For the past five years, Royal Agio Cigars has been positioning itself to expand its premium handmade cigar business in the U.S. market. After a three year run of distribution in the U.S. by Drew Estate, in 2017 Royal Agio Cigars would open its own U.S. headquarters. At the time this occurred, Royal Agio had one premium handmade line, the Balmoral Añejo XO. It was very clear that Royal Agio would need more lines to expand its footprint. The company would invest in expanding its Balmoral line, but while Balmoral was its most premium line, Royal Agio also needed more of a value-priced line. That is where the San Pedro de Macorís brand comes in as it offers several value price blends. Today we take a closer look at one of those blends, the San Pedro de Macorís Ecuador in the Robusto size.

San Pedro de Macorís is a city in the Dominican Republic where Royal Agio Cigars owns a factory. That factory makes both machine-made and handmade cigars. The San Pedro de Macorís pays homage to that factory. In 2018, San Pedro de Macorís was introduced in two offerings – San Pedro de Macorís Ecuador and San Pedro de Macorís Brazil. This past year two additional offerings San Pedro de Macorís Nicaragua and San Pedro de Macorís Sun Grown were added.

One footnote before going forward with this review. Royal Agio Cigars has announced it is selling its company to Scandinavian Tobacco Group (STG) pending regulatory approval.

Without further ado, let’s break down the San Pedro de Macorís Ecuador Robusto and see what this cigar brings to the table.

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend and Origin

In addition to the Ecuadorian Connecticut Wrapper, there is Dominican tobacco used in the binder and filler. There is also the incorporation of Brazilian Mata Fina in the filler. Brazilian tobacco is a staple of Royal Agio Cigars found in many of their lines.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut
Binder: Dominican Olor
Filler: Dominican Olor, Dominican Piloto Ligero, and Brazilian Mata Fina
Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
Factory: Royal Agio

Vitolas Offered

The San Pedro de Macorís Ecuador is offered in three sizes. Each is packaged in 20-count boxes. All four blends in the San Pedro de Macorís blend have the same sizes and box-counts:

Perla: 4 1/2 x 40
Corona: 5 7/8 x 42
Robusto: 5 1/8 x 52

Appearance

While the Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade wrapper of the San Pedro de Macorís Ecuador Robusto was still light brown, it seemed a slight bit darker than most Connecticut Shade wrappers I have seen. There wasn’t much in the way of oil on the surface of this wrapper. There were some visible thin veins and some minimally visible wrapper seams. This was a wrapper that was mostly on the smooth and elegant side. It’s a wrapper that would easily pass for a more premium one.

The band to the San Pedro de Macorís Ecuador was black in color. There were some red and blue accents and trim on the band. At the top was the San Pedro de Macorís logo of a rooster inside a shield. – both in yellow font. Surrounding the shield was the text “DOMINICAN” and “REPUBLIC” on the left and right side respectively in white cursive font. On the center of the band was the text “SAN PEDRO” in large silver font with the text “DE MACORIS” in a smaller silver font just below it. The text “ECUADOR” is in dark font with a yellow nameplate background. The band also has the name of the vitola – in this case, its the text “ROBUSTO” in light font.

PERFORMANCE

Pre-Light Draw

A straight cut was used to remove the cap of the San Pedro de Macorís Ecuador Robusto. Once the cap was removed, it was time to commence with the pre-light draw. The dry draw was one of a class Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade cigars- delivering notes of cream, cedar, and classic wood. Overall this was a satisfactory pre-light draw. At this point, it was time to light up the San Pedro de Macorís Ecuador Robusto and move onto the smoking phase.

Tasting Notes

The San Pedro de Macorís Ecuador Robusto started out with notes of cream, citrus, and classic wood notes. Early on the cream notes moved into the forefront. Throughout the first third, the citrus and wood notes moved between the forefront and background. The retro-hale produced a mix of black pepper and classic wood notes.

During the second third, some cedar notes entered the equation in the forefront. Initially, these notes joined the cream in the forefront, but by the midway point, the cedar displaced the cream notes. The cream notes settled in the background along with the citrus and classic wood notes. A slight amount of black pepper surfaced on the tongue.

The last third saw the cedar notes remain in the forefront. The cream, citrus, and classic wood notes moved further into the background while there still was a slight amount of pepper on the tongue. This is the way the an Pedro de Macorís Ecuador Robusto came to a close. The resulting nub was soft to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn