Brun del Re Gold

Today we take another look at a cigar from Costa Rican cigar company Brun del Re.  Back in August, we provided a feature story on this company. Based out of Costa Rica, Brun del Re has been around for over ten years.  The company is operated by General Manager Carlos Corazza.  They have been successful at building their presence outside the United States. The company has recently set its sights on now trying to build its U.S. presence. Today we explore another one of the lines by Brun del Re called the Brun del Re Gold. Overall we have been finding some nice cigars to be coming out of the Brun del Re portfolio and the Brun del Re Gold is no exception

There are actually two cigar blends in the Brun del Re Gold line.  One is the actually Brun del Re Gold core offering and the other is called the Brun del Re Gold Special Edition.  These are actually two separate and very different blends.  In this assessment we are going to focus on the Brun del Re Gold core offering.

Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the Brun del Re Gold and see what this cigar brings to the table.

Blend Profile

The Brun del Re Gold is a multi-national blend with tobaccos from four countries.  Costa Rican tobacco is included in the filler.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian
Binder: Indoensian
Filler: Nicaraguan. Costa Rica

Vitolas Available

The Brun del Re Gold is available in five frontmarks:

Churchill: 7 x 48
Torpedo 6 x 54
Corona: 6 x 44
Perfecto: 5 1/2 x 50
Robusto: 5 x 50

Appearance

For this cigar experience, I smoked the Brun del Re Gold in the Robusto format.  The Ecuadorian wrapper of the Brun del Re Gold has a light cocoa color to it.  I would categorize the wrapper as having more of a silky complexion than an oily one.  There are some visible veins and visible wrapper seams on the cigar.

The band features an black, gold, and white color scheme. There is a gold shield on the front of the band that rests on an black field.  The text “gold sits below the shield in gold cursive font. There is gold trim around the black field. To the left and right of the field is the text “Hecho a Mano Costa Rica” in white cursive font.  At the bottom of the band is an olive colored ribbon with the text “Brun del Re” in white cursive font.

Preparation for the Cigar Experience

Prior to lighting up my Brun del Re Gold, I went with a straight cut to remove the cap.  Once the cap was successfully clipped, I moved on to the pre-light draw.  The dry draw produced some nice flavors – a mix of cocoa, floral, and wood notes.  Overall I considered the pre-light draw experience of the Brun del Re Gold to be positive.  At this point I was ready to light up this cigar and see what the smoking phase would have in store.

Flavor Profile

The Brun del Re Gold started out with notes of floral and some cherry sweetness.  In the background notes of cocoa and pepper provided a nice complement to the primary notes.  On the retro-hale, I detected a sweet herbal retro-hale.

Throughout the first half, the floral notes and cherry notes alternated as to what was a primary note.  The pepper remained in the background.  The cocoa also remained in the background, but at times did surface in the forefront.

In the second half, the floral and cherry notes converged.  The pepper notes emerged in the forefront.  By the last third, the pepper took over as a primary note.  The Brun del Re Gold was spicy at the end and did exhibit a little bit of harshness at the end.  The resulting nub was soft to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn and Draw

The burn scored very well on the Brun del Re Gold.  The burn line remained sharp from start to finish requiring minimal touch-ups.  During the first half, the ash was tight with a bright white color to it.  In the second half, I did get some minor flaking from the ash, but nothing major.  The burn rate and burn temperature were ideal.

The draw was excellent as well.  It was not too tight and not too loose.  This made for an enjoyable smoking experience from start to finish.

Strength and Body

From a strength perspective, I found the Brun del Re Gold started on the milder side – falling in the mild to medium range.  The strength slowly increased and by the start of the second third it crossed into medium strength territory where it stayed for the remainder of the smoking experience.  As for the flavors, the Brun del Re Gold starts out medium-bodied.  The flavors did increase in depth through the first half.  By the second half, the Brun del Re Gold had advanced to becoming to medium to full-bodied.  Throughout the smoking experience of this cigar, I felt the body of this cigar maintained an edge over the strength of this cigar.

Final Thoughts

This is the second cigar I smoked in the Brun del Re series.  The other one I had smoked was the Brun del Re Premium.  The Premium was a milder cigar in both strength and body.  I will admit from a flavor standpoint I still prefer the Premium to the Gold.  This isn’t a knock on the Gold as it still has some nice flavors – it’s just I think the Premium had better flavor.  At the same time, I did like the fact that the Gold offered more in terms of strength and body.  This still isn’t going to be an overpowering cigar in terms of strength and body, but it provides just enough for this blend. This is a cigar I would easily recommend to a novice cigar enthusiast.  As for experienced cigar enthusiasts, if they want something that averages in the medium range, this is something they may want to try.  As for myself, this is one I recommend cigar enthusiasts give this a try or keep a couple in a humidor.

Summary

Burn: Excellent
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Mild to Medium (1st third), Medium (Remainder)
Body: Medium (1st half),  Medium to Full (2nd Half)
Finish: Good
Assessment: 2.5 – Try One
Score: 88

References
Price: ~8.00
Source: Samples provided by Manufacturer (*)
Stogie Geeks Podcast: Episode 78 – “A Little Bit of Cuba”
Stogie Feed: Brun Del Re Gold Corona.

* Cigars for this assessment were provided by a representative of Brun del Re Cigars. The samples were received in order to provide feedback.  Cigar Coop is appreciative for the samples, but in no way does this influence this write-up.