Cigar Weekly

Purisco Negro robusto

Published Tuesday, December 12th, 2006
Compiled by Steve Kang (debaire)

Made by Tabacos de la Cordillera. These 100% long filler cigars are hand made, using only tobaccos we grow from pre-Castro Ancestral Cuban seeds. They are full-bodied, to satisfy the experienced palate of a true premium cigar aficionado. Available in 5 shapes. Purisco™ Azul (blue) cigars have maduro wrappers; Rojo (red) cigars have natural wrappers; Negro (black) cigars have dark wrappers.

Purisco Negro

Body: Full

Flavor profile: Espresso, Dark Chocolate

Wrapper: Habano #91

Binder: Habano #50

Filler: Habanos #50, #222

Robusto (5" x 50)

Pre-Smoke Comments

ÞShadow: Great draw and aroma from this 5 X 50 dark robusto. Nice dark wrapper was nice and smooth with no blemishes(one had a little bit of the wrapper hanging off of it, possibly due to transporting and handling). Very well constructed with no soft spots.

Mustard: A very veiny ,slightly oily maduro colored cigar that screamed Bundle cigar.

Lang Daddy: Nice appearance, with an oiley, dark wrapper. To the touch, this cigar was spongey with soft spots. The smell was a pleasant maduro aroma with a touch of spice.

Briandg: The wrapper was a nice maduro, rather dark, with a reddish cast to it. The wrapper was slightly veiny, slightly flawed, slightly mottled, just overall a couple of very average and plain looking sheets of wrapper, and not too terribly well wrapped. The bunch was well constructed, draw was just fine, and an overall good smoke for a bundle or low end boxed line. When lit, it showed some poor qualities. One cigar had an ash that was black as night, yet the other was fine and white. Neither of them had a very firm ash; they both broke off short, and were slightly flaky. Draw was good on both, but both burned a little unevenly. I had to touch up both of them a little, but that is normal to me, and it matters very little, IMO.

SmokinAFuente: This robusto was very nice looking and smelled of aged tobacco. The pre-light draw was good and offered a nice hint of green tea and whiskey.

Augie754: This cigar had a nice dark wrapper, both of the cigars I had did have some significant veins and were somewhat lumpy. The pre-light draw was good, with a very mild woody scent. After lighting the draw was just a bit too tight, but they did burn straight with no touch ups. The ash was a little flaky, but was still solid enough to hold on for about an inch.

Peterg: The Robusto was very dark with medium sized veins. Fairly firm roll and not really any soft spots or lumps to speak of. The cigar had a draw that was a little on the tight side, but not outrageous.

Smoke Comments

ÞShadow: After getting about a half inch into the cigar I got a very nasty sour flavor that stayed throughout the cigar. A few times I thought I was smoking a piece of charcoal! I smoked it until the last inch and then pitched it(if I was not doing a review on it I would had pitch this rocket a lot sooner). Aftertaste was very nasty and it took several cleanings to get rid of it. The cigar also went out about a half dozen times. I feel I'm being kind by giving it a one for flavor and taste

Mustard: The harsheness and bitterness from this cigar was a little more than I could handle.

Lang Daddy: This smoke lit with no problem with a spicey aroma when toasting the foot. Right away from first draw, this cigar was very peppery and scratchy. As the cigar settled in I expected it to mello abit. Instead it remained harsh and peppery. Half way through, hints of spice/clove developed and it burned hot. Throughout these tastes and flavors were consistant. The strenth was right in middle, not to mild. The ash was fragile, flakey, and dark. Burn was uneven, but never getting to far away. The end was a bit tarey (SP) but expected with a maduro.

