Casa 1910 Cuchillo Parada

Purchased: Robusto (5 X 50) Single
Shop: Phoenix Humidor, Grass Valley, CA
Price Paid: $20.00 for a single
Buy again? Most probably not. If I do give it another chance, it’ll probably be just a couple of singles.

I’m just going to say this right from the start: This cigar needs weeks, perhaps months of humidor time before it’s truly enjoyable. While the draw was perfect throughout the smoke (about an hour), the first inch was all black pepper and char for me with a hint of bitter hazelnut. The general theme of this cigar was fairly strong hazelnut and eucalyptus mixed with pink peppercorn. It’s also spicy throughout the smoke, though the spiciness mellows out by second third.

It was tough getting through that first third. But once that harshness settled down, the smoke was mostly enjoyable as a bit of creaminess was introduced along with strong, thick espresso. The bitter hazelnut was attenuated but not eliminated, and the eucalyptus transformed to a green bell pepper. That said, it’s a flavor profile that’s not my favorite.

That green bell pepper taste is a reason I don’t like many cabernet sauvignons. So many of them have that flavor, especially when they’re young, so I tend to let cabs like that sit for a few years – at least – before I drink them so the bell pepper moves to the background.

But to be fair, I would like to give this stick another chance. When and if I do, as I mentioned above, I’d be laying it down in my humidor for quite some time before I smoke it. There were a couple of things that informed me of this assessment. First, that harshness from the bitter hazelnut in the first inch or so, and second, the burn was a little wonky until the second half where it corrected itself and straightened out. Those two things alone led me to think that a bit of humidor time would benefit this cigar. In other words, just because I didn’t thoroughly enjoy this stick, I don’t want to write it off. But I was a little puzzled because I got this stick from a B&M which should have been climate controlled. I would expect smokes from a store to be smokable immediately. Apparently not…

Part of the reason for simply not dismissing it is because it’s a Mexican puro, which is not common at all. Plus, unlike other cigars I’ve had with San Andres tobacco, this smoke was amazingly medium to mellow in body as opposed to some of the dark and brooding smokes I’ve had with San Andres tobacco. And finally, there was extraordinarily little nicotine throughout the smoke! Holy Shit! I was expecting to get a bit of a nic-hit. It wasn’t that way at all, and that kind of made up for the flavor issues I had.

Construction is excellent, so it receives high marks in that area (see the picture of the ash at the top). I got almost three inches of ash before it finally broke off on its own – and I was even holding it the whole time as I smoked it sitting on the back bumper of my Subara Outback!

I had the smoke with a nice cup of Oat Milk Latte. Thank goodness I had that on hand as it helped me get through the first part of the smoke. I might’ve chucked it had I not had that coffee to wash down the harshness. The cigar produces a nice bit of smoke and the mouthfeel is amazingly light but with a medium finish.

In closing, if it weren’t for the flavor issues I would be raving about this cigar. It has everything else going for it with respect to build quality, smoke production, and burn. I’ll get a couple of more sticks and see what’s what.