Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial Toro Gordo Review

Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf

Filler: Nicaraguan

Price: $8.00

I have had this cigar in my humidor for a couple months now, and I was just waiting for a nicer day to smoke it because it is a 6 x 60. It is hard to smoke a cigar of this size when it is freezing outside. Luckily the past few days have been flirting around 50 degrees, so I finally had the right day to review this cigar.

The wrapper on this cigar is very dark brown, and very oily. Like most Connecticut broadleaf wrappers, the leaf was very thick. There were a couple very thin veins that ran throughout the wrapper, but they didn’t cause any worry to me. The cap on this cigar was perfectly flush and consisted of three layers. This cigar had a relatively soft foot, while the rest of the cigar was solid. There was also a very unique smell coming from this stick. The smell consisted of sweet, bitter, and earthy tones.

Upon lighting up this cigar, I was hit with a strong punch of spice. But the spice was quickly met with some nice notes of coffee and wood tones. These few flavors stick around for about the first half inch until sweetness comes through on the draw. By about an inch of the way through this cigar the sweetness picked a great deal, but so did the peppery spice. The first third of this cigar rounds out with a very strong earthy flavor that is complimented by the spice nicely.

The middle portion of this cigar does a complete flavor profile change. The flavor becomes very creamy and focuses much more on the wood and earthy tones instead of the spice. As this cigar slowly progresses, the creaminess continues to build up. As the creaminess builds, the sweetness and the spiciness both mellow out.

The last couple inches were a perfect combination of flavors from throughout the entire cigar. The spice came back strong and was almost on the same level as the wood and earthiness. The creaminess is still there but not like it was around the midpoint of this cigar. The creaminess never really left the palate, but some woodiness stuck to it as well.

The finish of this cigar was great because all of the flavors came together and worked perfectly. This is a cigar that starts out full bodied, but slowly winds down to a medium body. Once the cigar hits the medium body, it stick around for about an inch and a half, then picks right back up to being a full bodied cigar.

The ash on this cigar was a darker shade of gray that held on for about two inches at a time. The burn was a little wavy at times, which was most likely due to the thick wrapper. I had to touch it up two times. The draw was very easy, like most 60 gauge cigars, and it produced a thick white and brown smoke.  The smoke actually gave off a woody and spicy aroma. I was expecting more spice in the aroma because of the flavors, but it was much woodier.

This is a great cigar. If you haven’t tried one yet, I recommend giving it a try. It is not an expensive cigar by any means. It is a strong cigar, so if you are a newer cigar smoker, or usually smoke mild sticks, I would hold off on this one until your tolerance for full-bodied cigars picks up. I give this cigar a 8 out of 10.

Thanks for reading,

Zack the Stogie Man