Azan Has Value Again With The Burgundy Robusto

Roberto Pelayo Duran has enjoyed a long career in the cigar industry, partly in production and partly with the distribution organization of Cubatabaco, the Cuban state tobacco company.  This distribution organization, Habanos S.A. formed in 1994, controls the promotion, distribution, and export of Cuban cigars and other tobacco products worldwide for Cubatabaco.  Roberto’s brand, Azan, has roots that extend back to the 1920’s where he states that Chinese immigrants to Cuba privately owned the brand until it was nationalized by Castro.

In 2012 Roberto formed a company called Roberto Duran LLC and developed his Azan cigar line which debuted at the 2013 IPCPR.  Azan has a White line (premium cigars) and a Burgundy line (every day cigars).  The Burgundy line has 6 types – 4 3/8 X 50 short robusto, 4 3/8 X 46 short campana, 4 7/8 X 50 robusto , 5 1/8 X 42 petit corona, 4 7/8 X 50 robusto A/T and 5 1/8 X 42 petit corona .  I was given the burgundy short robusto at the IPCPR for review.

The Azan cigars are produced at the Esteli, Nicaragua factory of a partner where they are hand rolled and aged in a climate controlled cedar room. The Burgundy line’s filler is a selection of tobaccos from Jalapa and Esteli in Nicaragua, the binder is Jalapa and the wrapper is Cuban seed Corojo from Ecuador.

The short robusto has a simple band around an attractive cigar. Its construction was very good from the cap to the foot. It lit well enough and the draw was more than acceptable. The volume of smoke was well above average and I like this in a cigar.   There was good flavor – mostly leather and some cinnamon with a lot of sweetness. The strength was medium bodied and it took 40 minutes to smoke with an even burn and attractive ash.  There is a lot of flavor for a retail price of $4, so I consider this a very good value, resulting in an overall rating of 4.0 out of 5.