Don Gonzales Corojo Review

[TDIvey]

Don Gonzales Corojo Robusto Review

Size Reviewed: Robusto (5X50)
Wrapper: Corojo
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: $6.25

In the pursuit of "trying something new saga" that I’ve been in as of late, I stopped in to a local B&M that I visited for the first time last Friday and saw this cigar. I had stumbled upon the brand a couple of weeks before at a regular B&M that I frequent and knew nothing about it and neither did the owner so I passed on it. This time I succumbed to the thought of variety - grabbed one and then walked over to the lady working the shop and soon began hearing a story told of this guy who flew into the area (DFW Metroplex) from Miami and hand delivered the cigars boxes to their store directly. I kindly nodded at her with appreciation of the story and headed on down the road. The cigar lasted (2) days in my humidor before I decided to see what this Don Gonzales had to offer.

Pre-Light Construction: Very smooth – almost polished feeling to the cigar – the wrap was firm but still marginal room to it. The cigar had a beautiful brown wrapper with just a couple of noticeable minor veins in the wrapper. My wife stepped outside as I was about to light it and made the same comment that I had already thought – just how polished looking the wrapper was – it truly is a nice looking cigar unlit. I picked up on a strong scent of pepper – understandable with the corojo wrapper.

1st Third: After punching then toasting the foot of the cigar – I took my 1st few draws of this newly found cigar and could instantly pick up on heavy doses of spice but with the nice compliment of creamy smoothness on the end. Great draw producing ample volumes of smoke. Heavy doses of bread can also be detected not only in the draw but also in the smoke released in the air – very aromatic cigar with Nicaraguan filler. From the beginning, I would place this cigar in the full spectrum – but the lighter side of full when it comes to strength & power. The spice was well pronounced from the beginning and after a few minutes, woodsy notes began to compliment the palette, as well as hints of leather. This cigar is strong but not overly strong as you may find in a Camacho – more closely resembling a Pepin Black Label.

2nd Third: The cigar has settled down a bit in the spice category but that creamy smoothness is still there. The original spice has been tamed and is slowly being replaced with more dominant notes of wood as well as tea - Very nice change in the flavor profile of this cigar. The cigar is really showing a multi-complex with waves of power & spices as it goes along which is proving to be a real treat. As the cigar makes the turn to the last 1/3rd– it has really smoothed out and become even more enjoyable. The only negative thing I can pick out of this cigar is a slight tunneling action on the burn line. It canoed a bit in the beginning and then evened out and then did it again near the last 1/3rd mark. The outdoor gusting winds of 10-15mph on this nice 70 plus degree spring day have not helped this problem any and probably contributed to it more than the cigar wrap itself. At the 40 minute mark, I removed the 1st of 2 bands, the “Special Edition” band.

Last Third:
As I moved into the last portion of this cigar at the 1 hour mark - I shuffled the remaining band down near the end – but soon realized it was time to undo it and see if this cigar had any “nub-able” qualities. The last inch & half begin to show a breakdown in this cigar and the creamy smooth taste that had lasted for over an hour is slowly dissipating and being replaced with that “it’s about time to lay it down”. I gave it a few more drags just to see if it would improve any but not to be – was time to lay it down for good.

Construction: 9 of 10
Burn: 8 of 10
Flavor: 9 of 10
Overall: 26 of 30

If you’re up to trying new lines and like some spice & strength – this may be just the one to try. I enjoyed the Don Gonzales from beginning to end – a lot of pop to it but not over the top. The aftertaste was a non-issue – barely lingering afterwards which always scores bonus points with me. The intriguing part to the Don Gonzales line is that they also come in a natural and maduro, so it looks like an additional sampling is in the near future see if the other (2) are just as tasty and creamy as this one was.

[DBCcigar]

Awesome review!

I'd love to get my hands on a few of those!

[big04deuce]

Very detailed review! Thanks for sharing!!!

[tmoney]

Nice review...had not heard of them until last week. I got an email from the local B&M saying don gonzales was going to be in the store. I was going to go but I am on call....damn...nice review.

[zitro_joe]

Never heard/ seen this guy before, thanks for the review. I will loook for to give it a try.

[ashmaster]

Great review, nice pics. Never heard of this brand before but from what you describe I will need to give it a try. Thanks

[Doogie]

very detailed review. thx will give it a try

[GlockG23]

Nice review, thanks

[tx_tuff]

Thanks for the review. I have seen these here in Houston but didn't know anything about them. I will for sure give it a try now. By the way the price you have listed is a very good price!