lot of European cigar aficionados will know as he was (or is) the face of C.Gars LTD and the factory is owned by Gennaro Lettieri which to me sounds quite Italian and what are the odds that two Italians own a cigar factory in a non traditional Cigar producing country? So I expect that the Polman Regency that I mentioned and smoked before is produced in the exact same factory. While browsing for information I got a little confused as the cigars are sold in the UK under the name Inka with a K and in the US under the name Inca with a C and Alec Bradley is handling the distribution in the US.

As for the cigar, its a 6×40 lonsdale btw, once I took it out of its cellophane wrapping I saw a very rustic wrapper with veins in a Connecticut shade like light color. The cigar has a pig tail which I like but the cap is huge and that combined with the rough appearance of the wrapper doesn’t make the cigar appealing. The construction feels good although all along the back I feel a ridge that probably comes from the cigar molds and as I wrote in the previous sentence, the cap looks horrible. The ring is beautiful though, with a nice blue background, white lettering, a picture of an Inca and golden details. It also says 100% puro and the back says “rich, smooth and satisfying’. The cigar has a very pleasant and quite full hay aroma.

I cut the cigar with a flat cut, the cold draw is a bit tight. I taste salty raisin with a spicy aftertaste. I lit the cigar with a soft flame and taste a spicy coffee with a citrus sour aftertaste. After a centimeter it’s mainly lemon like acidity. After an inch I taste some dry wood and a little bit of chocolate. After a third the cigar turns musty, like I’m smoking a Connecticut shade cigar. I also taste some acidity. After two thirds i taste some nuts, a little bit of pepper and still the acidity.

The draw is a little tight. The ash is silver gray and dense, but it isn’t firm. The smoke is medium thick and medium in amount. The burn is straight. This cigar is mild to medium bodied and medium flavored at most. The smoke time is an hour and twenty five minutes.

Would I buy this cigar again? No, it might be appealing for the lovers of the milder Cubans but it isn’t a cigar for my palate.

Score: 82

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