Today, we look at the Partagas Valle Verde from Forged Cigar Company.  The name Valle Verde is Spanish for Green Valley. In this case, the Green Valley refers to an agricultural region of Mexico (in the San Andres Valley, near the Gulf of Mexico) where the wrapper for this cigar is grown. Partagas is a brand with a long history, tracing back to 1845. It’s strong in Cuban heritage, and it’s been a part of the Scandinavian Tobacco Group portfolio for many years. Surprisingly, Valle Verde is the first Partagas release to use a Mexican wrapper. It’s a cigar that debuted in 2023 as a regular production offering under the Forged Cigar Company.

Partagas has undoubtedly seen a lot of innovations since it became a part of the Forged portfolio.  This has included

• Partagas Cortado: The first Connecticut Shade Partagas and the first Partagas produced in Nicaragua.
• Partagas Añejo: The first Partagas Barber Pole
• Partagas de Bronce: The first Partagas made in the United States
• Partagas Valle Verde: The first Partagas Valle Verde

Without further ado, let’s turn our attention to the Valle Verde Toro and see what this cigar brings to the table.

Partagas Valle Verde Toro – Cigar Review

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend and Origin

The blend also features a sun-grown Cameroon binder harvested for this blend in 2015. The remainder of the blend features Mexican San Andrés, Nicaraguan Jalapa, and Nicaraguan Estelí filler tobaccos.

Wrapper: Mexican San Andrés
Binder: Cameroon
Filler: Mexican San Andrés, Nicaraguan (Jalapa, Estelí)
Country of Origin: Honduras
Factory: Honduran American Tobacco S.A. (HATSA)

Vitolas Offered

Valle Verde is available in three regular production sizes, each in 20-count boxes. In addition, a fourth limited edition Box Pressed Belicoso was launched. Production for Partagas Valle Verde comes from the HATSA factory in Honduras.

Robusto: 5 x 50
Toro: 6 x 52
Double Corona: 7 1/2 x 54
Box Pressed Belicoso: 6 1/2 x 52 (Limited Edition)

Appearance (*)

The Mexican San Andres wrapper of the Valle Verde Toro isn’t overly dark. If we were comparing wrappers to coffee bean colors, this would be more of a light-roasted coffee bean color. It’s still dark, just not as dark as many San Andres wrappers people are accustomed to. There wasn’t much oil on the surface of the wrapper. Upon closer examination, a slight amount of toothiness could be detected. There were some visible veins. Any visible wrapper seams were minimal on the surface.

PERFORMANCE

Pre-Light Draw (*)

Before lighting up the Valle Verde Toro, a straight cut removed the cap.  Once the cap was removed, it was time to commence the pre-light draw. The cold draw delivered a mix of cocoa, cedar, and floral notes. Despite the floral notes (I am not a fan), this was still a satisfactory pre-light draw. At this point, it was time to toast up the footer of the Valle Verde Toro and see what the smoking phase would have in store.

Tasting Notes

The Valle Verde Toro opened up with notes of cocoa, cedar, and wood. The cocoa notes moved to the forefront early on. The cedar and wood settled in the background. Coffee notes joined the cedar and wood notes as the cigar progressed through the first third. Meanwhile, on the retro-hale, an additional layer of cedar was present.

The cocoa notes remained primary as the Valle Verde Toro moved through the second third. The cedar, wood, and coffee notes remained secondary. During this third, some baker’s spice emerged early on and joined the other background notes. By the second half, some mixed pepper notes emerged on both the tongue and on the retro-hale.

The final third saw the cocoa notes remain in control. The pepper notes had moved to become one of the dominant secondary notes. Meanwhile, notes of cedar, wood, coffee, and baker’s spice remain. This is how the smoking experience of the Valle Verde Toro came to a close. The resulting nub was soft to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn

While the Valle Verde Toro maintained a straight burn path and a relatively straight burn line, this cigar required frequent touch-ups. While the touch-ups did the trick, more than I preferred were needed. The resulting ash had several grades of gray to it. This wasn’t an overly firm ash, but it wasn’t loose, either. The Valle Verde Toro did have some minor flaking. The burn temperature was ideal.  The cigar was a slightly slow smoker. The cigar averaged two hours and 16 minutes of smoking time – a little more than I would expect from a Toro.

 

Draw

Overall, the Valle Verde Toro draw performed exceptionally well. It had a touch of resistance, making this draw ideal in my book. At the same time, the Valle Verde was a low-maintenance cigar from which to derive flavor.

Strength and Body

The Valle Verde Toro started with medium-strength and medium-bodied flavors. Both attributes increased in intensity along the way, with the body increasing a little more than the strength. While both attributes remained in the medium range when the cigar experience closed, there still was a boost of intensity in both the strength and the body.

In terms of strength versus body, the body took a slight edge in the second half of the smoking experience.

BANDING AND PACKAGING NOTES (*)

The band design follows the design introduced for the Partagas core lines back in 2018. I wasn’t a fan of that design at first, but the use of red it won me over with the Partagas Cortado. With the use of the green of the Valle Verde, I am equally won over. I like the use of green on both the boxes and the bands.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

The Valle Verde was showcased at the 2023 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show. One thing I thought Forged did well was position many excellent cigars in the under $10.00 range – and the Valle Verde was one of them. The Valle Verde Toro is a solid offering under $10.00 that performs exceptionally well in the flavor department. It’s nice to also have very good construction as well. STG has a problem where they release too much product – particularly the limited editions, and it hurts core lines such as Valle Verde because they get lost. Valle Verde is an excellent addition to the Partagas line. Coming in with a solid 89-point sore, it’s a cigar I could recommend to any cigar enthusiast. It’s a cigar I would smoke again, and given the attractive price point, I’d buy multiples to keep in my humidor.

Summary

Key Flavors: Cocoa, Coffee, Cedar, Wood, Bakers Spice, Pepper
Burn: Very Good
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium
Finish: Very Good

Rating

Value: Buy Multiples
Score: 89

REFERENCES

News: Partagas Valle Verde Set to Launch
Price: $8.49
Source: Forged Cigar Company, Purchased
Brand Reference: Partagas

Photo Credits: Cigar Coop

(*) Indicates this is not factored into the score or value rating