Review of Cohiba Riviera Cigar

Cohiba Riviera box-pressed cigars are made in Nicaragua with Mexican San Andrés wrappers, Honduran-grown Connecticut binders, and proprietary Honduran Jamastran and La Entrada filler tobaccos along with Nicaraguan fillers from Condega and Estelí. This is the first Cohiba made with a Mexican San Andrés wrapper, and the first to be box pressed. These cigar were shipped to retailers in May 2023, and are available in three sizes including a Robusto (5 x 52) priced at $19.99 per cigar, which is the subject of this review. For more information, please check out the press release.

The sample Cohiba Riviera Robusto cigar started off with an earthy flavor, along with notes of spice and brief hints of natural tobacco sweetness. The body was medium-to-full, and the overall taste was rich and satisfying. About 15 to 20 minutes into the smoking session, a leather flavor gradually replaced the earthy taste, with hints of spice still remaining as the sweetness faded away. Although the flavor transformed, there was not a reduction nor increase in my level of enjoyment. The taste may have been a bit different, but it was not any better nor worse. The flavor was pretty much consistent beyond this point until the end of the cigar.

The Cohiba Riviera Robusto was well made and had a great draw, mostly even burn, and held a long ash. It took me 55 minutes to smoke the cigar down to 1½ inches remaining, which was a pretty good performance for a Robusto size cigar. No relights were required, but I did apply one minor touch-up after smoking about half of the cigar, just to keep the burn perfectly even.

Overall, I rate the Cohiba Riviera Robusto with a very good to superior 4+ points on a 5-point scale. The cigar is very well made and certainly delivers a rich and enjoyable flavor. Cohiba Riviera can be considered a super premium cigar that's intended for more experienced cigar smokers.

Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer.