The Casa Turrent 1880 is the fourth release under A. Turrent’s Casa Turrent brand. A. Turrent Cigars is run by the Turrent family, headed up by Alejandro Turrent. The Turrents are best known for being the premier grower of Mexican tobacco in the world. The Turrents have also been very much involved in cigar production. They are well known for making the popular Te-Amo brand. They have also produced the popular A. Turrent Triple Play Maduro and A. Turrent Puro Corojo. In the past, A. Turrent had worked with Altadis USA to handle its U.S. distribution of Te-Amo and the A. Turrent branded cigars. A few years ago, the company announced it was discontinuing the A. Turrent lines and, with the exception of Te-Amo, decided to move its distribution in-house. At the same time, the company decided to build a new brand called Casa Turrent. The Casa Turrent 1880 is positioned as the company’s most premium release. Late in 2017, A. Turrent would release the Casa Turrent 1880. This was a release that would be A. Turrent’s most premium release to date. Today we take a closer look at the Casa Current 1880.

Casa Turrent made its debut in 2013 when a maduro offering was featured at the Festival del Puro Mexicano. Following the festival, it became a house cigar at the A. Turrent’s Mexico City lounge. This was followed up by a limited release in Canada and select European markets. In 2015, with distribution for the U.S. being handled by A. Turrent directly, the company decided to take Casa Turrent into the U.S. market.

Each of the Casa Turrent releases pays homage to a milestone in the history of the Turrent family:

• Casa Turrent Serie 1901 (pays homage to the birth year of Alejandro Turrent’s grandfather)
• Casa Turrent Serie 1942 (pays homage to the birth year of Alejandro Turrent’s father, Alberto)
• Casa Turrent Serie 1973 (pays homage to the birth year of Alejandro Turrent)
• Casa Turrent 1880 (pays homage to the year the Turrents started growing tobacco)

While the Casa Turrent Serie 1901, Serie 1942, and Serie 1973 releases are regular production cigars available in multiple sizes, the Casa Turrent 1880 is available in a single size (Toro) and is produced annually in limited quantities.

Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the Casa Turrent Serie 1901 Gran Robusto and see what his cigar brings to the table.

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend Profile

The Casa Turrent 1880 is a blend consisting of mostly Mexican tobacco. The cigars are made at Nueva Matacapa S.A. – a factory in Mexican owned by the Turrent family.

Wrapper: Mexican Negro San Andres
Binder: Mexican Criollo ’98
Filler: Mexican Negro San Andres (2007 Vintage), Mexican Criollo ’98, Nicaraguan Criollo ’98
Country of Origin: Mexico (Nueva Matacapan S.A.)

Vitolas Available

The Casa Turrent 1880 is available in one size – a 6 1/2 x 54 Toro. The cigars are packaged in ten-count boxes.

Appearance

If you want a classic, gritty and rough San Andres wrapper, the Casa Turrent 1880 is going to deliver exactly that. This was quite a rugged and rough feeling wrapper with a dark roasted espresso color to it. There were some visible veins and despite the wrapper’s dark color, there were visible wrapper seams. In addition, there was a slight oil sheen on the surface of the wrapper.

There are two bands on the Casa Turrent 1880. The primary band has a black irregular shaped picture frame design with gold trim. Inside the frame design is a gold-colored sketch of a house with the text “CASA TURRENT” under it. On the lower inside frame design is a gold signature. The sides of the band have ivory color with gold adornments.

Just below the primary band is a secondary band. This band is black with gold trim. On the center of the band is the text “1880” in white font. To the left of that text are gold adornments. To the right of the text is the text “BY ALEJANDRO TURRENT” also in white font.

PERFORMANCE

Pre-Light Experience

Prior to lighting up the Casa Turrent 1880, I used a straight cut to remove the cap. Once the cap was detached, I proceeded with the pre-light draw experience. The dry draw delivered a mix of subtle sweet chocolate, earth, and floral notes. I assessed the combination of these notes to make for an excellent pre-light draw experience. At this point, I was ready to light up the Casa Turrent 1880 and see what the smoking phase would have in store.

Tasting Notes

The Casa Turrent 1880 started out with notes of sweet mocha, cedar, earth, and some mixed pepper. The mixed pepper had elements of black and red pepper with the black pepper having the edge. When I use the term mocha, I use it to define a fusion of chocolate and coffee notes. During the early stages, the mocha notes became the primary note. At the same time, the chocolate component of the mocha was more prominent. Meanwhile, the pepper and earth notes settled in the background. The cedar notes also settled in the background, but occasionally surfaced in the forefront. On the retro-hale, there was both the black pepper and a slight amount of sweet chocolate present.

As the Casa Turrent 1880 started to move into the second third, the mocha notes transitioned from being more chocolate-centric to more coffee-centric. By the midway point, that transition had completed. Concurrently, I found an increase in the intensity of both the pepper and cedar notes. The cedar note was still making its way to the forefront. I also still detected some earth notes in the background.

By the last third, the cedar notes eclipsed the mocha notes as the primary flavor. The mocha receded into the background, joining the mixed pepper and earth. While the coffee component was still prominent, there still was a chocolate sweetness being delivered as well. This is the way the flavor profile of the Casa Turrent 1880 came to a close. The resulting nub was soft to the touch, but cool in temperature.

Burn 

The burn to the Casa Turrent 1880 did require several touch-ups to maintain a straight burn path and a relatively straight burn line. While the touch-ups did the trick, I did find there to be slightly more touch-ups than I prefer. The resulting ash wasn’t overly firm. but it wasn’t loose or flakey. This was an ash that had a salt and pepper color complexion. As for the burn rate and burn temperature, both were ideal.

Draw

The draw to the Casa Turrent 1880 was on the open side. I found this draw to be more open than I prefer. This didn’t result in any adverse effects other than the fact I had to smoke the cigar at a controlled pace (which I do anyway). This was also a cigar that produced an ample amount of smoke.

Strength and Body

This is a classic case of not judging a book by its color – namely, don’t confuse the dark wrapper for strength. This is a cigar that started out mild to medium for both strength and body. Around the midway point, there is an uptick in the intensity of both attributes and by the 3/5 point, the strength and body progressed into medium territory.

In terms of strength versus body, both attributes balanced each other nicely – with neither attribute overshadowing the other.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

I found the Casa Turrent 1880 to be a very good cigar overall.  I liked this cigar’s milder profile and I think it meshed very nicely with the flavors produced by this cigar. It also had just enough complexity to keep me interested from start to finish. Perhaps the best quality about this cigar is that it doesn’t have the pungency associated with many Mexican San Andres wrapped blends. At $17.00 SRP, this is a cigar that is on the pricier side and while price doesn’t factor into the final numeric score, I still would have liked a better burn and draw with this cigar. Still, the positives of this cigar outweigh the minuses. This is a cigar that I could easily recommend to either a novice or experienced cigar enthusiast.  As for myself, it’s a cigar I would certainly smoke again and pick up multiples for my humidor.

Summary

Key Flavors: Mocha (Chocolate/Coffee), Earth, Cedar, Mixed Pepper
Burn: Very Good
Draw: Good
Complexity: Medium Plus
Strength: Mild to Medium (1st 3/5), Medium (Reminder)
Body: Mild to Medium (1st 3/5), Medium (Reminder)
Finish: Good

Rating

Value: Buy Multiples
Score: 90

References

News: n/a
Price: $17.00
Source: Purchased
Brand Reference: Casa Turrent

Photo Credits: Cigar Coop