Curivari Sun Grown Maduro

Purchased: Single 5 X 54 Box Pressed
Price: $13.95
Store: West Coast Cigars
Buy Again: …and again and again
Box Worthy: Yes. I left the shop with a box, which is something I never do.

This post isn’t as much a review as it is a declaration: This cigar blew me away! Yet another Curivari stick that has done that!

I decided to spend last Saturday evening at West Coast Cigars in San Jose, CA which is my favorite lounge in the area. They also carry a lot of the Curivari lines, so my intent was to go there and see if they had anything that I hadn’t tried yet. And sure enough, they had a few that I hadn’t yet tried. But the one that caught my eye was the Sun Grown Maduro as I had recently seen it on a search for Curivari cigars.

So without hesitation, I picked one up out of the display box and bought it. I lit it up and took my first draw and gorgeous blast of black pepper and cedar hit my palate. But it wasn’t at all spicy; just a full, rich flavor that flooded my mouth and assaulted my taste buds. I knew I was in for a good ride!

As I got more into it, I remarked to Fr. Bob (a retired priest in my diocese and one of the owners of West Coast) who was sitting across from me, “This Curivari Sun Grown is blowing me away. It’s SO good!” He gave me a knowing nod and said that Curivari is one of those brands that doesn’t get a lot of attention in the media but has a very loyal following and once people discover it, they usually get hooked. I told him to count me as one of those people.

Out of all the Curivari sticks I’ve smoked thus far, while I won’t yet say that this is my favorite Curivari because I need to smoke a few more to make that declaration, it was the first that grabbed my attention immediately. This cigar was relentless from light-up. But make no mistake, it started out at medium then never got stronger than medium+ in strength, though it did get to full strength at the nub, which one would expect. But the onslaught of flavors put it into high gear from the get-go.

About halfway through the smoke, I said to Fr. Bob, “Here’s a cigar that I can buy for eight bucks online, but it smokes like a cigar four or five times its cost. And technically it falls into that value or budget category at that price, but a cigar like this redefines the idea of budget, which most people equate with cheap or inferior. There’s nothing cheap about this cigar.” Fr. Bob just gave me a knowing nod…