A Cigar For John Wayne!

John Wayne (born Marion Morrison) was “only” 6 feet 4 inches tall but his swagger and voice made him appear bigger than that in the 140+ pictures that he starred in.  John was chain smoker of cigarettes but were he to select a cigar today that fits his persona, I would bet on the Troncoso by La Cosecha Cigars.  This cigar is a “branch”, not just a stick, made to be a 6 ½ X 70 box pressed handful.  The first I heard of La Cosecha was at the 2013 IPCPR where they showcased their El Cuje brand. Appearing to be a big cigar operation, the El Cuje brand has 4 collections of cigars presumably aimed at different market segments. La Cosecha gave me the “branch”  (Troncoso) at the IPCPR to review, and this cigar is part of their Gran Cosecha Collection. I measured my Troncoso with a ruler and it was 7 ½ X 70! All cigars in the Gran Cosecha collection have a black label.

The Gran Cosecha Collection is all box-pressed, using all Nicaraguan tobaccos for the filler, binder and wrapper. The sizes in the line are the Troncoso (6 1/2 x 70), Colossal (6 x 65), Toro Grande (5 x 60), Gran Robusto (6 1/2 x 56) and the Gordito (5 1/2 x 54).

I like big cigars and the Troncoso is the largest I have had to date. The box pressed shape actually fit well between my fingers as more of this “branch” touched my fingers than a cylinder shape would have.  While eye-catching, the overall appearance of the Troncoso was average but the construction was as good as it had to be for this size. There were no soft spots and it burned evenly for me, never requiring a re-light. The smoke quantity was good as was the draw. The flavor always had some pepper in the background but the foreground shifted among spice, leather and nutmeg.  The “branch” burned nicely for 2 hours and never got hot. This is a cigar for a pot of coffee, not a cup! At $8 SRP, I consider 2 hours of pleasure a good value and rate it a 4 out of 5. However, I have not found El Cuje at any internet seller, nor have I found their website.