Cigar Review: Nat Sherman Timeless Nicaragua

556 (Robusto Gordo), 5” x 56 ring gauge / MSRP $7.65, Burns Downtown

Nat Sherman has been producing their own brand of cigars since the early 1940s, selling most of them through their iconic 42nd Street New York store. A year or so ago, Wes--manager of the Burns location in Downtown Chattanooga--started to carry the new Nat Sherman Timeless, now referred to as the Timeless Dominican Republic since it uses Dominican fillers along with Nicaraguan leaf, then covers it all with a Honduran wrapper (also, it is produced in the Dominican Republic by Matasa). The new addition late in the year to the Timeless Collection is the Timeless Nicaragua, a Nicaraguan puro produced in Nicaragua by Plascencia Cigars, S.A. The Timeless Nicaragua is available in 3 box-pressed sizes. I bought a couple of them when at Burns Downtown a couple months ago; I smoked one that night and saved the other for this review.

The band of the Timeless Nicaragua is identical to that of the original release. My first reaction to the original was “What is it?” It just didn’t register on my brain until someone pointed out that it’s designed to look like a watch...get it? Timeless...time...watch...yeah, it was probably just me being slow. The “time” and “watch” theme also recall the giant clock above the entrance of the New York store. The watch-like band appears to only have a single hand, pointing straight up, which I guess would make it “timeless” since it’s hard to tell time without the other hand. Getting past the band, the wrapper leaf was smooth and a bit oily to the touch, although it didn’t look that oily. The cigar has a soft box-press, a color a shade darker than milk chocolate and no large veins that I could see. Giving it a good sniff, I picked up earthy aromas as well as just aged tobacco. The foot had more earthiness and a bit of chocolate smell. I used my favorite Xikar Xi cutter to put a straight cut on the head and got a very good draw with flavors of cocoa powder, coffee and earth.

The first few puffs of the Timeless Nicaragua had a mix of earth, cocoa powder and cedar flavors on the tongue, along with a strong pepper spice on the nose. The pepper died down a bit on the retrohale as the first third chugged along, but it grew on the palate. The cedar flavors died off a bit, too, and were replaced by something more akin to an espresso bean. So far, it was easy to tell this was Nicaraguan...no real surprises, but definitely tons of flavor.

In the second third, flavors of earth, coffee and pepper spice continued to come on strong. I found the body medium-to-full. The draw was excellent, but there were a couple burn issues I found on both samples I smoked. The wrapper never seemed to burn evenly so there were a couple times on both when a portion just seemed to stop burning and I had to re-light to prevent a full-on canoeing. Also, the ash seemed to have a propensity of peel quite a bit, causing it to be a little flaky; I wore some of it despite being careful. The first issue might be remedied by just letting the cigars rest longer; this review sample spent over a month in my humidor from the time I bought it until I smoked it, but maybe it needs a little more time.

In the last third, the Timeless Nicaragua mellowed out in terms of spiciness and picked up more of the coffee flavor and a touch more cocoa powder. In the end, I liked this expression of the Timeless a lot and it is more pleasing to my palate than the Dominican version that preceded it, but that may have more to do with the Honduran wrapper used on the other version--I know some people really enjoy it. The cigar remained medium to full in body and about the same in strength throughout and was full-flavored throughout. If you are a fan of Nicaraguan puros, I recommend giving this one a try.

Body: 8/10
Strength: 8/10
Complexity: 7/10

AFP Scale
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 1.5/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10

If you aren't able to get Nat Sherman's Timeless at your local B&M, call Burns Downtown at 423-267-7740