Review - Famous Nicaraguan 3000 - 8 - Grande Robusto

[Texan_To_The_End]

DATE: 2006/06/22
REVIEWER: Timothy "Texan_To_The_End" Piper
CIGAR: Famous Nicaraguan 3000
SIZE: 6.0 X 60
ORIGIN: Esteli, Nicaragua
WRAPPER: Ecuadoran (Colorado Claro)
BINDER: Nicaraguan
FILLER: Nicaraguan
SHAPE: Toro
AGE: Unknown. In my humidor since 2006/05/22.
VENDOR: Gifted by Mr Maduroo. (Thanks again!)
PRICE: Unknown. Current retail is US $2.00 each.

AMBIENCE:
5PM Thursday. Cooled off again and it looks like more rain. RH is dropping rapidly, a rarity in Houston.

BEVERAGE:
None - Switched to coffee after 15 minutes.

APPEARANCE:
A squashed-flat looking sort of fatty robusto. Wrapper was dark, veiny and non-oily. A rather hefty stick.

PRE_LIGHT:
Smelled almost exactly like Hershey's cocoa powder. Not much taste on the pre-light draw.

DRAW:
Perfect resistance. This always surprises me on any sort of box-press larger than a robusto.

FIRST_THIRD:
You ever hit a baseball with a bat, and from the exact moment of impact, before that "craaack" can get to your ears, you just *know* it was a perfectly hit home-run? From the moment I took the first puff of this I knew it was a winner. A rich buttery taste on the first puff, with a delicious thick woody taste over-all. I'm going to make a bit of coffee real quick. Okay, I'm back. Not long ago I had a Robusto version of this same stick, and I wasn't all that impressed with it. This Grande Robusto tastes way richer and almost like a different cigar.

SECOND_THIRD:
A rich chocolaty flavor joined with the buttery woody flavor to really enhance the taste. Blind-folded I'd swear this was a $6 brand-name maduro. The flavor profile changed occasionally, with the different tastes taking turns at the forefront.

FINAL_THIRD:
Very extraordinary taste and flavor from a bundled cigar. Final third stayed similar to the middle, and was simply a joy to smoke.

BURN:
Perfect burn, despite the box-press.

ASH:
Mottled grey solid ash with a very yellow center.

SMOKE:
Lots of tasty woody smoke here.

STRENGTH:
Mild, slowly going to medium bodied.

FLAVOUR:
Butter, wood and chocolate; as if it were really that simple.

FINISH:
The buttery taste lasted almost 40 minutes, even could taste it through the two cups of coffee I drank.

SMOKE_TIME:
One hour and 5 minutes.

IMPRESSION:
Sometimes value comes to a person at odd times and from odd sources. Finding a real deal on cigars pricewise has almost always led to a dissapointment tastewise for me. This is a pleasant exception to that.

RATING:
8 out of a possible TEN wooden matchsticks.

COMMENTS:
This is definitely now on "The List". Damn, how will I hide these expenses??? <G>

PICTURES: http://tinyurl.com/hpe6o NOTE: The picture of the Toro sized stick blew up, so this picture is actually the smaller Robusto. Just pretend that it's bigger...

[WBill]

I have never smoked the 6X60 just the robusto size 3000. These cigars have a funny way of completely changing their taste and flavor profile over a short period of time. When I first tried one of these I thought it was one of the worst tasteing sticks I have ever smoked, the second one was no better.

I thought there was no hope for these cigars to improve, it was a couple of weeks between the first and second one and the taste was the same. I just let them stay in the bottom of my coolerdor and almost forgot about them until a week or so ago. It had been a few months since I tried the last one so I thought I would give it another shot. What a difference, all the harshness was gone and replaced with a great woodsy, coffee, cocoa flavor and the body was much smoother and mellow. I thought I was smoking a different cigar but it was the same with just a few months of ageing.

Bill

[Roosterthomas]

I really enjoy this jawbreaker of a 6x60. It was great from day one!

[thinhouse]

I must say that is a great review Texan! I also agree with your rating. This is the best cigar I had for $2.00