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| Casa Fernandez Copacabana |
The Casa Fernandez Copacabana is a cigar that has really flew under the radar. This was a new release that came out in 2011 by Casa Fernandez cigars. With the rebranding of the Casa Fernandez Miami and the release of the new Casa Fernandez Miami Reserva, somehow the Copacabana got lost in the shuffle. Upon talking to a tobacconist in a retail shop, he made a point of pointing this cigar out – and reminding me of this new release. In the end I ended up picking up a couple. This cigar was a real surprise to me and right now it stands at the top of the Casa Fernandez line in my book.
The Copacabana is listed as a “premium” cigar on the Casa Fernandez web-site. The Miami, Miami Reserva, and Aganorsa Leaf cigars are listed as “super premium”. A lot of this has to do with the fact that those three “super premium” cigars leverage Agarnosa farm tobaccos – which are considered high end. However, this should not be a knock on the Copacabana – which still utilizes excellent tobaccos. Like any recipe, you can use expensive ingredients or inexpensive ingredients. In the end, it is the end result of that recipe that is judged. This is the analogy I draw with the Casa Fernandez Copacabana – it is one outstanding blend when the components are put together.
Let’s take a closer look at the Copacabana and see what it brings to the table:
Blend Profile
The Copacabana is trademark Casa Fernandez – namely it is a Nicaraguan puro using Cuban seed tobacco. It is highlighted by its sun-grown Nicaraguan Corojo 99 wrapper.
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Sun Grown Corojo 99
Binder: Nicaraguan Cuban Seed
Filler: Nicaraguan Cuban Seed
Vitolas Available
At the present time, the Casa Fernandez Copacabana is available in three vitolas:
Robusto: 5 x 52
Torpedo: 6 x 54
Toro Gordo: 6 x 56
Appearance
One thing that I do not factor in my score is appearance. The Casa Fernandez Copacabana is not the most exciting looking cigar. In the end I’m more concerned about the smoking experience. The sungrown wrapper is not quite a chocolate colored wrapper, but it is darker than your generic natural wrapper. It has veins visible, but I would not categorize it as toothy. The band is pretty simplistic – it is black, white, and gold highlighted by the name “Copacabana” with “Casa Fernandez” in smaller font. The cigar does provide a feint chocolate aroma to it on the foot.
Preparation for the Cigar Experience
For this cigar experience with the Copacabana blend, I opted to go with the Robusto vitola. As I usually do, I took my cutter and placed a straight cut into the cap. I went on to commence with the pre-light draw. The dry notes provided me a nice shot of pepper up front on the early draws. I then proceeded to detect dry notes of wood and chocolate in addition to some lingering pepper. I considered this to be a satisfactory pre-light draw experience, so it was time to fire up the Copacabana and see what was in store.
Flavor Profile
The initial flavor notes of the Copacabana provided an extension of the pre-light experience – namely pepper, wood, and chocolate. As the cigar moved through the first few minutes, I also detected some cream notes in the background. In the first third, there was good fusion of the flavors, and no flavor really darted out over the other notes.
Around the one third point, a caramel sweetness emerged and joined the other notes. As the cigar experience moved through the first half, the notes of chocolate, coffee, pepper, cream, and caramel were all present. The caramel and pepper notes seemed to be the ones that were closest to the forefront, but I would not say they were overly dominant.
As the cigar moved into the second half, the caramel notes faded in sweetness, but still remained as more of a raw caramel flavor. The pepper spice was still present, and toward the end would become the note in the forefront. The finish highlighted the pepper spice notes. The nub on the close was slightly soft, but cool in temperature.
Burn and Draw
The Casa Fernandez Copacabana scored high in the area of construction attributes. This cigar had some of the best burn and draw of what I have seen from Casa Fernandez. The burn of the Copacabana required very few touch-ups and burned straight throughout the whole smoke. It also provided a nice tight white ash. The burn temperature and burn rate were ideal. As for the draw, it was effortless – it made the Copacabana a joy to smoke.
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| Burn of the Casa Fernandez Copacabana |
Strength and Body
Overall, I did not find the Casa Fernandez Copacabana to be one that delivers a large dose of nicotine. It is what I would consider your classic medium strength cigar. As for the body of the flavor notes, these aren’t going to be the boldest flavor notes, but they are going to be just enough. I assessed the body to be medium as well. There is great equilibrium between the strength and body – making for good balance between these attributes.
Final Thoughts
As I said when I reviewed the appearance of the Casa Fernandez Copacabana, this isn’t the flashiest cigar, but it does deliver a great cigar experience. This is your classic “don’t judge a book by its cover” cigar. Right now, this stands at the top from the Casa Fernandez line in my book. A novice enthusiast looking for a medium strength, medium-bodied cigar will definitely appreciate the flavor and balance of this cigar. I also think this is a great cigar to appeal to the experienced enthusiast looking for the medium/medium profile. This is a cigar I would definitely seek out and smoke again.
Summary
Burn: Excellent
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium
Finish: Good
Assessment: Nice to Have
Score: 91
Source: The cigars for this assessment were purchased from Club Havana 134 in Anderson, South Carolina
