Cohiba Robustos Supremos For Sale

• Cigar Reviewed: Cohiba Robustos Supremos Edición Limitada 2014
• Country of Origin: Cuba
• Factory: n/a
• Wrapper: Cuba
• Binder: Cuba
• Filler: Cuba
• Size: 5 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 58
• Vitola: Robusto Gordo
• Est. Price: $50 (Boxes of 10, $500)
• Date Released: November 2014
• Number of Cigars Released: n/a
• Number of Cigars Smoked for Review: 4

It is by no means the darkest Cohiba Edición Limitada I’ve seen, although it still is a shade or two darker than many Cohibas, particularly Siglos. From the foot, I pick up leather, vanilla extract, floral and some acidic flavors. The cold draw is tight—and after looking at the roll—I end up recutting three out of the four cigars before the end of the first third. Flavor-wise, there’s a big sweet twang, hickory, white pepper on the tongue and some bitterness behind it.

While it’s not the largest cigar on the market—not even the largest thing I’ve reviewed this week—it’s a bit large, particularly in the hand. The Cohiba Robustos Supremos starts with a hearty cedar, some big earth, sweet nuttiness and some acidic notes. Pretty early into all but one of the samples and I’m staring down a cigar that has way too much tobacco in it. None of the three tighter samples are plugged, butI wouldn’t be continuing any of them beyond the first inch if it wasn’t for a review or the fact that the cigar is $50 or more. As for the flavor, three of the four samples feature a mixture that includes burnt cedar, nuttiness, readiness, some floral flavors and a lemon tea finish through the nose. One sample is fairly rancid, presumably due to the draw, with a mixture of sour and bitter flavors completely overwhelming the palate. Oddly, while the draw is awful on all but one of the cigar, the burn line is actually great.

The sample that was terrible in the first remains awful in the second third. As for the other three, another Cohiba Robustos Supremos takes a turn for the worse, turning very sour, albeit, avoiding the bitterness that plagues my least favorite example of the cigar. As for the other two, there actually somewhat enjoyable with the floral notes moving to the front, on top of some earthiness. There’s a bit of an apple cider behind it, along with some emerging cocoa powder through the nose. The Cohiba is still very much medium, although occasional puffs show some desire for the flavor to get fuller. Construction remains pretty much the same: awful tightness with decent smoke production and an even burn sans the one sample whose draw is okay.

There is some reward for my struggles, at least on two of the cigars. For the two better samples, including one with a poor draw, there’s sugar cookie, floral and grapefruit before sourdough bread and creaminess take over on the finish. It’s delicate and sweet, but also a great change of pace for the monotonous handful of cedar and pepper bombs I oftentimes smoke. As for the other two samples, after getting passed the sourness and bitterness, there’s some toasty cedar and harsh black pepper. It’s a confusing pair of journeys, particularly considering the draw on one sample didn’t destroy the flavor. While burn had been great through the first two thirds, all four cigars see it go a bit off with some needing correcting.

Final Notes

• I hold the belief that when Cuba wants to make the best cigars in the world, it can. This was not it. Examples of that happening can be found here, here and here. While it wasn’t a legendary cigar, I really enjoyed the Partagás Edición Limitada 2014, I have not smoked the Bolívar yet.
• I find it interesting that while Habanos S.A. has generally stayed away from the large ring gauges, custom rollers in Cuba have been making even larger sizes for a while.
• The Edición Limitads are limited, but Habanos S.A. does not disclosed production numbers.
• Smoke production was good throughout all four cigars I smoked and for the most part, the burn was great.
• I enjoy lanceros and smoke quite a bit of them. One thing that I’ve begun to notice is that I am smoking more plugged, or nearly plugged, larger ring gauge cigars—whether it be Cuban, Honduran or Nicaraguan—than smaller ring gauges with the same problem. My guess is that comes from bunching experience. The bunchers that roll lanceros are almost always going to be amongst the best in the factory due to the difficulty of the size.
• That being said, I would hope—even for Habanos S.A.—that the better rollers are responsible for making a $50 cigar for a flagship brand.
• I quickly snapped this picture of the last sample I smoked, the one with the terrible draw, but decent flavor.