My Father Oro de Nicaragua

A Nicaraguan Cigar with Notes of Brown Sugar, Nutmeg, Baking Spices, Pepper, and a Hint of Cocoa Powder

Pre-light Characteristics:
The wrapper gives off notes of brown sugar and a hint of nutmeg and cocoa powder. The foot has a wonderful aroma of nutmeg, baking spices, a hint of cinnamon and a mild black pepper. The pre-light draw mainly consists of brown sugar, nutmeg and a slight black pepper.

First Third:
The initial few puffs have an overall natural tobacco flavor. After settling in about half an inch it becomes very smooth. I get elements of brown sugar and a sweet woody taste as well. The aroma of this cigar is very similar to the pre-light aromas of nutmeg, and baking spices. That brown sugar always seems to find a way to make itself known, too. Very pleasant experience so far.

And then...the retrohale test. Holy mixture of red and black pepper! A nice sinus-clearing blast happens and I'm definitely not complaining. I love a cigar with some zing to it and this one passes the test with flying colors. The draw is absolutely flawless. It gives way to massive amounts of smoke. The burn line is razor sharp so far as I approach the end of the first third.

Second Third:
As I enter the second third I notice how much creamier the smoke is becoming. Still wonderful flavors of brown sugar and baking spices dominating the profile. A slight woody flavor also enters back in but it's got a nice subtle sweetness to it. The burn line remains razor sharp and the draw continues to be flawless.

Last Third:
The last third begins with a more natural tobacco flavor. A touch of leather also makes an appearance. I'm usually not a huge fan of leather in my cigars but this one creeps in very lightly and it's enjoyable. Towards the end the wrapper starts to unravel a tiny bit. Nothing to worry about and I highly doubt this is going to be typical for a high quality cigar made by My Father. I've never had it happen with any of their other smokes so it doesn't bother me at all.

Conclusion:
This is an excellent cigar. I'm a fan of the My Father brand overall and I had a feeling this cigar wouldn't disappoint, and it definitely didn't. It's got a great feel to it and smokes very well throughout. I'd probably say it's in the medium to medium-full bodied range. It never became harsh and never had any bitter or unpleasant tastes. Although I was expecting a bit more pepper throughout the entire smoke (something Nicaraguan cigars are famous for) it still delivered very well and had that nice pepper blast on the retrohale.  I would rate it a solid 92.

The Story Behind the Cigar:

I want to thank Craig over at Casa de Montecristo in Chicago for providing me with a sample of this cigar for review. The Oro de Nicaragua is an exclusive release for Casa de Montecristo. When I asked Craig about the story behind this cigar, this is what he told me: 

"We were on a tour at the Pepin factory when one of our owners stopped at a bale of tobacco. We kept going...he stayed there. So, we all go back to him and he just is holding leaves to his face. He says, 'This smells just like Godiva chocolate'. It did. A very rich cocoa smell to it. So, Don Pepin himself takes the cigar out of our owner's mouth and breaks the wrapper off of it. Takes one of the leaves and rolled it on the cigar he was smoking and in Spanish said the equivalent of, 'What does it taste like?' Our owner loved it and asked to buy the tobacco from Pepin."

A great story, and an even greater cigar. I highly recommend that you try this cigar. You can head over to www.cdmcigars.com to check out the exact cigar that I smoked for this review.