Appearance and Construction (12 of 15 points possible)
Not the best looking Torp Ive ever seen but good enough to catch your eye. Solid construction, good heft and chock full of tobacco. The wrapper is glistening with good oils and the tawny brown wrapper has some slight vien but not to much. I also like the Gran Habano blend bands.
Flavor (22 of 25 points possible)
Creamy toast, tea, earth and a slight spice are the first flavors I got in the first couple of puffs. The cigar revealed a velvety smoke that was mild, but medium in flavor. At 1/8 the flavors are starting to gain some new ones, smokey wood and roasted walnuts are among the first to appear. I think this cigar has a very good complexity for as mild as it is. At the 1/4 way the flavor profile is as follows, toasty cream, tea, earth and a slight nuttiness. The aroma of this smoke is killer. At halfway the cigar is still going strong for a mild cigar and is building a little in body. Flavors of creamy wood, tea, nuts and a slight hint of vanilla finish the flavor profile of the 1st half of the cigar. A little past the halfway mark the creaminess turns into a sweet cream with vanilla, very nice. At the 3/4 way the cigar is mild-medium with sweet cream, wood, earth and some vanilla on the finish. The finish got just a tad bitter with a slight hint of Ammonia on the last 1 1/2 inch, it seemed it was a little bit young. Nothing a bit of settling wont take care of, at this point I put it down.
Smoking Characteristics (22 of 25 points possible)
A nice aromatic aroma of straitforward tobacco greet my nose, it also has some vanilla and notes of hardwood. The draw is firm, but almost to firm. I dropped the ash at 1 1/4 inch, it was gray with some black highlights. The texture was firm and crunchy. The cigar burned very well all the way down, not razor sharp but even enough to not touch it up any.
Overall Impression (31 of 35 points possible)
I was Impressed with the flavor and complexity of this smoke for how mild it was. A little to mild for me but for a begginer or for a morning smoke it will fit the bill at a price you can afford. If you like Ashton, Punch Gran Cru, Gispert, Casa Torano and like the mildness of a Macanudo but want more flavor then give this one a shot. I think it needs a little settling time also.
Overall score - 87
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Posts: 4793 | Location: Texas | Registered: June 15, 2003
Gran Habanos are definitely unique. I was really impressed by the number 5s especially for the price. I don't think I'll reorder though just because they taste too much like maduros to me. I am really looking forward to trying the other lines. I also gave a few of these out as moocher cigars and everyone I gave one to enjoyed them as well. On the downside, the didn't hold up well in my humidor. I think the daily opening and closing of the box is too much for the fragile wrappers. I noticed that many started to crack at the cap or the foot over the couple months that I had them. Maybe storing them in a coolerdor that doesn't get opened much is a better option. The corojo wrapper in general seems to have these problems sometimes as others have stated before so hopefully the other lines wont have the same issues.
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Originally posted by pmpimbura: Gran Habanos are definitely unique. I was really impressed by the number 5s especially for the price. I don't think I'll reorder though just because they taste too much like maduros to me. I am really looking forward to trying the other lines. I also gave a few of these out as moocher cigars and everyone I gave one to enjoyed them as well. On the downside, the didn't hold up well in my humidor. I think the daily opening and closing of the box is too much for the fragile wrappers. I noticed that many started to crack at the cap or the foot over the couple months that I had them. Maybe storing them in a coolerdor that doesn't get opened much is a better option. The corojo wrapper in general seems to have these problems sometimes as others have stated before so hopefully the other lines wont have the same issues.
Try the #3, Binder gifted me one way back and it was unbelievably unique. Among the unique flavors in that one were chickory and cilantro. The best way to describe the cilantro was almost like the green apple you pick up in a Punch Gran Puro but different.
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Posts: 4793 | Location: Texas | Registered: June 15, 2003
I really enjoyed the box of 5's that I had but then again I'm a maduro smoker . They seemed to age very well for me although like Pmp said the corojo wrapper on them is very delicate. I stashed mine on the bottom tray of my humi so that they didn't get moved around too much and increase the risk of the wrapper cracking. Also, I wasn't getting into that humi very often so they were in a Pretty stable environment. If I had a coolerdor, I'd deffinately get another box and stick them in for about a year before I smoked one. They'd probably be amazing. For the price that the box of torps was you really couldn't go wrong stashing 'em away.
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Posts: 2499 | Location: SoCal, USA | Registered: March 06, 2004
I love the #3 Torp. Haven't tried the #5 but hear nothing but good things and I may try the #1 only because I don't smoke to many mild cigars anymore. These are great tasting smokes especially for the price and I've never experienced any burn problems and I smoke em on the golf course too. Great buy.
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