Las Cumbres Tabaco Senorial by Jose Blanco – Corona Gorda No. 5

The Senorial by Jose Blanco is the debut release by new company Las Cumbres Tabaco.  This is the company formed by longtime industry veteran Jose Blanco.   Blanco is best known for his long-time association with La Aurora Cigars in the Dominican Republic. After a two year stint in Nicaragua at Joya de Nicaragua, Blanco returned the Dominican Republic and formed his own company.  For this first project, Blanco stayed in the family as he is collaborating with his cousin Jochi Blanco – leveraging the latter’s Tabacalera Palma factory and tobacco inventory. Recently, I’ve had an opportunity to smoke the Senorial by Jose Blanco.  Overall I found this to be an outstanding release.

The name Senorial translates to “manorial” while the company name Las Cumbres Tabaco translates to “the summits of tobacco”.  The name of the company fits with the personality of Blanco himself I’ve always looked at him as someone who is passionate about tobacco and strives to deliver excellence with his work.

Without further ado, let’s break down the Senorial and see what this cigar brings to the table.

Blend Profile

The Senorial is a multi-national blend with tobaccos from three countries.  The wrapper and binder are tobaccos that have been imported while the filler tobaccos have been grown on Jochi Blanco’s farms.

Wrapper: Habano Ecuador
Binder: Nicaragua, Esteli
Filler: Dominican Piloto Cubano and Dominican Corojo

Vitolas Available

The Senorial has been launched in five sizes.

Corona Gorda No. 5: 5 1/2 x 46
Paco Robusto: 5 1/4x 52
Belicoso No. 2: 6 1/4 x 52
Toro Bravo: 6 x 54
Le Grand: 6 x 60

Appearance

For this cigar experience, I smoked the Senorial in the Corona Gorda No. 5 size. The Senorial’s Habano Ecuador wrapper has a medium brown color with a colorado red tint to it.  The wrapper itself had some oil not he surface.  There were also some visible wrapper seams and some visible veins.

The band features a blue, gold, and orange mountain-like design that has the look of an oil painting on canvas. The middle of the band has a curved orthogonal shape to it with gold trim.  In the middle of that shape is an portrait of a village – also with an oil painting effect.  The village design is surrounded by a gold-grimed oval.  Across the picture of the village is the text “Senorial by Jose Blanco” – in gold font.  To the left of the orthogonal portion of the band is the text “Hand Made” in white”hand painted style” font while on the right side is the text “Dominican Republic” – also in the same white font.  The outer edges of the band have gold trim.

Band of the La Cumbres Tabaco Senorial by Jose Blanco

Preparation for the Cigar Experience

Prior to lighting my Senorial Corona Gorda No. 5, I went with my usual choice of a straight cut. After a clean cut removed the cap, I moved on to the pre-light draw.  The dry draw provided a mix of natural tobacco, a slight raisin-like sweetness, and a touch of pepper.  Overall, I found the Senorial to deliver an excellent pre-light draw.  At this point, I was ready to light up my Senorial Corona Gorda No. 5 and see what the overall smoking phase would have in store.

Flavor Profile

The Senorial started out with some black pepper flavors.  There was also black pepper on the retro-hale and that remained present throughout the smoking experience.  The pepper subsided early and notes of nut, natural tobacco, and raisin entered the equation.  Around the ten percent point, the natural tobacco and raisin sweetness were primary flavors.  The nut flavors were close behind and the pepper was a secondary note.

At the end of the first third, the natural tobacco became a more of a wheat-like grain flavor. The sweetness dialed back slightly into the background.  I found this was a unique flavor combination that delivered a very smooth and balanced flavor profile.  This flavor continued throughout the second third of the cigar.

In the last third, I found an increase in the pepper spice as it inched its way back to the forefront. While there was more spice toward the end of the cigar, it never got overwhelming. At the same time, there still was some background sweetness. The Senorial was smooth right until the end. The resulting nub was firm to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn and Draw

The construction of the Senorial is outstanding and this is reflected with both the burn and draw attributes.  The burn line remained relatively straight from start to finish with some minor curvature along the way.  The cigar required some minor touch-ups along the way, but nothing that I would consider out of the ordinary.  The resulting ash was a silvery gray color and remained tight and firm throughout the smoking experience.  The burn rate and burn temperature were ideal.

Burn of the Las Cumbres Tabaco Senorial by Jose Blanco

The draw was outstanding as well.  It had a touch of resistance to it – which is something I like on a draw.  At the same time, the cigar produced a nice amount of smoke.  Overall, this was a very enjoyable cigar to puff on.

Strength and Body

I’ve heard Blanco comment that this is the strongest cigar he has blended.  I will say this is definitely a cigar that is more fuller in terms of strength and body than most cigars I smoked where Blanco has been involved with.  From a strength perspective, I did find the Senorial had some kick to it.  I assessed this cigar as being a medium to full strength cigar.  As for the flavors, they have some nice depth and you can feel the weight on the pallet.  I assessed the Senorial to be a full-bodied cigar from start to finish.  In terms of strength versus body, I definitely gave the edge to the body here.

Final Thoughts

The Senorial is a converging of a perfect storm – namely combining excellent tobacco with someone of Blanco’s blending knowledge.  The end result is that this cigar is a home run.  This cigar has outstanding construction and delivers an excellent flavor profile.  I also liked how this cigar also doesn’t taste like anything else out there, yet at the same time still delivers a very classic smoking experience.  This cigar was ready to smoke right out of the box, yet I still think there is significant aging potential with this cigar.  I’d probably recommend this to a more seasoned cigar enthusiast since this is a fuller cigar.  As for myself, this is not only a cigar I’d smoke again, but its one that is box worthy.

Summary

Burn: Excellent
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium to Full
Body: Full
Finish: Excellent
Assessment: 4.0 – Box Worthy
Score: 93

References

News: Jose Blanco’s Las Cumbres Tabaco Senorial To Launch in June
Price: $7.00
Source: Gifted
Stogie Geeks Episode: Episode 90
Stogie Feed: n/a