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| A.Turrent Triple Corojo – Gran Robusto Vitola |
A. Turrent’s Triple Corojo recently made its world debut at the June 4th Cigar Dave remote broadcast in Charlotte, North Carolina. This follows the “Triple” theme that was set by last year’s triple maduro – the A.Turrent Triple Play. For the case of the A. Turrent Triple Corojo, the theme is obvious – this cigar is all-Corojo. The Triple Play was one of my favorite cigars from 2010 – earning a #20 cigar on my 2010 Cigar of the Year list and #14 on the 2010 Cigar Aficionado list. The Triple Play made an immediate impression on me when I first sampled it. The question is – would the Triple Corojo do the same for me? The answer is TBD – thus I’ve opted for a pre-review instead of a full assessment. This also allows me to give some initial thoughts on the cigar in its “as is” state.
The A.Turrent Triple Corojo is not the first all-Corojo cigar being released this year. The Martin Family of Cigars is releasing the Pedro Martin Corojo that will have Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper, binder, and filler. However, the A. Turrent Triple Corojo will have a different blend. Since the Turrent family is world-renowned for making good Mexican tobacco, this cigar leverages a lot San Andres Mexican tobacco in the blend.
The Triple Corojo shows some promise, but its also a cigar that definitely needs some age. I’ll share my initial thoughts on this cigar here and update with a more formal assessment when this cigar becomes generally available following the 2011 IPCPR trade show.
Blend Overview
The A.Turrent Triple Corojo leverages Corojo tobaccos from three countries – Mexico, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
Wrapper: San Andres (Mexican) Corojo
Binder: Nicaraguan Corojo
Filler: Nicaraguan Corojo, Honduran Corojo, San Andres Corojo
Vitolas Available
The Triple Corojo has 8 different vitolas:
Churchill: 7 x 54
Belicoso: 6 1/8 x 54
Toro: 6 x 50
Gran Toro: 6 x 60
Gran Robusto: 5 3/4 x 54
Robusto: 5 1/4 x 52
Short Robusto: 4 1/2 x 54
Corona: 4 1/2 x 48
Preparation for the Cigar Experience
For this cigar experience, I smoked the Gran Robusto. I went for a straight cut into the cap of this cigar. Upon performing a pre-light draw, I got wood notes that almost had a sandy feel to it. It wasn’t that the dry draw was sandy, but it was just more of a feel for what I was getting (even though I had a razor-sharp cut through the cap). I wasn’t overwhelmed, so I figured it was time to fire it up and see what this experience would bring to the table.
Flavor Profile
The initial draws of the cigar provided a continuation of the wood notes I had on the pre-light draw. The difference was the sandy texture to the flavor was no longer there. It didn’t take long before some secondary pepper and cedar notes emerged. The cigar had a smooth feel to it to start.
Around 20 percent into the experience, I detected some notes of cinnamon. At times, the cinnamon notes could actually be detected through the nose. Through the second half of the smoke, it seemed to get less smooth. The cedar, pepper, and cinnamon notes were still present, but the Triple Corojo seemed to lack the smoothness earlier in the cigar. The pepper spice was more pronounced in the second half. The cigar did turn harsher toward the end. The nub was a cool, but extremely soft.
Burn and Draw
The Draw was excellent on the Triple Corojo as this wasn’t a very difficult cigar to smoke. The burn started out very good and razor sharp. The second half, while burning evenly did tunnel a couple of times on me. The burn temperature and rate seemed ok for most of the smoking experience. The ash was not as white as I would have liked – it had more of a darker gray feel to it.
Strength and Body
The A.Turrent Triple Corojo is not a powerful cigar. I would categorize the Triple Corojo as a medium strength cigar from a nicotine standpoint. The body also wasn’t as pronounced as Triple Play was definitely more full-bodied. I also would categorize the Triple Corojo as a medium.
Final Thoughts
I don’t think this cigar will increase in strength or body as it gets some age. I do think some of the issues I had with the second half of the cigar in terms of smoothness, burn, and ash color could get rectified with a little more age. Overall, I’m still not as confident this will stand-up as well as its predecessor the Triple Play or some of the other Corojo releases for 2011. The cigar could use a little more in terms of complexity as well. I’m also curious to try some of the other vitolas and see if I can find a better niche. Stay tuned for a final assessment once these do get some age.
I had this cigar as my 11th overall pick in my 2011 Mock Cigar Draft. Right now, based on “training camp”, I might opt to trade this pick down, but this could still be a gem for someone with a little age.
Summary
Burn: Fair
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Low
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium
Disclaimer: I was unable to make the Cigar Dave remote broadcast in Charlotte, but this cigar was included in the Cigar Dave Sampler pack that was made available for sale at the June 6th event.
