Video review HERE.
(Description provided by Bongani Cigars)
Bongani Cigars, the first African cigar brand, now has two new sizes. The original Bongani robusto, which I reviewed, is now available in Bongani 458, a 4 x 58 size, and Bongani 658, a 6 x 58 size.
Bongani says the blend is slightly different from the original robusto.
The Bongani story:
Bongani means “Be Grateful”. Be grateful for life, family and friends. Be grateful for Africa, our people and Africa’s resources.
We brought a team of cigar rollers from the Dominican Republic to train our team of Mozambican cigar rollers to the same level of expertise as in the D.R.
The first team of accomplished cigar rollers graduated in 2017 and we are now training a second generation.
Our wrapper comes from Cameroon; it is one of the best cigar wrappers in the world.
We grow our tobacco in Manica Province in Mozambique and soon in Nigeria and also use some of the best tobacco from around the world.
Our cigars are aged in cedar from Ghana. This gives them a unique and rich flavor as Ghanaian cedar is very richly and heavily scented.
Today we look at the Bongani 658.
The cigar is brown in color and has a nice feel in the hand.
The test draw after cutting the cap was good. The initial flavors at light up were citrus peel, faint apricot, brown sugar, a lot of earthiness, and leather. There was black pepper rated at 7 to 7 1/2. The earthiness is very high!
At the first third (38 minutes) the ash is still intact and tight. There was a little citrus peel with light brown sugar, a lot of earthiness, and leather. I did not have the faint apricot notes. The finish is leather with good lingering black pepper. The cigar is medium bodied. There's too much earthiness. I rated the first third 88.
Moving through the second third (1 hour 8 minutes) the cigar developed a little citrus note. It's rather light but it teams up with the citrus peel and brown sugar. The earthiness is still high. The cigar is medium bodied, leaning toward medium to full. The finish is unchanged. The cigar made a modest improvement with the citrus notes so I raised the score to 89.
The cigar lasted 1 hour 34 minutes. In this section I lost the light citrus notes and most of the citrus peel. The brown sugar is rather light. The earthiness is still there in abundance. There's also black coffee at the base to go along with the leather. The cigar is medium to full bodied. The finish is unchanged. The cigar lacks sweetness and has too much earthiness. I rated the final third 87. This cigar is not like the original Bongani Robusto. I expected similarities but didn't find any. The larger ring seemed to water down the cigar with earthiness. Perhaps a longer version of the original might work better.
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