Review of Bobalu 1998 Connecticut Shade Fresh Rolled Robusto Cigar

While on active duty in South Central Texas, I spent my weekends exploring cigar shops in the area and I found a real gem in Austin. The place is called Bobalu Cigar Co. It is a small quaint shop located in Old Town Austin, and what is unique about this shop is that they only carry cigars that are made on the premises. Yes, you heard me correctly. They employ some Cuban expatriates, now US citizens, who grew up on the tobacco rich plantations of Cuba. This shop gives you the total cigar experience as well as serving a great array of specialty coffees. The company was featured on CNN back in June 2009 (watch video).

On the weekend that I decided to visit them, the shop was being managed by Sarah Marsh, a senior at the University of Texas – Austin. Sarah has been working at Bobalu while she finishes a degree in photography and photographic restoration. After only a few years at the shop, she has become quite an expert about cigar manufacturing and the various blends that are the cigars of the Bobalu Cigar Co. One of the secrets behind these cigars is Armando de Armas, a roller from Cuba with more than 50 years of experience in the art of rolling cigars. Since Armando speaks no English at all, I used my very poor Spanish skills to ask him his opinion about cigars. He explained that he likes to use Dominican tobacco for his filler, and feels that this island country is most like Cuba in climate and soil conditions. He also explained that he uses mostly the Connecticut Shade tobacco for his wrapper, and will vary the wrappers to either Brazilian Maduro or Sumatran when he wishes to ‘push’ the cigar a little. I interpreted that into meaning a fuller bodied cigar, but I lost most of his explanation to my lack of understanding his Spanish. I watched as he carefully rolled me several 1998 Connecticut Shade Robustos. These cigars are made with a genuine Connecticut River Valley wrapper, an Ecuadorian binder, and Dominican filler. He had me inspect the cigars when he finished, and proudly proclaimed that I will not find a better cigar that is most like a real Cuban. I have to admit that the cigars were in fact perfect, and the feel and look was, no kidding, just like a Cuban original.

The aroma was quite subtle, mild and naturally aromatic. The taste was that of a mild to medium bodied cigar with slight floral notes, no spice at all and a hint of sweetness in the tobacco. These are very smooth smoking cigars. About the mid-point of the smoke, the draw became a little more restrictive with a slight peppery and even cinnamon flavor. Of course the cinnamon flavor may have come from the cappuccino coffee I was drinking. This cigar is very much like a Davidoff 2000, but for half the price.

As I said earlier, the cigar was perfectly constructed without any visible blemishes. The cigar had a nice firmness to it and was triple capped, showing off the skills of Master Roller Armando de Armas. The burn was perfectly even and the ash fell off with only 2” left on the cigar. I did have to relight the cigar twice. The total smoking time was around one hour and 15 minutes.

These cigars sell for $8/stick, but Bobalu is always running a ‘buy 3 get 1 free’ deal, so that brings it down to $6 a cigar. A box of 25 sells for $115, which brings the price even further down to $4.60, which is a great deal. This is an excellent cigar for the money and you are getting an expertly crafted cigar made in the USA. Bobalu Cigar Co. also blends tobaccos from Nicaragua, Honduras, Sumatra, Ecuador, and Brazil, but in Armando’s opinion, their 1998 Connecticut Shade cigars are the best (and of course the ones he is rolling).