Back in July, General Cigars announced a complete rebranding of the Iconic Sancho Panza line. As part of this re-launch, the team at General Cigar brought in another Iconic figure in the industry – Matt Booth – to work on the project. In the end, there are now three Sancho Panza blends on the market:
- Sancho Panza Original
- Sancho Panza Double Maduro
- Sancho Panza Extra Fuerte
Matt Booth noted in a press release:
“The re-launch of Sancho Panza marks an exciting turning point for this iconic brand. By elevating brand aesthetics, investing ourselves into the realization of intelligent blend expressions and putting the force of our ground pounders behind this brand in the streets, we are taking Sancho Panza to a new lifespan and beyond. I am extremely proud of the work that the entire team has done to bring these new expressions to life. And I look forward to witnessing the brand’s newfound potential.”
For todays review, I will focus on the Sancho Panza Original. I sampled 3 of the robustos for this review, which I received from the company for the purpose of reviewing on Stogie Press.
The Sancho Panza Original has a five country blend that is described as:
- Wrapper – Honduran-grown Connecticut
- Binder – Mexican San Andres
- Filler – Dominican, Nicaraguan, and Brazilian Matafina
They are expressed in 3 vitolas and come packaged in 20-count wooden boxes:
- Robusto (5.5” x 50) – MSRP $6.69/cigar
- Toro (6.5 x 52) – MSRP $7.09/cigar
- Gigante (6” x 60) – MSRP $7.59/cigar
Pre-Light Examination
The Sancho Panza Original is cloaked in dark tan wrapper that is fairly smooth to the touch and displays some marbling throughout. The seams are all but invisible and the wrapper has a decent oily sheen. There is just a little give along the barrel when pressed gently between the fingers and it looks well packed when looking at the foot. A decent cap finishes the presentation.
Two bands adorn the cigar. The primary band uses a blue. gold, and white motif and presents the new new logo design in the center along with Hecho A Mano Honduras across the top and bottom, indicating this is a hand made Honduran product. A secondary gold and white band is placed just below the primary and identifies this as “The Original”.
Running the Sancho Panza Original along the nose, I noted a pleasant baking spice aroma along the barrel while the foot enticed the nose with a notes of butter and pepper.
I opened the cap using my Baller Cutter from CigarMedics and proceeded to give it some cold draw puffs that I found to have a excellent draw and offered notes of nuttiness and creamy sweetness.
Using the soft flame of a cedar spill, I warmed the foot and drew in the first puffs of peppery smoke to begin the journey. Follow along as I burn this one to ash.
Cigar Review Notes
- Initial light greets the palate with soft peppery notes
- Light grey ash forms on top of a slightly wavy and medium thick char line
- Excellent Smoke Production
- Citrus notes begin to evolve and slowly morph into a pleasant orange note
- Nutty aroma wafts off the foot
- Ash fell in a nice chunk revealing a decent burn cone
- Creamy sweetness wraps the citrus
- Almond notes enter the mix midway adding an enticing dimension to the profile
- Espresso enters to round out the blend
- Spice enters in the final but the smoke gets hot in final
- Medium in Strength
- Total Smoking Time was 1 hour and 30 minutes
Final Analysis
The Sancho Panza Original with its five-country blend was a complex and enjoyable cigar. There is much I can say about the profile but I will comment that it was well balanced and the Almond, Orange, and Cream worked well together offering a pleasant medium body of smoke through the journey. The burn was fairly error free with a just a mild wave or jag here and there. The smoke did get a tad hot near the final. This is certainly one I suggest picking up a 5-pack of and put a couple away to see how it develops over time. I rate this a 91.
Point Deductions: (-1) Mild Wave; (-2) Smoke Gets a tad hot in final
