JC Newman

October 04, 2011

Pride Cigars Core Line Corojo (Black Label) robusto

Pride Cigars Core Line Corojo (Black Label) robusto (5x50)



Pride Cigars are manufactured in the Dominican Republic. Ares Contreras, President and CEO, along with Master Blender, Miguel Francisco, blend all their cigars. In the mid 1940's Ares grandfather was the head of tobacco selection for one of the biggest cigar manufacturers in Cuba. Ares mother worked with his grandfather as helping to categorize the leaves and prepare them for the fermentation process. Ares continues his family's love of cigars with his own creations.

The Corojo that I am reviewing today is comprised of:
Wrapper: Corojo
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican


Video review HERE.



Pride Cigars is based in Tampa, Florida and can only be found in local shops. Tampa Humidor carries their cigars.

Pride Cigars are triple capped.



At light up there were notes of coffee and cinnamon and nice pepper.

After it sit for a minute the flavors were citrus, coffee, almond, and a nice amount of pepper. The ash is very dark. The initial flavor is a subtle sweetness of citrus and vanilla. The finish is long with raw almonds. At this early stage that's how the cigar tastes.

Just a few minutes further the citrus notes are quite rich! The finish also has subtle citrus notes with some almond. There is no lingering pepper on the finish at this point. At this point I'm about an inch in.

At the midpoint the main flavors are still the rich tangerine citrus, coffee, and pepper. The almond notes have moved to the finish. They are a sweet raw almond with some lingering pepper. The cigar has made a change. The citrus notes are unusual to me for a Dominican cigar. No doubt the corojo wrapper is helping with those. The burn is fairly even.



At the point where I had to remove the band there were no major changes. There is a faint amount of vanilla on the spice but that's about the only change. The finish seems to be changing from raw almonds to citrus, all the while having some lingering pepper.

At the end of the cigar the rich notes of citrus remained. The pepper seems to intensify as the cigar burns. The finish changes between raw almonds and citrus. The coffee notes keep the cigar medium bodied. The large amount of citrus notes really surprised me especially for a Dominican cigar. But, they were quite enjoyable. Ares seeks to produce cigars with richness and he has succeeded with this one.
Score: 89

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