Has it been 5 years already? Wow, time flies, like the smoke in the Stogie Press lounge. There should be no mistake by now, that I enjoy Arandoza cigars. They have made the Stogie Press top 25 for two years in a row – OK, I only did two top 25 lists, but Stogie Press is only 3-years-old. In that 3 years I have reviewed the whole lineup of Arandoza.
So here we are in 2016 and once again Robert (Pops) Arango has released another cigar at the IPCPR. This time it is a milestone, his 5th anniversary, yep that’s the name of this one. There is no need for a quirky name when you are celebrating a milestone.
The only difference, is the Arandoza 5th Anniversary is a limited production cigar for the company.Only 500 boxes of 10 will be sold.
The cigar itself is a Nicaraguan puro and is being manufactured at Erik Espinosa’s La Zona Factory. There is only one vitola being offered, a 6 x 52 Toro. They are retailing for about $8.70/cigar.
The blend is described simply as:
- Wrapper – Nicaraguan Habano
- Binder – Nicaraguan
- Filler – Nicaraguan
Let’s see what 5 years in the business and a pure Nicaraguan blend gets you
Cigar Review Notes
- Beautiful cigar, with a medium to dark brown wrapper that has a slight red tinge in the light
- Triple cap
- Tightly rolled and well packed cigar
- Just sweet chocolate aromas coming off the wrapper
- Foot aroma is amazing; chocolate and raisin – yes this is a Chunky Bar
- I went with a punch cut
- Cold draw is somewhat restricted and delivers chocolate and a sprinkle of pepper
- This is like one of those fine Russian pepper chocolates (you had to eat these to understand)
- Once warmed up and ignited, the initial notes are chocolate, nut, coffee, and some pepper on the nose
- Pepper quickly retreats
- A sweetness enters with a long cafe mocha finish
- Nice medium grey solid ash
- Fairly thick char line
- Strength starts to show near end of first third
- Cedar begins to enter in the second third
- Sweetness continues and the chocolate backbone lingers long on the palate
- Wow black cherry enters near the half way point mixing with the chocolate on the finish
- Well centered burn cone – a well constructed cigar
- Strength has clocked in at full
- Nutty Aroma
- Hint of spice entering the final third
- Chocolate remains on the back note
- Solid Medium to Full strength
- Pristine burn for the complete 90 minutes of smoking pleasure
Overall, the Arandoza 5th Anniversary cigar is great. What more can I say. Pops, you did an excellent job on this. I really should go buy myself a box for the holidays. I picked the one cigar up at Cigarz at Waterford Towers in Orlando, FL. Which, by the way, is a very cool lounge. I will be going back soon to do a review of it.
~Boston Jimmie
Arandoza 5th Anniversary