Vegas de Santiago D8 Presidente (7 1/2 x 54)

Video review HERE.


Vegas de Santiago is a boutique cigar company in Costa Rica that makes some amazing cigars. I have reviewed several over the years and all have been very good. This is a new creation by Marc Niehaus who is the son of Rudy Niehaus of Vegas de Santiago. The D8 is one of his premium blends. I have sampled some of the other sizes of these cigars but this is my first take on the Presidente, which is a very large cigar.



(from the Vegas de Santiago site)
Greatness and Prestige Ready to enter "The club of the greats"
Filler made with the best Carabbean tobacco. Binder from Ecuador. The wrapper is made out of a special habano 2000 leaf grown in Ecuador.



The cigar is dense and feels nice in the hand. The foot is unfinished.

The initial flavors were cedar and cream. This cigar definitely needed to sit for a minute.

The flavors settled down into cedar, cream, coffee and average amount of pepper. The finish bounced between raw almond and cream. It's early so let's see how the cigar changes.

About 2 1/2 inches in there is some toasted almond on the initial spice which quickly gives way to the cedar, cream, and pepper. There is some richness developing in the spice. The finish is one of cream solely with some lingering pepper. The cigar is medium bodied at best at this point. It's still early. This is a long cigar.

The cigar made no changes up to the band. At this point the toasted almond notes have filtered over into the spice and combine nicely with the cedar, cream, and coffee. There is still some richness in the spice but it's not plentiful. The pepper has improved. The finish is still one of cream. The cigar has not made a lot of major changes to this point. The cigar is still medium bodied.

As the cigar finished it took around 2 hours to smoke. The almond notes have now disappeared. The last 2 inches of the cigar were the richest it has been. The pepper became above average. The cedar notes have crept over to the finish and combine with the cream. The pepper lingered somewhat on the finish. This cigar was good but lacked significant richness. I will be reviewing the petit robusto next so I am hopeful that cigar will have more richness.


Score: 87