Cigar Review: D’Crossier L’Forte Robusto

D’Crossier L’Forte Robusto

At the 2014 IPCPR Trade Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, Pure Aroma Cigars launched a new limited edition cigar to its D’Crossier Cigar line called the D’Crossier L’Forte. As the name indicates, the D’Crossier L’Forte introduced a stronger and fuller blend into the company’s portfolio.  From its packaging, to the production process, to the tobaccos used in this line, it is intended to be one of the most premium offerings from D’Crossier to date.  The cigar is intended to be a limited production cigar with a total of only 2,000 boxes being produced.  Recently, I’ve had an opportunity to smoke the D’Crossier L’Forte in the Robusto size.  D’Crossier is quietly producing some outstanding blends and in the case of the D’Crossier L’Forte, owner Isaias Santana Diaz and Pure Aroma Cigars have created another winner.

Pure Aroma Cigars was founded by Diaz.  The company is based in Miami, Florida but makes its cigars out of Costa Rica. Diaz is originally from Havana, Cuba but has lived in the United States since 1995. He named his company’s main brand D’Crossier as a tribute to his great grandfather Francisco Crossier. Originally Crossier came over to Cuba from France in search of a place to expand some vineyards he owned. It was there where Crossier expanded his passion for cigars. Diaz founded the company to complete his great grandfather’s legacy.

Plans are for D’Crossier L’Forte to produce 2,000 boxes on an annual basis across four vitolas. As a part of this small batch process, D’Crossier can pay very close attention to detail. The company said that the L’Forte cigars are “the result of the most demanding and comprehensive sorting process that we (Pure Aroma Cigars) have ever developed” The company says their aging process is based on a rotation of 24,000 cigars that allows them to inspect and ensure quality in the L’Forte supply.

Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the D’Crossier L’Forte and see what this cigar brings to the table.

Blend Profile

The D’Crossier L’Forte features a Costa Rican wrapper that has been aged for two years.

Wrapper: Costa Rica
Binder: Not disclosed
Filler: Dominican Republic, Nicaragua

Vitolas Available

The D’Crossier L’Forte has been launched in four sizes:

Robusto: 4 7/8 x 50
Genio: 5 1/8 x 55
Bullet: 5 1/8 x 58
Trabuco: 5 1/8 x 60

Appearance

As mentioned, for this cigar assessment, I smoked the Robusto size of the D’Crossier L’Forte . I found the Costa Rican wrapper to be on the darker side. The wrapper itself is a medium to dark brown wrapper. Depending on the lighting angle, some colorado red will be visible on the wrapper. Upon closer examination, there is some darker marbling on the wrapper. The surface of the wrapper has a light coating of oil. There are some visible veins, but the darker color of the wrapper does a good job at hiding the wrapper seams.

The band has a mostly gold, red, and black color scheme styled similar to many other D’Crossier bands.  It contains a “DC” in gold – representing the D’Crossier logo.  The logo sits on a red background. Surrounding the logo is a gold crown, a Roman style wreath, and some other gold adornments. The text “D’CROSSIER” is in gold above the logo Below the logo is the text SINCE 2006 in gold font. . On both the left and right side of the logo is a black and white shield that says “HAND MADE” in small gold font in landscape mode. The bottom part of the band has a black background with the text “L’ FORTE” in print. There are various gold adornments around the rest of the band.  To the far left and far right is the text “FULL FLAVORED” in gold font on the black background.

D’Crossier L’Forte Robusto – Box Close Up

The cigars are packaged in premium and aged Spanish cedar boxes without cellophane and without artificial odors. The boxes are finished with black lacquer-style piano style boxes.

