New Life for Juan Lopez

Altadis USA is breathing new life into the Juan Lopez brand name. They are offering an all Nicaraguan cigar – a “Nicaraguan Treasure”  as per their marketing materials – in 3 sizes (selection no. 1 is 5 X 54, selection no.2 is 6 X 54 and selection no. 3 is 6 X 60) packed 16 to a box. Altadis made an effort to blend the tobacco from all three growing regions in Nicaragua to create a flavorful blend for these sticks and then offer them as a premium cigar at a reasonable price. They are promoted as full bodied in flavor and the filler and binder are Nicaraguan.

Altadis gave me a 6 X 60 at the 2013 IPCPR to review, which I did just about the time of Altadis’s Juan Lopez press release this September.  The stick is a good size for me and the construction was firm but not hard. The maduro colored wrapper was Nicaraguan Habano and had a slick feel to it. As you can see it is slightly veiny. The pre-smoke aroma was earthy with pepper and cinnamon.

The cigar light well enough but the draw was not as free as I would like. The ash was firm and was more appealing than the draw. The first tastes differed from the aroma – I tasted the cinnamon but there was a background of sweetness that I didn’t expect with nuts rounding out the flavors.  The smoke volume was acceptable and the background sweetness remained throughout, along with the nuts and some spice. For me, this stick is at the low end of full bodied but with decent flavor. The 6 X 60 lasted for an hour and 10 minutes and at an SRP of between $5 and $6, represents a pretty good value. However the tough draw reduces the overall rating to 3.5