Patina Oro de Nicaragua Toro (6 x 52)

Video review HERE.

(Description taken from Halfwheel.com website)

Digging into history for a new cigar line is nothing new in the cigar industry, and this year, Mo Maali did some digging into his own cigar history for the newest line for his company, Patina Cigars.

As Maali tells the story, a cigar called Oro de Nicaragua was one of the first cigars that really got him into the world of boutique cigars. It was made by My Father Cigars as an exclusive for Casa de Montecristo in Chicago, with a blend that featured a Nicaraguan wrapper over an undisclosed binder and filler. While it was a store exclusive, Oro de Nicaragua wore the same primary band as the My Father core line, with a secondary band bearing the cigar’s name. That original line debuted at the end of 2014, and Maali said he hasn’t seen it on shelves since about 2016.

When Maali decided to create a new line for Patina’s portfolio, he wanted to see if he could go back to that cigar, not necessarily to recreate it, but to bring the name back and put his own spin on it. To do that, he needed to acquire the brand, so he reached out to Mike and Sam Khalil, owners of Casa de Montecristo in Chicago and the Oro de Nicaraguan brand. They agreed, and Maali purchased the brand from them.

For the Patina Oro de Nicaragua, Maali selected an Ecuadorian habano oscuro wrapper and an Ecuadorian Sumatra binder, while the filler includes tobacco from Nicaragua along with Connecticut broadleaf. It is produced at Nicaragua American Cigars S.A. (NACSA) in Estelí and offered in four sizes:

Patina Oro de Nicaragua Robusto (5 x 54) — $13 (Box of 20, $260)

Patina Oro de Nicaragua Toro (6 x 52) — $15 (Box of 20, $300) REVIEWED TODAY

Patina Oro de Nicaragua Toro Extra (6 1/4 x 54) — $16 (Box of 20, $320)

Patina Oro de Nicaragua Lancero (7 x 40) — $14 (Box of 20, $280)

“The Oro de Nicaragua is a wonderfully complex and well-balanced cigar that will be the fullest Patina offering to date, and I’m excited to add it to our growing portfolio,” Maali said about the blend. He told halfwheel that this is a completely different blend from the original, as he was more attached to the name and its importance in his early cigar smoking days, as well as that was a cigar made for his local cigar shop. He also noted that he considers his blend to be stronger than that of the original.

The Oro de Nicaragua marks a couple of firsts for Patina, as this is the first time that the company has released a lancero and the first time that the company has released its cigars in 20-count boxes. Maali said that the first batch of the lancero vitola is already sold out, but more will be produced in subsequent production runs.

The cigar is quite dark and well made. It has an average to good feel in the hand.

The test draw after cutting the cap was good. The initial flavors at light up were peach, brown sugar, a little lime kicker, and earthy black coffee. There was black pepper rated at 7 1/2. Pretty good start.

At the first third (29 minutes) the notes are about the same. The black coffee has not risen and makes a nice base. The cigar is medium bodied. The finish is black coffee with very good lingering black pepper. The cigar is tasty at this point. I rated the first third 93.

Moving through the second third (1 hour 2 minutes) the black coffee is rising and it's taking away some of the sweet notes. The cigar is medium to full bodied. The finish is unchanged. The increased black coffee hurt. I rated the second third 90.

The cigar lasted 1 hour 42 minutes. The black coffee has pretty much taken over. There are some faint toffee like notes but they are no match for the increased black coffee. The cigar is medium to full bodied. The finish is unchanged. I rated the final third 87. The cigar started out pretty nice but went downhill. I could smoke it again but I would not seek it out.

Overall Score: 90