Cohiba Siglo V Cigar - 1 Single

Date Added: Friday 03 June, 2016 by Staff

Reviewed by Austin Dyer

Last Christmas I visited some relatives in Northumberland as usual. My uncle had come over from America where he now lives and, to my delight, his gift to me was a fine box of Cohiba Siglo V which a friend of his bought while in Cuba. I was not sure about the legality of that but I did not care. They were in good condition, the box had been kept in a humi pouch bag, a great invention!

That same evening after one of the finest, most delicious Christmas dinners I had ever eaten, I sat in the front room of the lovely country house, watching the snowflakes hovering about in the darkness outside and the warm, crackling, open fireplace beside me. I sipped some cognac and took a Siglo V. The construction was precise, no deformations, a completely smooth and very oily wrapper with a perfectly constructed triple cap. It felt a little harder than most Habanos I had smoked, this was due to a tight roll. The smell from it was sweet and earthy, and made my senses flare up.

I could not wait to put flame to leaf. I carefully snipped the end, no problems. As the flame from the long match licked at the foot of this beauty the cool smoke began to ease out. The draw was tough, to my disappointment, as I prefer an easier draw. The smoke was very cool and mild bodied at first but slowly as the first inch drew along it became stronger and a lot of flavours began to emerge. A lot of cedar and nutty flavours in the first third, slowly becoming more earthy into the second third, but not quite so much as with some other Cohibas such as the Robusto. The cedar, nuts, scent remained and well into the second third hints of liquorice and coffee tasted me. The roast coffee bean was more prominent. The last third became a lot more spicy and hot, too hot for my liking, and to my disappointment I had to let this cigar die an honourable death.

This cigar was full of flavours, but unfortunately the tight roll made drawing them out difficult and did spoil the enjoyment a little (do not smoke these if you are not up for a little sucking...ahem). To be fair, however, I did feel satisfied smoking this cigar. It lasted a good 2 hours and the flavours were wonderful. The room was filled with a rich, but not too oppressive, Cuban aroma of earthy, spicy tobacco. My uncle walked into the room (before I offered him one of these wonders) and just said "...that smells divine". It was a delicious cuban cigar (even if I did have to wrestle with the draw a little).

Aesthetics: 25/25
Construction: 15/25
Flavour: 22/25
Overall Opinion: 23/25

Total: 85/100