Cuaba Distinguidos

[Kangaroo495]

This used to be my favourite stick. My first encounter with it was when I did a tour of the Partagas factory in Havana. I saw someone rolling this weird-shaped cigar (I was a novice at the time), and asked what it was. I tried a couple and loved it. Then things kind of went downhill from there.

But I purchased an HQ box of these recently. Box code I think is something like May-July 2008.

Construction: Firm but slightly spongy

Wrapper: Dark, shiny maduro. Veiny.

Pre-light: Draw was excellent, aroma strong

First third: Normally this stick starts of light and papery until you get past the big bulge at the end. However, in this instance, I got a burst of medium bodied flavour from the get-go. Cuaba is a tough flavour to describe. What I can say is, the flavour of this cigar consisted of strong Cuban tobacco (the "twang"), perhaps a bit fuity (think stone fruits, such as plums or cherries), and something bicuit-y and sweet. I got the sensation of some kind of fruit pastry. No pepper, no spice, no cream, perhaps a tiny hint of leather. Aroma is sweet, smoke is plentiful.

Second third: An increase in body to med-full. Though not much of development in flavour. Aroma became more spicy.

Last third: Body - med-full. Fruity flavours died down. The pastry flavour stayed, but became more burnt - perhaps toasty. Cocoa began to creep in, and eventually a damp wood flavour began to prevail. At which point I put the stick down.

The burn was relatively consistent throughout with only a couple of touch ups (especially towards the end).

The point I'd like to make, is that this is a cigar not to be underestimated. It seems to me that this stick will be in its prime at least within a year, as which point it will be an absolute classic. My only criticism is that it's too big. If all these attributes were packed into something smaller, then this would definitely be an every day smoke. I also think that the flavour could've developed better over the course of such a large cigar.

The verdict: At the moment, it's a 89/100, within a year it'll be in the 90s. My advice would be to get out and buy it. However, you must make sure you're getting top quality stock.