Upon researching this cigar, one thing stands out: the strength. The Joya de Nicaragua website lists this cigar as a ⁶⁄₅ in strength and states:

This cigar is for the experienced connoisseur who does not only appreciate, but also craves unadulterated boldness in their cigar – novices need not light.

So, immediately I’m thinking this cigar is going to be a nicotine and flavor bomb. Don’t get me wrong, the cigar is definitely full flavored and medium-full strength, but if you’re expecting Opus X levels of strength you won’t find it here. The cigar starts off pretty mild, and for the first inch I was wondering if I was smoking the same cigar as described on the website.

The flavor does ramp up a bunch, but the strength builds slowly. It wasn’t until around the last couple inches I really detected much nicotine. And once I got there the flavor started going off and I put the cigar out.

This definitely isn’t a bad cigar. I really liked the flavor profile, and boy there was a lot of flavor! But if you’re looking into this cigar because of Joya’s marketing you’ll want to reset your expectations.

• Prelight Aroma: Barnyard, earth, a bit of chocolate from the foot
• Prelight Draw: The draw is average, some creamy pepper and hay, and a bit of chocolate malt
• Inital light: More creamy pepper, cocoa, and chocolate malt

First Third

There’s a bit of dry oak and generic nuttiness at the start. At about the ½” mark I’m getting sweet spicy notes with some must and pepper on the finish. Still somewhat oaky but becoming a bit floral every now and again. At the end of the first third it’s full bodied with lots of sweet spice and a bit of pepper.

Second Third

The burn is a little wonky coming in to the second third, but nothing that needs touched up yet. Still lots of spices, pepper, earth, sweetness and a bit of oak. There’s quite a lot of glue holding the secondary band on, and it stuck to itself taking it off. It ashed itself about ½” in. There’s an anise quality to the retrohale.

Final Third

The burn got even more wonky, and I had to touch it up. No real changes in flavor, but I can feel the strength coming to a head. The cigar started to get a bit acrid, so I called it with 1½” left.

Verdict

This was a good cigar with lots of great flavor. I love spicy, woody, earthy cigars and this stick certainly delivered those flavors. This would be a good smoke to have around a fire with friends. There isn’t a whole lot going on flavor-wise, it’s just a simple set of good flavors with a strength that keeps building until the end.

I gave it an 85 because there’s a whole lot of great flavor matched pretty well with the strength. I couldn’t bring myself to give it an 86 because of the construction issues, and frankly, for around $8 there are better full strength, full body cigars – like the La Flor Dominicana Double Ligero which is $1 more for the same size.