Curivari Buenaventura Pralines P554

Purchased: Box of 10 (5.75 X 54) Light BP
Store: Cigar Art, Dallas TX
Price: $70.00
By Again: Yes
Box Worthy: Obviously
Experience Rating: 95

To be completely honest, I don’t buy Curivari cigars in 5ers or singles. What’s the point? I go through them regularly so paying the higher per stick price of a single or 5er doesn’t make much sense to me. Granted, I run the risk of buying a box of duds, but I haven’t yet met a Curivari that I didn’t like.

I got this box while I was on vacation in Texas, having spent the first few days in the Dallas area. I love the Bishop Arts district there and mainly because of the Cigar Art lounge. I went to the lounge specifically to stock up on some Definition sticks, but they were completely out. Bummer. But as I was perusing their stock, I came upon a display table of Curivari boxes!

At first glance, I thought it was all regular Buenaventuras, so it was going to be a pass for me. But then I noticed a small pile of Pralines boxes. I quickly looked it up (thank gawd for instant Internet access), and saw that it had a Mexican San Andres wrapper. That piqued my interest because I love cigars with that wrapper. And the fact that it was only $70 for the box, which was around the online price and I wouldn’t be paying shipping, it was a no-brainer for me to buy a box then and there.

That said though, as far as the Buenaventura line is concerned, though I like the standard BV500, it has been my least favorite of the lines. But this Pralines version takes the Buenaventura to an entirely new level! As I mentioned, I liked the BV500, but I felt it had a “been there, done that” kind of quality to it. If I smoked it blind, I would have thought it was a classic AJ Nic puro.

But this… this is a completely different beast. The Mexican San Andres wrapper adds a subtle sweetness and a different spiciness to the blend. While the BV500 was full of black pepper, the Pralines adds a nice, fresh, and mild Thai pepper component along with what I can only identify as a bit of citrusy astringency on the finish. And like the BV500, the smoke is smooth and creamy throughout. The cedar and oak are there as well as roasted cashews.

From the get-go, as expected with most Curivari sticks, there’s a lot going on. While this stick doesn’t have the transitions of the Reserva Limitada Cafe Noir, its complexity comes from a shifting array of flavors. Some are bolder like the flavors I mentioned above, but there are a lot of subtle and nuanced flavors throughout the smoke. For instance, in one puff I got a hint of caramel and vanilla. The next puff I got roasted cashews and cream. It’s very cool!

As far as how it smoked is concerned, even though it is lightly box-pressed, I only had to make a single correction to it, and I suspect that was only because it was a little breezy at the time. But with no breeze, the burn line has been razor straight down to the nub! The stick is solidly built with no soft spots and the draw required no probing with my PerfecDraw. It was also a slow-burner, taking over an hour and forty-five minutes to finish; yes, I nubbed that sucker!

Luckily, unlike the Reserva Limitada Cafe Noir, Sun Grown, or Seleccion Privada, these aren’t discontinued yet as far I know. But leave it to Curivari to just cease production on these without telling anyone. 🙂 But that’s just how it is with that brand. Oh well…