Agile Cigar Reviews are cigar assessments where we use a lightweight, shorter format. These will never take the place of our comprehensive reviews. They are only used on blends we have previously assessed. This might be a blend we are rescoring or giving a score for the first time. It also might be a blend we are looking at in a different size. Today we look at the Aladino Vintage Selection in the Toro size by JRE Tobacco Company. This is a cigar we previously assessed back in the Rothschild size back in October 2020.

Wrapper: Honduran Grown Habano
Binder: Honduran (Authentic Corojo)
Filler: Honduran (Authentic Corojo)
Country of Origin: Honduras
Factory: Fabrica de Puros Aladino at Las Lomas Jamastran
Toro: 6 x 50

Since JRE Tobacco launched in 2016, the Aladino brand has become the company’s flagship brand offering. Over the past few years, JRE Tobacco has introduced Corojo, San Andres, Connecticut, and Cameroon wrapper offerings under the Aladino brand. In 2020, the company introduced a Honduran-grown Habano wrapped offering with the Aladino Vintage Selection. Originally the Aladino Vintage Selection was introduced in a Rothschild. In 2021, JRE rolled out a Toro offering and a new Elegante (Lancero) offering based on the Vintage Selection blend. Today we take a closer look at the Aladino Vintage Selection Toro.

First up, while the Aladino Vintage Reserve Toro had a national release in 2021, the cigar actually was given an early, exclusive release to Nelson Loguasto’s Cigars in Greenburg, Pennsylvania. Nelson Loguasto had the exclusive on this cigar until the national release in 2021. The cigars used for this Agile Cigar Review were from the allocation to Nelson Logausto.

In addition to the Honduran Grown Habano wrapper, the remainder of the blend contains Authentic Corojo grown at the JRE Tobacco Farm. Production is handled at Julio Eiroa’s Las Lomas factory located adjacent to the farm.

Flavor-wise throughout the smoking experience, the Aladino Vintage Reserve Toro featured notes of natural tobacco, cocoa, orange rind, baker’s spice, as well as a slight amount of red pepper. There was no dominant note in the early stages, but eventually, the cocoa and orange rind became the primary notes. The natural tobacco, baker’s spice and red pepper settled in the background, but toward the end of the first third, the natural tobacco displaced the cocoa in the forefront. In the second third, some earthy notes emerged and by the midway point, they joined the natural tobacco and orange rind in the forefront. There was an increase in the pepper and baker’s spice in the second half, and by the final third the pepper closed in the forefront, but didn’t quite cross the goal line.

The Aladino Vintage Reserve Toro delivered a medium strength, medium-bodied smoke from start to finish. When looking at strength, the body had a slight edge over the strength. Both the burn and draw performed excellently. There weren’t a lot of touch-ups required, and the draw had a slight amount of resistance (a plus in my book). This is also a cigar that produced a nice layer of smoke production.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

One observation I had is of the three sizes currently offered under the Aladino Vintage Selection, the Rothschild and Toro seem to smoke very closely while the Elegante smokes differently. I’ll have more to say about the Elegante in a future review, but what I can say is if you like the Rothschild, chances are you will like the Toro release. The two cigars deliver a solid smoking experience with similar flavor profiles. The nice thing is the Toro will afford you a little more time to enjoy the cigar. The Aladino Habano Vintage Selection Toro is a cigar I could recommend to any cigar enthusiast. As for myself, it’s a cigar I would buy and smoke again.

Summary

Key Flavors: Natural Tobacco, Cocoa, Orange Rind, Earth, Red Pepper, Bakers Spice
Burn: Excellent
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium Plus
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium
Finish: Very Good