Cigar Review: Adrian's CroMagnon Cranium

Gran Toro, 6" x 54 ring gauge / $8.00

The CroMagnon (@CroMagnonCigar) is the first collaboration between Skip Martin (@ChiefHava) of Hava Cigar and Michael Rosales (@smokeadrians) of Adrians Premium Costa Rican Cigars. These cigars are comprised of a Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro wrapper with a Cameroon binder and a filler comprised of three types Nicaraguan tobacco. The cigars come in five sizes which are, the Knuckle Dragger (4" x 52 petite robusto, $6), the Mandible (4.5" x 60 petite gordo, $6.50), the Early Modern Human (5" x 56 robusto extra, $7), the Anthropology (5.75" x 46 grand corona, $7.50), and the cigar I'm reviewing today the Cranium which is a 6" x 54 gran toro. This cigar is another one of those Twitter cigars, sort of. The cigar came to fruition from the minds of Michael & Skip but it was, from what I can tell, completely promoted, and for the first batch, sold through Twitter. Because of the limited amount of cigars they were able to bring into the country at first, they sold 10 pack samplers. According to Skip they will get another batch in at the end of the month or early next month and we will be able to purchase boxes at that time. They are only sold through Hava Cigar at this point and if you are interested in purchasing cigars then contact @CroMagnonCigar on Twitter, or visit their website www.havacigarshop.com. The cigar I smoked for this review was the second cigar I smoked of this size.

As soon as you take this cigar out of the cellophane the first thing you notice is the wrapper. It is just beautiful. It is a deep chestnut brown with a good amount of tooth to it. The wrapper is so oily it looks as though you could wring it out. Unfortunately I couldn't get a picture that showed how great it looked, you'll just have to believe me. There were some veins but they weren't a problem. The cigar felt fairly firm when I gave it a squeeze and didn't have any soft spots. When I put my nose to the wrapper I got the aroma of barnyard and leather, with barnyard coming from the foot. After I clipped it with my Xikar XV cutter and took a cold draw on it I noted tastes of chocolate, nuts and spice. The draw was a little tight.

Once I lit the cigar up I got hit with a red pepper spice on the tongue and a nice burn on the retrohale. I was also able to detect the tastes of chocolate and leather as well. One thing I noticed right off the bat was the draw was a little too tight for my tastes. It wasn't plugged or anything, just not my preference. The cigar was fairly full strength to start with. As I progressed through the first third I was also able to detect notes of earth, nuts and a slight creaminess, with a sweetness on the finish. The burn was slightly off and that could have been due to the fact that I couldn't wait to smoke this cigar and didn't let it sit for a week in my humidor, or to the amount of oils in the wrapper. At the end of the first third the spice and strength of the cigar toned down a bit, towards the upper end of medium. The ash was a battleship grey and needed to be tapped off after about an inch.

The second third didn't see much change in the tastes I could pick up, but that wasn't a bad thing. Because of the amount of oils in the wrapper my fingers were coated and I was able to feel it even after I put the cigar down. While at the beginning of the third the spice was in the background it started to come back as I neared the end of this third.

As I moved into the final third of this cigar there wasn't much change in the flavors, but as before that is a good thing. Even though it wasn't the most complex cigar the tastes were very enjoyable. The spice continued to come back and was almost to the same level as the beginning. The draw loosened up a bit, but I would have preferred it freer. One other physical sensation that isn't normal for me when smoking a cigar is it felt as though my lips were coated in oils from the wrapper.

Would I buy this cigar again? Yes. Am I going to let the other samples I have of this size and the other sizes sit before I smoke them? Yes, but it is going to be difficult! I am really looking forward to seeing how the other sizes effect the taste and strength of the cigar. I don't think I'd recommend it to new smokers as it might be a little much for them. But for any seasoned smoker, looking for a full bodied, full strength cigar, at a reasonable price, I can heartily recommend you get on the list to purchase some of these when they get their next shipment in.

Body: 7/10

Strength: 7/10
Complexity: 6/10

AFP Scale

Prelight: 2/2

Construction: 1.5/2

Flavor: 4.5/5

Value: 1/1

Total: 9/10

Agree, disagree or just have something to add to the conversation? Feel free to leave a comment below.