Review of Rustico Cigars From Intercigar

Yes, this is another good value cigar from Maurice Koks who created the Vallejuelo, Koks y Rojas, Medio Tiempo, Antonious and now a bundle cigar, the Rustico. This cigar is offered in 3 sizes – Robusto, Toro and Gordo and with two different wrappers – an Ecuadorian Cuban Seed Habano and a Brazilian Habano Maduro. I’ll cut right to the bad news first. The Brazilian wrapper is not good, don’t waste your money on any of them in any size. Also, the Gordo’s are also not good, even with the Ecuadorian Cuban Seed Habano. Why? Because they are rolled too tight, unless you like relighting your cigar every few minutes. That means that all the cigars I just said were bad are getting ZERO stars. DO NOT BUY THEM!!!

Now for some good news. The Robustos and Toros with the Ecuadorian Cuban Seed Habano wrapper are good cigars at a very good price. The binder for these two cigars are Dominican Habano tobacco and the fillers are a mix of Dominican and Nicaraguan tobacco.

Construction and Draw – The Robustos and Toros with the Ecuadorian Habano wrappers have a nice triple cap with a large pigtail. This gives the cigars an aesthetic distinctive look and allows for a clean cut to open the cigar without damaging the cap. The foot is also totally closed so the pre lighting draw is a bit restrictive but as soon as you light up the draw is very easy and produces a lot of smoke. Although the cigar starts out with an even burn, within an inch or two it start to favor one side and to keep it burning evenly, touch ups with a lighter are required. The Robusto smokes in about 60 minutes and the Toro a little over 90 minutes. When you are down to the last two inches with the Toro and the last inch with the Robusto the draw is a little too warm for my liking and I usually let it burn out by itself.

Flavor and Aroma – The Ecuadorian Habano has good aroma and flavor both of which result in a very earthy smoke. About half way through you will notice hints of sweetness like cocoa and some coffee to counter the sweetness. Towards the end a nuttiness adds to the overall flavor.

Value and Rating – Both the Robusto and Toro are good values and prices at $3.36 and $3.64 respectively. Taking into account the uneven burn and too hot to smoke down below two inches it is still a good value and I am giving it 3.5 stars.