Briandg: Both seemed rather one dimensional. The flavor impressions were of espresso, stout, an earthy, woody, maduro taste with some bite to it. The smoke was medium, almost weak, with a thin and whispy charactrer. Aroma was weak, almost nonexistant. There was a strange, acidic, maybe even coppery or Ozone taste to it. All things considered, it had no real harshness, and tasted like it was probably well fermented tobacco of good origin, it just seemed as if it had been handled and blended wrong. I didn't manage to finish either one, I threw them both out after about half. They just weren't worth finishing, IMO, and they both had deteriorated bacdly at that point. There seemed to be little hope. One of them was so dead that there was little flavor other than a bitterness, and no aroma at all, until it was 1/3 down. At that point, the aroma started to develop into a nice, medium woody note, but within a few puffs, the taste tanked. It became bitter, soon the after taste became absolutely foul. I tossed it within a few minutes of it actually developing the first signs of character it had showed.

SmokinAFuente: After lighting up, this cigar went down hill, FAST. The volume of smoke was fine and the ash was dark gray. I was trying to describe the flavor and all I could come up with was .... Nasty. Then to make maters worse, the smoke would irritate my eyes and throat (and I normally love to be surrounded by the smoke). Also, even when buffing at a steady pace, the cigar went out two or three times.

Augie754: The flavor of these cigars was nutty and woody and they had plenty of smoke. At the beginning they weren't bad but had a strange flavor in there I didn't care for and by the end these became quite harsh. The aftertaste was less than to be desired. I believe these cigars to be medium to full bodied. In terms of flavor, they just didn't have much to offer.

Peterg: Both expamples of this vitola contained an odd flavor which I am unable to associate. There was a certain acidity which was not enjoyable to me.

Summary Comments

ÞShadow: I really was looking forward to smoking this cigar when I first got it from the smell and the construction but was sadly disappointed when I put fire to it.

Mustard: The 2 samples smoked like night and day. the first was pure harshness and bitterness. The second one however was a lot better,It was somewhat spicey and earthy. There was also a tobacco taste that I could not pinpoint. My guess is this a cigar from a country that we are not familliar with.

Lang Daddy: This cigar wasnt an everyday smoke. Overall, it was a plain maduro of low quality, IMHO. It was a bit to harsh for me, never smoothing out. I believe the construction led to alot of the hotness and harshness. Maybe a mowing the yard cigar as I wouldnt be sad if I put it down and forgot about it.

Briandg: Overall, construction and appearance were average-above average. They impressed me as a decent bundle grade smoke. Better than average wrapper for a bundle, shiny and slightly oily, but flawed and unattractive. Well rolled, but just short on aesthetics, especially the really poorly done caps. The flavor seemed to be something that you would have to want. Rather mild and one dimensional, it really was lacking in flavor and aroma. Both smoked poorly for a premium cigar, breaking off, burning rather irregularly with a poor ash, and they were very inconsistent from one to the next in flavor, aroma, and build. Towards halfway, both developed some serious flaws in flavor, and I dropped them both. An odd thing, maybe irrelevant, but here it is. They both seemed to be nicotine bombs. I was begining to feel the flush less than halfway through the smoke, but then, both times I had skipped lunch, and breakfast was long before. Maybe that was it. Overall, I would not buy them, and would not smoke them if given to me. I was just disappoiinted, because I feel like that in general, the tobacco was really a better grade than the overall cigar turned out to be. I think that it could have been a good smoke that I would have liked, because I feel like I could detect an underlying quality to the tobacco that was ruined by the maker. Probably I've judged these pretty harshly, but I just was not impressed at all in any aspect of them.

SmokinAFuente: This stick did nothing for me. If it wasn't for doing the review, this would have been tossed after the first inch or two. And believe me, I don't do that often.

Augie754: This cigar was really not to my liking. It had a rough appearance and with the harshness in the taste (especially at the end) I could not recommend this cigar. It just seemed a bad cheap cigar.

Peterg: This cigar while constructed well enough was lacking in the flavor department. I had trouble finishing both of the examples of this cigar due to a quite un-enjoyable taste that lingered on the palate.

Scores

Review Results

Final Score: 24.40 out of 50 - 3 Stars -- Average