Gran Robusto, 5.5” x 60 ring gauge, ~$8 The Select Cabinet Reserve is one of several new cigars that Alec Bradley introduced this year. This is a long-filler premium cigar with filler from Honduras and Nicaragua, a binder that is confusingly described as “Trojes, Honduras, Indonesia Embetunada” and a Honduran wrapper (also from Trojes). Maybe it’s a double-binder? Maybe it’s an Indonesian wrapper grown in Honduras? Whatever.
These cigars come without a cellophane wrapper so I will knocked off “prelight” credit for a banged-up wrapper. This wrapper was slightly damaged in 2 places, but other than that it was nice and appealing. It is a dark, rugged wrapper with plenty of tooth and a few large veins. It is also nice and oily. The lack of cellophane also allowed practically all aroma to escape from the wrapper—I seriously could not smell a thing from it. The foot is nicer, with hints of cocoa but little else.
The prelight draw is very good. There is a certain spice quality to it, maybe cinnamon or nutmeg, along with some mildly sweet chocolate and just a little spicy tingle on the lips. It took two lighters to get this hefty stick burning: my Lotus triple-jet got the bulk going quickly, but I needed to switch to my Zippo & Z-Plus single torch to get one little spot going without completely immolating the rest. The first few puffs on the SCR give up some pepper spice as well some roasted nuts and weak black coffee. Those coffee flavors strengthened in the first third, but roasted nuts was still the dominant flavor. Under both were hints of black pepper and hints of nutmeg, all wrapped up in a luxuriously, thick full-bodied smoke.
The second third saw more sweetness emerge, sort of what you would except from a maduro wrapper, although nothing I saw called this a maduro. The coffee also got more dominant and the flavors of nuts and pepper diminished. Several touch-ups were required.
In the last third, the SCR became more leathery while still maintaining the undercurrent of coffee. A nicotine kick also crept up on me that I had not expected—probably a function of the size and corresponding quantity of tobacco. In the end, this was a flavorful, complex, full-bodied stick that I enjoyed a lot. Not a good choice for a newbie in this size, but definitely a smoke that was well worth the time invested.
Body: 9/10
Strength: 9/10
Complexity: 9/10
AFP Scale:
Prelight: 1.5/2
Construction: 1.5/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 8/10
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