A while ago, Gary Manelski wrote an article about The Top 10 Cigars for Under $2. This turned into a short assignment for me to see if I could find better ones to add to this list or perhaps replace some already on the list. My search brought me to a cigar that Larry Monte (Albuquerque Cigar Club) sent to us (the troops) over in Afghanistan. It is called ‘Spanish Galleon’. After I returned from my deployment, I hunted around on the Internet until I finally found them at the AtlanticCigar.Com located in Elmsdorf, New York. This is a long-leaf (long fill) cigar that comes in three wrappers, Brazilian Bahia Criollo Maduro, Natural Ecuadorian Connecticut Seed, and African Cameroon. The African Cameroon wrapper was my choice for this review. The binder is a well-aged Cuban seed Dominican Olor Ligero tobacco. The filler is a blend of 3 different tobaccos; a Cuban Ligero grown in the Dominican Republic, a Nicaraguan tobacco grown in Esteli, Nicaragua and aged for 3 years, and additional Dominican filler. The Equus Cigar Company manufactures the cigars, a small manufacturer located in the Dominican Republic, and has a band with a colorful picture of an old Spanish Galleon (hence forth the name) on a backdrop of old-world navigational charts. If you save labels, this might be one to add to your collection. This Rubusto size cigar is 5” long with a ring gauge of 54.
Flavor
The Spanish Galleon cigars are an excellent choice for the beginner level cigar smoker. All of the different types are quite mild especially the Cameroon. There is not a whole lot of aroma with these and the flavors don’t exactly jump out at you. There is very smooth subtle taste of allspice, a hunt of sweetness and an extremely light citrus flavor. As I said the flavors will not hit you, it is a very and I emphasize the word ‘very’ mild cigar.
Draw and Construction
The burn on these is good and even. The ash held it’s own for a tad over 2” and overall smoking experience was around one hour. The draw is light and easy. Any type of cutting is good with this cigar. It is firm, has a ‘leafy’ looking wrapper with visible veins and comes wrapped in a cedar tube, which is what you might expect from a high-end premium cigar. The wrapper is of course an African Cameroon, the binder is Dominican Cubano and the filler is a tobacco from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.
Value
The Spanish Galleon Rubusto Cameroon has become one of my ‘everyday’ cigars, meaning a cigar I will smoke just to relax at the end of the day, not for any special occasion. The value is hard to pass on. The cigars are sold in 5 packs for $8.95 and bundles of 25 for $37.95 however in the Corona size you can get a 5 pack for $7.95 and a bundle for $34.95. That brings the cost of this cigar to $1.40 to $1.70 per stick, depending on which size you choose. Keep in mind that this is a long-fill, hand-made, premium quality cigar for under $2 that will smoke as good an many cigars for triple the price. Some people will say that you get what you pay for but in this case, you are getting much more, a good everyday cigar.
