Tuesday, June 29 2010
This past weekend Famous Smoke Shop held its annual Cigar Expo, so I got to smoke a lot more cigars than usual. Most of them were cigars I've enjoyed before. But on Sunday, the day after the Expo, I sat out on the deck to smoke a first for me - the
Carlos Toraño Exodus 1959 50 Years Robusto. The
box (
see photo) was gifted to me by Charlie Toraño, and there's a story behind it, but I'm not going to tell it here; suffice it to say it has to do with another box of
cigars he sent me many years ago, but I'm saving that for a future blog. All I'll say now is, Charlie is one helluva guy.
The Carlos Toraño Exodus 1959 50 Years
Robusto is a beauty. A dark, glistening Brazilian Arapiraca
maduro wrapper seamlessly surrounds a core of Nicaraguan Esteli & Pueblo Nuevo longfillers with a Honduran
binder. Unlike its original
Exodus 1959 cousins, the
Torano Exodus 1959 50 Years cigars are not box-pressed. I found the cigar to be well-packed, the
cap neatly applied, and the
draw nice and easy. The ash revealed a marbled grey color with a decent amount of staying power, and tapped-off exposing a nice round cherry.
The smoke was medium-bodied right down the center. The predominant flavors were those of nutmeg and cinnamon with notes of coffee and sweet wood mixed in. The smoke was luxuriously smooth, creamy and sweet from end to end and never wandered off its sweet-spicy course. Pairing it with Taylor Fladgate Late Bottle Vintage 2003, I found the Port to be the perfect complement to this cigar.
I thoroughly enjoyed this latest edition to the Toraño Exodus series. The double copper band really stands out nicely against the wrapper, too. The going price for a single is $6.80, while $129.99 will get you a box of 24.* If its consistency you like in a full-flavored cigar, this cigar's got it. It was hard to put down in the last act, but once it hit the last inch, that was all she wrote.
If you've enjoyed the other Toraño Exodus cigars, make sure you add the 50 Years selection to your list.
~ Gary Korb
* Prices quoted were accurate at the date of posting.
