JC Newman

December 21, 2019

Viaje 10 + 2 1/2 Anniversary Red (6 x 54)










Video review HERE.


(Description taken from Cigar-coop.com website)
As Viaje Cigars founder Andre Farkas told me, nobody seems to celebrate half-year anniversaries in the cigar industry, so why not start now? At this year’s IPCPR Trade Show, Farkas unveiled a series of cigars to commemorate the company’s 12 1/2 years known as Viaje Ten Plus Two And A Half Anniversary.

The third blend is the Viaje Ten Plus Two And A Half Anniversary Red. This cigar features a San Andres Mexican wrapper over Aganorsa-grown binder and filler. While the Red also comes in a 6 x 54 Toro, the Red is unique in that it is box-pressed with an unfinished foot. While the Viaje Ten Plus Two And A Half Anniversary Red also comes in 25-count boxes, production is limited to 200 boxes.



Wrapper: San Andres Mexican
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Factory: Tabacos Valle de Jalapa S.A. (TABSA)
Toro: 6 x 54



This cigar is box pressed with a closed foot. It has a dense feel in the hand.





The test draw after cutting the cap was good. The initial flavors at light up were a dry orange peel, a dab of brown sugar, a tough of cinnamon, quite a bit of nutmeg, a lot of semi-sweet dark chocolate, and a lot of black coffee. There was black pepper rated at 7. A very dark start.




At the first third (37 minutes) there was very little detectable brown sugar or cinnamon. There is now the dry orange peel, nutmeg, unsweetened dark chocolate, and black coffee. The cigar is medium to full bodied. The finish is dark chocolate with a touch of nutmeg and a nice amount of lingering black pepper. This is a good tasting cigar with the dark notes it has but it lacks sweetness. It needs more sweetness. I rated the first third at 90 in hopes that it will improve. If not, the scores will decrease.




Moving through the second third (1 hour 9 minutes) the cigar has not changed except for the dry orange peel changing over to a cedar. The dark notes are still king. I like them but they need significantly more sweetness. The cigar is a low grade full bodied. The finish is unchanged. I hoped the cigar would improve in sweetness but instead it stayed the same. I lowered the second third score to 87.




The cigar lasted an impressive 1 hour 45 minutes. In the final third the cedar really came out with some sweetness. There was a touch of brown sugar. There were even some cream notes detected. There were still plenty of nutmeg, unsweetened dark chocolate, and black coffee notes. The cigar is full bodied. The finish has more nutmeg than dark chocolate and a nice amount of lingering black pepper. The cigar slightly improved for me. I rated the final third at 88. This cigar would score much higher for me if it had more sweetness.


Overall Score: 88.33

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