Joya De Nicaragua Celebracion Consul

It’s time again for my weekly review of the smokes Stinkie generously provided me. I had originally planned to have this review up last week, but due to RTDA/IPCPR, I was simply not able to get to it!

The good news is that by waiting a week, my charred palate was able to heal, giving me back my ability to taste cigars! (Six plus cigars a day for three days really has an impact on the ol’ taste buds!) So lets get to this week’s cigar!

Cigar Stats:
Size: 4 1/2 x 52 (Consul)
Wrapper: Nicaragua
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Smoking Time: 1 1/2 hours
Beverage: Water
Price: $3 - $4.50

The Pre-Smoke
The Celebracion is a nice looking cigar. It’s smooth, with fine, attractive veins and a slight sheen to the wrapper. It boasts of a nicely firm feel to the touch, with no noticeable soft spots or extra give anywhere.

The first of the two cigars smoked for this review did have a little white spot on the wrapper maybe an inch below the band. In my visual inspection of the second cigar, I found no obvious patches or flaws.

Both cigars had a nice rich, earthy aroma. In the cold taste I detected the a similarly rich dark coffee flavor. The scent really stood out to me, as many of the cigars I’ve been smoking recently have had an almost pungent barnyard scent to them. This was a nice change of pace.

Very light resting smoke

The Burn
Ironically, my favorite and least favorite things about this cigar is the burn. The great thing about the burn is that it looks fantastic. It’s photogenic with near perfect burn line. It has an extremely solid white ash that hangs on seemingly forever. In the cigar shown in the pictures, the ash reached nearly 2 1/2 inches before it dropped like a rock into the ashtray. (In the cigar not pictured, the ash was even prettier.) It’s the kind of ash all cigars aspire to.

Good burn line, but the other cigar was even prettier!

Unfortunately, it’s same the construction that makes that attractive white pillar possible that also makes this such a difficult cigar to smoke. What I’m saying here is that this cigar is so firm, so impregnable, that it’s tough to draw any smoke through it!

The first of the two cigars I sampled was absolutely plugged. Even using my improvised (but effective!) draw-poker, I was only able to make it to the end of the second third. Just before the final third, the cigar refused to remain lit, the draw kept tightening back up and I finally threw in the towel. I couldn’t keep it lit and the smoke I was getting was little better than vapor. The second cigar had a looser, more smokable draw, but it was still a challenge. It left me smoke starved for a good percentage of the stick.

As a result of the tight draw, these cigars burned far more hotly than they should. I was concerned that the negative impact of this super heating and poor draw will result in my flavor observations being skewed.

The Flavor
It’s a real shame about the draw, because in spite of that irritation, I found the cigar to some really great flavors. The very first puff rewarded me with a rich sweet chocolate flavor that I really enjoyed. It was followed by coffee flavors that reminded me of coffee-flavored hard candies I’ve had in the past.

In the second third I still had the coffee flavor, some nuttiness and what seemed to be wood with a hint of salt. I’m not sure how that sounds, but the combination of flavors was actually very enjoyable, even though I’m not a fan of saltiness in cigars.

In the final third I detected some chocolate notes again, more of the unusual salty wood flavor and just a little bit of cinnamon. In all, this is a great tasting cigar, in spite of the affects of tight draw and overheating.

The Price
I have no complaints regarding the price of this cigar. If I weren’t so put off by two bad draw experiences, I’d be happy to buy more in this price range.

The Verdict
I hate to do it, but I have to give this cigar a thumbs down. Normally a great flavor experience will outweigh construction flaws, but I have a strong bias toward normal to looser drawing cigars. And this cigar was way out of my range of comfort.

I’d love to smoke this again if I could be assured of a better draw, but the odds appear to not be in my favor. And it’s a shame. The draw is all that stands in the way of this being a winner in my book.

Liked It: No
Buy It Again: Unlikely
Recommend It: To people who prefer a tight draw, and with a strong word of caution.

What Other People Are Saying

• The Consul on Keepers of the Flame - Likes it, but prefers the CAO Criollo.
• Jerry of Stogie Review on the churchill - Thumbs up, but look at those teeth marks!
• Rob’s review on Cigar Live - 5.9/10
• Torpedo size review on Humiblog - Liked it, but had trouble keeping it lit.
• Summer ‘05 Smoke Magazine torpedo review - They liked it: 9.0!

The Cigar In Action

The split in the wrapper is probably my fault: Band removal troubles!

My Other Reviews
If you like my review style, you may be interested in reading some of my other reviews on my home blog, Brian’s Random Thoughts. To see a full list of my cigar reviews, visit the cigar review index.