Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf / U.S.A.
Binder: Indonesia
Filler: Nicaragua
Size: Gordo BXP (6 x 60)
Strength: Medium-Plus → Full (home stretch)
Body: Medium-Plus → Full (halfway)
Price: $16.00 MSRP / $320 box of 20, U.S. MSRP
Factory: Tabacalera Familia Disla S.A., Nicaragua
Blender: Esteban Disla / Tabacalera Familia Disla
Release: April 2026 / PCA 2026 debut (Regular Production)
Smoking Time: 2:00
Experience Rating: 94
I’m on a roll with the Cayman core lines right now. I’ve finished the Dominican side of the house with the Sovereign II, Monarch, and Mariner, and am now moving to the Nicaraguan side, produced at Tabacalera Familia Disla. I did review the Tortuga, which is a Disla blend, but that’s a limited edition.
When you smoke an Esteban Disla blend, you can confidently expect it to live up to its documented intent. Look at what he has done with Domain. He and Daniel Lance are blatant about what each cigar is supposed to do, and the cigar does it.
It’s no different with the Cayman Broadside.
Cayman founder Scott Haugh was quoted as saying that the cigar was meant to deliver “a deeper, richer smoking experience.” What he didn’t say was how it would deliver it.
That’s where Esteban Disla comes in.
I’ve smoked five of these leading up to this review. I actually tried to write a review with my third one, but kept getting distracted by the cigar. I knew what it was doing. I knew how it was behaving. I just couldn’t believe it was doing it this clearly. With this fifth one, I can finally share what I’ve been watching happen. Not only did Esteban capture Scott’s directive, but he also captured the imagery behind the name.
Synopsis
The Cayman Broadside Gordo opens with immediate weight, above-medium strength, and active movement while the cigar gathers itself. Before the first inch, it organizes quickly and begins moving in rapid sequence. Throughout the first half, the activity builds until the cigar reaches its most complex and energetic point. At halfway, it settles into a steadier glide with full-body, elevated strength. In the home stretch, strength rises hard, body stays full, and activity drops through the end. It remains enjoyable, but the force wins out before the nub.
The Broadside Gordo is a hybrid box press with rounded edges. The wrapper has a mottled skin that gives it a slightly rustic look, but the roll is stellar. The cigar feels packed.
The wrapper gives off the sourness of fermented tobacco. It’s not barnyard, with everything that word carries. It really smells fermented. There’s also a faint sweetness underneath it. The foot is more expressive, with dried apricot, fermented tobacco, and umami. The cold draw brings salty umami and fruity sweetness with a perfect draw and just enough resistance.
At ignition, the aroma coming off the foot is intoxicating, with sweet cedar and fruit, and the first puff comes in with dried prunes, roasted peanut, almond, and malted milk balls.
In the first few puffs, strength opens a touch over medium. Coffee enters and takes center stage, joined by subtle black pepper. Cream moves into the center with the coffee, and the two immediately feel like structural elements, even though the cigar is still organizing itself. Body is rich out of the gate. Caramel and charred oak begin filling in around the core, while a background sugary sweetness plants itself in the back of my mouth.
The cigar settles before the first inch. It’s not so much that a structure forms as it is an organization. The pieces are already there. They just begin arranging themselves.
Nicotine hits with enough power to push the strength, making me wonder if this is the first indication of what the cigar is going to do. Body is still rich, and the sweetness moves forward from the back of my mouth to the front, where it comes across like sweet peach.
The cigar suddenly fires.
A quick procession of flavors bursts into the profile: roasted nuts, stone fruit, charred cedar, malt, and nougat, almost too quickly to track. It forces me to pull back and ask myself what just hit me.
It’s like being hit by a broadside.
With the cigar settled, the core is defined: dark coffee, cream, and cedar.
Strength pushes up slightly, while the body maintains an even keel. The broadsides continue, and this is where the cigar becomes even harder to track. There’s a lot of complexity, and the flavors come too fast to catch cleanly.
It feels like I’m in the heat of battle.
Umami, vanilla crème, semi-sweet chocolate, toffee, and black pepper move through the profile, but they don’t feel scattered. They come in sequence, like the cigar is firing from one gunport to the next.
The sweetness feels like it’s pulling the profile forward, like sails catching wind. Then the spice finally arrives and pulls the profile upward.
At halfway, the cigar finally gives me a bit of respite. Body is full now, but strength is staying steady at medium-plus. The profile is gliding. The sweetness is still pulling it forward, and the spice has backed off, but it still pulls the profile upward. Cream is thick and smooth through the center.
Everything seems to be on deck now.
The flavors aren’t moving much. Even they seem to be resting, and that’s the awesome thing at this point. It’s incredibly articulate, but the flavors are numerous enough that I have to scan the profile’s expanse instead of chasing one thing at a time.
It’s like the ship has fired its barrage and is gliding through the smoke.
As I reach the home stretch, the profile darkens. Coffee becomes espresso. The cedar’s char deepens. Cream thickens and takes on a gravy-like quality, and the sweetness shifts toward toffee. The spice intensifies, and the roasted nuts darken until a toasted hazelnut begins to stand out.
Then the nicotine asserts itself and kicks the strength up hard.
The whole profile starts to feel gravitational. It’s losing some of the supporting flavors, but it’s not collapsing. The cigar compresses, and activity drops sharply as strength and body take over, but it’s not getting muddy.
Every time I get to this point, it’s clear that this is an ass kicker.
Like a ship of the line.
The last couple of inches hold steady. There are no real changes to strength, body, or activity. The cigar has entered its cruise.
It’s powerful and imposing, but there’s a confidence in how it glides. The sweetness has waned and moved to the finish, where it feels more like an afterthought. The profile is being pulled forward by dark-roasted hazelnut now, and the nicotine is really making its presence known.
I’m swooning.
This is the ship of the line after the barrage. Still moving. Still dangerous. Still fully in command.
The last inch continues the same slow cruise. The profile compresses even more until only the dark core remains. It’s still incredibly enjoyable, but there’s no getting around the strength now. The cigar is full, heavy, and forceful, and the activity has tapered into a controlled finish rather than another volley.
It’s too strong to nub.
This is a cigar to save for the end of the day, after you’ve had a full meal. With its strength and complexity, you want to be sitting down.
Smoking the Cayman Broadside Gordo is like being hit by a broadside. The cigar spends the opening gathering itself, almost like it’s loading its guns. Then it fires volley after volley through the first half.
Once it starts cruising in the second half, the motion is smooth, but there’s force and power behind it. It feels like a warning that you shouldn’t engage.
In practical terms, that means smoke it slowly. My puff rate went way down in the second half, and by the end, the cigar was simply too strong to nub.
I love this cigar, but because it’s such an ass kicker, it’s not something I’d reach for every day. It’s certainly box-worthy, but it’s one of those cigars that’ll take me a year to finish the box.
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