Bolivar Royal Corona (Cuban)

So I’m reaching into my humidor today to dig up another Cuban for your viewing enjoyment. I bought a box of these a while back, probably about 2 years ago, but I couldn’t seem to find the box to pinpoint the exact date. I believe they are from 2010 or so, and it is none other than the Bolivar Royal Corona.

I’m sure most of our readers have heard of this name before, if not in the Cuban variety than you may know of the Dominican variety. It’s made by General Cigar but they only seem to have 1 blend under that name, definitely not as popular as many others. The Cuban brand has been around for a long date dating it’s founding back to 1901!

One interesting thing about the early days of Bolivar was that they actually produced the smallest cigar in the world, measuring in at only 1.875 x 20. Now that’s a real quick smoke, even smaller than today’s cigarettes! Another interesting thing I discovered in my research is that this cigar, the Royal Corona, was actually called a “Charles” until it’s name was changed in 1973.

The Royal Corona vitola by Bolivar is hardly a corona at all. It’s pretty much a robusto but I assume the different name it because it’s actually 4.875 inches long instead of the standard 5 inches. The ring gauge holds up at 50. So let’s jump right in and see what the Bolivar Royal Corona has in store for us today!

Cigar: Bolivar Royal Corona
Drink: Hockley Valley Amber
Vitola: Robusto (4.875 x 50)
Wrapper: Cuban
Binder: Cuban
Filler: Cuban
Price: Just under $8
Burn Time: Just under 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The Bolivar Royal Corona has a slightly box-pressed look to it
• The wrapper is very smooth but not oily, and has a deep reddish and golden brown color to it
• The whole cigar has a very firm feel to it, from top to bottom
• From the top, you can see this is an expertly applied double cap that blends in very well
• The foot is very well packed and very cleanly cut, easy to tell why the cigar is so firm
• There are 2 medium sized veins I noticed but I don’t think their big enough to cause any problems, we’ll soon see
• A quick clip of the cap gave me a nice consistent draw on this cigar that stayed throughout the entire time

Burn:
• Toasting took a lot longer than I expected, even with my big culinary torch
• The foot had problems getting aglow and the wrapper around the edge got charred a bit but I did manage to get it going nicely
• Through the first third I’m having no trouble at all, the Bolivar Royal Corona is burning like a dream with razor sharp edges
• Got a bit of a peninsula around the halfway point but it slowly corrected itself without my intervention
• After i tapped off the second ash, the wrapper stopped burning and I started to get a tunnel, might have taken too long taking some pictures. A quick touch-up and I’m off to the races again
• This happened again shortly after and needed to touch up the edges once more, hopefully it stops now
• No more issues to the end, finishing off nice and clean with no over heating

Smoke & Ash:
• Right off the bat there is a ton of smoke coming off this cigar, one quick draw gives a very full billowy smoke
• Even the resting smoke is abundant here, and it smells awesome too, a nice campfire aroma
• The ash is pretty clean with only a couple small flakes falling off now and then
• light grey with some black striping is the color I’m getting on the ash
• After about an inch, I tapped off the ash so it wouldn’t fall on my laptop and it was starting to look a bit weaker too
• Second ash topped the one inch mark again before being tapped off
• Third ash landed on my shoe… was too slow to snap pictures, lol

Tasting Notes:
• From the wrapper, I’m mostly picking up cedar and just a light hint of spice aromas
• The foot brings out a bit more light baking spices but also an interesting sort of sweet licorice, very nice
• The pre-light draw brings a fresh cut cedar taste with a bit of grass and earth
• First few draws are filled with cedery goodness, there is still a touch of spice and maybe even some pepper now, but the fresh cedar is still the most prominent
• The body has started off at just about medium, maybe on the edge of mild
• Retrohale has a nice soft spicy bite to it and a very smooth cedar finish
• In the first third, I also started picking up some coffee notes as the cedar nestled in nicely with the original baking spices, wonderful combination and balance so far
• Around the halfway mark that initial licorice flavor is making an appearance and the coffee is developing nicely, sorta like licorice flavored coffee!
• The body only slightly ramped up towards the end, still in the medium range though and the retrohale continued to have a small bite and a smooth and creamy cedar finish
• The licorice and coffee flavors stuck through to the end and left me with a tasty and smooth finish, no harshness here

Final Thoughts:
Not too much negative I can say after burning through this stick. I know it had a couple years of age on it but I don’t remember what the box date was. All I can say is I wish this wasn’t my last one. The price is a little high for a robusto size even by Cuban standards but it’s still not as high as a Cohiba or Trinidad. The flavors definitely stand out as being different from some typical Cubans with the balanced mix of cedar, coffee, spices and earth. The creaminess and balance on the Bolivar Royal Corona is what really sold it for me. If you are looking for a smooth and creamy Cuban this is definitely a winner and worth seeking out.

Pairings:
Today’s brew is an Amber from a brewery located about an hour or so away. The area is actually known for it’s ski resort which has a bunch of tiny, kid friendly runs. They also make a decent brunch there… but how do they do with beer? Pretty good as a matter of fact! I go through a lot of their Dark Ale but this was the first Amber I have found. It was smooth, clean and fairly light with some nice malty notes and a touch of bitterness. It went quite nicely with the medium notes of the Bolivar, a coffee would have actually gone very well here too!