The Onyx Reserve Torbusto cigar is quite unique because of its size and shape. This a figurado type cigar, slightly tapered at both ends with the foot being larger than the head and box pressed as well. This is a 5 ½ long cigar with a ring gauge of 60. Now that might sound large but the taper makes it easy to smoke. These are made at the Tobacalera de Garcia factory in the Dominican Republic and distributed in the US by Altadis USA.
Flavor and Aroma
This is not a very complex cigar but certainly a good tasting one. There are definite subtle spice, earthy notes and leather that come through while smoking but I still would only consider this a medium flavored cigar. A beginner looking for more body to his smoke might want to try these and should not be afraid of that dark maduro wrapper which actually gives it a hint of sweetness. About half way through the spiciness turns a tad peppery and the aroma is pleasant and not overpowering.Draw and Construction
This unique ‘torbusto’ is a very dark cigar, a very firm cigar and quite nice to look at because of its unusual shape. It has a rough looking blackened Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro wrapper. The caps on some that I smoked were a little rougher than you would expect but it did not take away from the smoking experience. The cap also help up well right to the last puff. The cigars cut well but you will have to work a little to get a good light. Once lit the cigar has a slightly restrictive draw, fairly even burn and generates lots of nice thick smoke. On two occasions I used a cigar spike to open up the draw, which did the trick. Because of the tight draws, these cigars are rated one full star lower than they would have been. This is a very slow burning cigar. The ash fell off after one hour and the cigar had only burned down to 3 ½”. The binder is Nicaraguan and the filler is an interesting mix of Dominican, Nicaraguan and Peruvian tobaccos. An interesting observation on this cigar other than the long burn time is that I put it down for about 5 minutes to answer the phone and when I picked it up again, all I had to do was puff a few times and the cigar came back to life without needing a re-light.Value
If you like smoking a cigar down to one inch, and enjoy it for more than 2 hours, then this is a tremendous value. It is not a long cigar (5 ½”) but it is a long smoking cigar and I really like that about this cigar. I don’t usually smoke cigars that longer than 7” and certainly nothing as long as 9” or 10”. This cigar smoked as long as one twice its size. They are sold in singles in most cigar shops but expect to pay $5/stick. If you really want a great value you will find them online in 5 packs for $4/stick and in boxes of 20 for as low as $70 ($3.50/stick). A really nice cigar for a long relaxing smoke.
