San Cristobal de La Habana Mercaderes Review

The San Cristobal that is easily available in the United States has been a favorite of mine for some time now. When I was offered the chance to smoke and review this San Cristobal, I could say no. I completely understand that these are, in no way, related. But I figured that it would be interesting to review this one to show that the Nicaraguan San Cristobal is nothing like the Cuban San Cristobal.

I don’t want to repeat myself on everything I said about the San Cristobal that I reviewed before, so Click Here to go to that review.

The wrapper on this cigar is beautiful. It is a medium shade of brown with not one single thick vein running throughout it. The only problem with the wrapper was a little chip out of it on the foot, which really isn’t a huge deal. The cigar is solid throughout with not a single soft spot to affect burning at all. The cap on this cigar was made up of several layers that all sat perfectly flush. As I looked over this cigar, I noticed it had a strong earthy smell to it, which I knew meant that I was in for a treat.

As soon as I lit up this cigar, the earthiness was amazing. The earth was very strong and was the perfect base flavor to house the accents that started coming out. After a few puffs there was a little bit of spice that came out. As this cigar slowly progressed, the spice began to mellow out and leave a very woody and earthy profile. The whole profile seemed to mellow out after about an inch and a half, and when it did, there seemed to be some sweetness that came out.

As I moved into the second third of this cigar, the woodiness picked up quite a bit. As the woodiness picked up, the sweetness became lighter. It seemed as though the sweetness and the spiciness worked together because once the sweetness mellowed, the spice did as well. When I smoked down to about the halfway point, the earthy flavors picked up a great deal while staying perfectly smooth.

As the last third started to burn, my palate was coated with a combination of wood and spice. There were actually some cinnamon notes that came out that were very nice and a little change of pace. The earthiness was still very strong as well as the woodiness. These two flavors stayed very strong throughout the finish of the cigar. All of the flavors created a very creamy and smooth finish that was very good.

The ash on this cigar was a medium to dark shade of gray and it held on for about an inch and a half to two inches at a time. The burn was a little wavy at the start but it quickly evened out and remained perfectly even throughout the finish. The draw was very easy and produced a thick white smoke. The smoke gave off a very distinct earthy aroma.

If you get the chance to try this cigar, please do. If you like the Nicaraguan San Cristobal, you will probably like this one as well. This one isn’t as powerful as the Nicaraguan one is, but the flavors has some similarities. This one is a solid medium body that is full of great flavors. I give this cigar an 8.5 out of 10.

Thanks for reading,

Zack the Stogie Man