Onyx Vintage Nicaragua Toro

Today, we look closer at the Onyx Vintage Nicaragua by Altadis U.S.A. Altadis’ portfolio is a mix of heritage and contemporary brands. In the case of Onyx, it is a more modern brand. Onyx traces its roots back to 2000, when the Onyx Reserve was released. Onyx Reserve came around when dark-wrapped cigars were gaining popularity. Except for a packaging change in 2018 to Onyx Reserve, the brand had been one of the quieter ones in the Altadis U.S.A. portfolio. That would change in 2020 when Altadis U.S.A. released Onyx Bold Nicaragua, a cigar made by AJ Fernandez in Nicaragua. Fast forward to 2023, and Altadis and Fernandez would team up again for another Onyx, this one is the Onyx Vintage Nicaragua.

Onyx is the name of a semiprecious stone that forms bands of different colors, such as black and white. The black color is the most striking. The one thing that Onyx Reserve and Onyx Bold Nicaragua have in common is the dark-colored Maduro wrappers. The Onyx Vintage Nicaragua is slightly different in moving away from the dark wrappers. Instead, this cigar has more of a medium-brown-colored wrapper.

Let’s turn our attention to the Onyx Vintage Nicaragua Toro and break down this cigar in more detail.

Onyx Vintage Nicaragua Toro – Cigar Review

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend and Origin

Blend-wise, there are two things to note regarding the Vintage Nicaragua. First, the cigar itself is a Nicaraguan puro. Second, the wrapper is an extra-aged Habano Nicaragua leaf sourced from an esteemed 2019 harvest.

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano (2019 Vintage)
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Factory: Tabacalera AJ Fernandez Cigars de Nicaragua S.A.

Vitolas Offered

Packaged in 20-count boxes, the Vintage Nicaragua comes in three sizes.

Robusto: 50 x 5
Toro: 54 x 6
Magnum: 60 x 6

Appearance

As mentioned earlier, the Nicaraguan Habano wrapper of the Vintage Nicaragua Toro was not dark but medium-brown. The wrapper did not have much in the way of oil. Instead, it had a silky complexion. While there was a slight amount of toothiness, the wrapper was relatively smooth. The wrapper also had thin veins and thin visible wrapper seams.

PERFORMANCE

Pre-Light Draw

I used a straight cut to remove the cap of the Vintage Nicaragua Toro. Once the cap was removed, it was time to move on to the pre-light draw ritual. The cold draw delivered a mix of cedar, earth, and natural tobacco. This was a satisfactory pre-light draw experience. At this point, it was time to remove the footer band of the Vintage Nicaragua Toro, toast up the footer, and move into the smoking phase.

Tasting Notes

The Vintage Nicaragua Toro opened with more notes of natural tobacco, earth, and cedar. In addition, some notes of nuts emerged. The natural tobacco notes moved into the forefront, with the cedar and nut notes secondary in the background. The retro-hale had a mix of black pepper and exotic pepper spices. These spices surfaced in the background on the tongue as well.

As the Vintage Nicaragua Toro moved into the second third, the natural tobacco notes remained firmly grounded in the forefront. The cedar, nut, and pepper spice remained in the background. Throughout the second third, the cedar increased in intensity. On the retro-hale, the back pepper became more prominent.

The natural tobacco notes remained in the forefront during the final third. The pepper notes increased in intensity. Together with the cedar notes, they were the next most prominent notes. Some earth and nut notes still rounded out the flavor profile. As the Vintage Nicaragua Toro came to a close, the resulting nub was firm to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn

The Vintage Nicaragua Toro’s burn performed extremely well. This cigar had no difficulty maintaining a straight burn path and burn line. The resulting ash was silver-gray with some darker spots. This ash was slightly flakey, but the flakiness proved to be no problem. As for the burn rate and burn temperature, both were ideal.

Burn of the Onyx Vintage Nicaragua Toro

Draw

The Vintage Nicaragua Toro also performed extremely well in terms of draw. It had a touch of resistance to it, which is something that I like. At the same time, it was a low-maintenance cigar from which to derive flavors.

Strength and Body

The Vintage Nicaragua Toro started out with medium strength and medium-bodied flavors. Along the way, both attributes slightly increased in intensity. While strength and body were stronger at the end of the cigar, both remained in the medium range of their respective spectrums.

BANDING AND PACKAGING NOTES

The Vintage Nicaragua Toro maintains the black and white Onyx logo. In the case of the Vintage Nicaragua, this is accented by copper colors. Copper is used in the secondary band and the footer band. The copper accents contrasted nicely with the wrapper. The black and white, along with copper accents, also carry over to the color scheme on the box.

Packaging of the Onyx Vintage Nicaragua (Gordo Size Shown)

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

Overall, the Onyx Vintage Nicaragua Toro was a solid cigar with excellent construction. The cigar isn’t going to do radical flavor transitions, but there were a nice amount of flavor nuances. The flavors weren’t extraordinary by any means, but they were satisfying. Coming in at 88 points, the Vintage Nicaragua Toro is a cigar that I’d recommend to either the novice or experienced cigar enthusiast. As for myself, this is a cigar I would buy and smoke again.

Summary

Key Flavors: Natural Tobacco, Cedar, Nut, Earth, Pepper
Burn: Excellent
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium
Finish: Very Good