The Nicarao brand cigar used to be made by the Tabacalera Tropical in Nicaragua. Now it is part of ‘Rocky Patel Premium Cigars' and is being produced by Nestor Plasencia at the ‘El Paraiso’ factory in Danlí, Honduras. If you look at a map you will see that Danli, Honduras is only about 60 miles north of Estili, Nicaragua, so it is basically the same region. As it turns out, the cigar is a Nicaraguan ‘puro’ but made in Honduras (go figure). The cigars I smoked for this review were Churchills, 7” in length with a 48 ring gauge.
Flavor and Aroma
The pre-lighting aroma was floral with a hint of cedar. The initial lighting had a nice aroma, almost like bread baking or coffee roasting . That was as far as it went. The entire smoking experience was un-impressive and un-remarkable. The flavor and aroma quickly faded into a very average cigar.Draw and Construction
The construction seemed above average. It felt medium firm and had a good easy draw. The wrapper was well put together but the burn was uneven for the first 2”. The ash and smoke were white. The ash fell at 1 ½ “ after 28 minutes and the entire cigar took 1 hour and 32 minutes to smoke down to 1 ½ “.Value
To pay more than $5 or $6 for an average cigar is, in my opinion, not a good value. A box of 20 has dropped to less than $100 for the Churchill size, or you can find 5 packs for around $30. In fact, while I was smoking this cigar at the Albuquerque Cigar Club, a friend of mine next to me was smoking a ‘Flor de Oliva’ (see Gary’s review) and it smelled way better than what I was smoking, and it cost under $2. There is some additional info about a Belgian that actually owns the brand name, but it does not make this a better smoking cigar.