D’Crossier L’Forte Robusto – Packaging

Cedar lining of the D’Crossier L’Forte Robusto

Open box of the D’Crossier L’Forte Robusto

Preparation for the Cigar Experience

Prior to lighting up my D’Crossier L’Forte Robusto, I went with a straight cut to remove the cap. Once the cap was successfully clipped, I moved on to the pre-light draw. There was quite a bit going on with the pre-light draw. I detected notes of orange peel, chocolate, natural tobacco, and cedar. There also was a slight “twang” on the dry draw. Overall I considered the pre-light draw to the L’Forte Robusto to be outstanding. At this point, I was ready to light up the D’Crossier L’Forte and see what the smoking phase would deliver.

Flavor Profile

The start to the D’Crossier L’Forte delivered notes of black pepper, unsweetened chocolate, oak, and a light citrus note.  The pepper was more prominent on the tongue early on, but as the L’Forte moved through the early stages, the pepper dialed back and was on par with the other flavors.  At the same time, the pepper still remained prominent on the retro-hale.

During the middle of the first third, the citrus and oak notes became primary early on.  During this point, the oak notes morphed into more of a cedar note.  The pepper and chocolate notes were secondary.  I also picked up some earth notes in the background.

By the later part of the first third, the chocolate notes emerged as the primary flavor.  By this point, the chocolate developed some sweetness and creaminess  The chocolate joined the cedar notes as the primary flavor.  The citrus, pepper, and earth notes were secondary.

During the second half of the cigar experience, the chocolate and cedar notes alternated in intensity in the forefront.  The citrus and earth notes remained more distant.  There also was a slight grassy note. Toward the end of the pepper notes did increase, but the L’Forte never became a spice bomb toward the end.  The resulting nub was slightly soft, but cool in temperature.

Burn and Draw

As for the burn, the L’Forte Robusto burned relatively straight.  The cigar did require some touch-ups to remain straight, most of the touch-ups were cosmetic.  The one issue I did have is that I felt that this wrapper scorched rather easily during touch-ups.  This made for a little higher maintenance to touch-up this cigar than I prefer, but I could still live with it.  As for the ash, it was on the firm side and came off the cigar in clean chunks.  The ash seemed to be a medium to dark charcoal gray color.  The burn rate and burn temperature was ideal.

Burn of the D’Crossier L’Forte Robusto

As for the draw, I found it to not be too tight, nor too loose.  I found the L’Forte Robusto to produce an ample amount of smoke.  Overall, this was an enjoyable cigar to puff on.

Strength and Body

This cigar lived up to its name.  This was definitely the strongest and fullest offering I have had in the D’Crossier portfolio.  This was a full strength, full-bodied cigar from start to finish.  One thing that surprised me is how much power came from this Costa Rican wrapped cigar.  No doubt the binder and combination of Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers were at play here.

I found a nice balance with the strength and body attributes here.  Neither attribute overshadowed the other.  I also found while this was a “full-full” cigar, it was not one that assaulted the palate.

Final Thoughts

I’ve been high on cigars being made in Costa Rica and utilizing Costa Rican tobaccos.  The L’Forte changed my perception that a Costa Rican cigar could not really hit the full strength, full-bodied mark as it succeeds on both fronts.  L’Forte is a cigar that the more I smoked it, the more I enjoyed it.  I sampled several cigars over about a 6 week period and each subsequent smoke was better than the previous.  D’Crossier is a brand that might not be in a lot of retail shops, but this is a brand that is producing some outstanding blends.

The L’Forte Robusto does have a price point of $18.00.  While this does not factor into our numeric score, it does play a role in my assessment rating.  The flavors delivered with this cigar make for a great cigar experience, and this cigar smokes like an ultra-premium cigar should.  Given this is a fuller strength, fuller-bodied cigar,; this is one I would recommend to a more seasoned cigar enthusiast.  As for myself, this is a cigar that is box worthy.

Summary

Burn: Good
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: High
Strength: Full
Body: Full
Finish: Good
Assessment: 4.0 – Box Worthy
Score: 92

References

News: D’Crossier L’Forte
Price: $18.00
Source: Cigars Provided by Manufacturer
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