Crux Du Connoisseur

By Tony Casas | October 19, 2015

I know I slacked it last week. Oktoberfest, and some great art events we attend every year set me back, but I am here this week with a write up of Crux’s Du Connoisseur. Also, stay tuned next week as I will be attending the annual 2 day Foxtoberfest event in Gilbert and Scottsdale Arizona. Great stuff will be going on there.

The Good Stuff:

Crux is no stranger to the Casas Fumando team. While they’ve only been creating cigars for tow years now, they already have a stacked portfolio and we’ve reviewed a bulk of them (Check out these links for those reviews: The Bull & Bear – Crux Classic – Ninfamaniac – Ninfamaniac Dark – Passport – Passport Half Corona – Skeeterz). We now bring  you the Crux Du Connoisseur which is one of the new lines the company introduced at this year’s IPCPR trade show. Crux is formed by Jeff Haugen and Joel Rogers, owners of Tobacco Grove in Maple Grove Minnesota while the cigars are created in the Placencia factory in Nicaragua. The Crux Du Connoisseur  features a Nicaraguan Habano wrapper from the Jalapa region, Nicaraguan Binder, and Honduran fillers. The Crux Du Connoisseur comes in three formats: No.1 (7 1/2 x 38), No.2 (6 1/2 x 38), and the No.3 (5 5/8 x 35). The cigars come packaged in boxes of 10 and will run between $7.50 and $9.99 a stick. Big thanks to the guys at Crux for sending these samples over for review.

Size: 6 1/2 x 38
Wrapper: Jalapa Nicaraguan Habano
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Honduran
Body: Full
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $8.99
Pairing: Evil Twin Lil’ B (Imperial Porter 11.5% ABV)

Prelight:

The Crux Du Connoisseur starts out with a very beautiful, rustic looking wrapper. The wrapper sports a dark to medium brown color with lots of orange and lighter brown patches scattered throughout. The darker areas seem to be surrounding the wrapper leaf’s natural webbing. The texture is very toothy with a ton of oil, and quite a few medium sized veins running throughout the cigar’s slender body leading up to it’s beautiful triple cap. The wrapper feels very hard, yet very thin so it’s a bit brittle to the touch. The cigar is decently packed with a few soft spots around the foot area. The band on the Crux Du Connoisseur resembles all the other bands in the Crux portfolio, only this one showcases a very bright, metallic gold color surrounding the Crux logo and gold print with the words “Du Connoisseur” underneath.

The wrapper on the Crux Du Connoisseur gives off a slight molasses and natural tobacco aroma while the foot of the cigar showcases an interesting floral mixture with some slight spice and sweetness. The cap cut very clean and easily using my Palio double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces some slight sweetness, molasses, and spice flavors.

First Third:

The Crux Du Connoisseur leads with some great pecan and floral flavors backed by honey, caramel, and some soft spice. As I venture further into the first third, a nice pine and oak came into play. This cigar is starting out with some very interesting flavors. The draw is perfect. Each puff lets out a good amount of smoke while the Crux Du Connoisseur releases very little stationary smoke as it rests in my ashtray. The burn line is dead even and razor thin leaving behind a beautiful trail of tightly compacted dark gray ash which held on for about 3/4 of an inch before giving way.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Crux Du Connoisseur and it’s still going strong as it leads with strong oak, honey, caramel, pecan, and some nice floral flavors. It’s an interesting mixture for sure, but I’m really enjoying it. The retrohale lets loose some great oak and lots of spice that I didn’t pick up nearly as potent in the regular draw. The burn line is still dead even and sharp while I close out the second third with absolutely no nicotine kick.

Finish:

Into the final third of the Crux Du Connoisseur and it’s starting to mellow out a bit in the flavor department as the strength ramps up into the medium/full range. The flavor profile is now a creamy mixture of oak, spice, pecan, and honey with the floral completely dropping out. It took me an hour and a half to smoke this baby down to the nub and I experience absolutely no harshness, nor extended heat until it was literally burning my fingers. I didn’t want this thing to end.

Overview:

Each of Crux’s cigars have been hits in our book, and the Crux Du Connoisseur is no exception. In fact, it’s probably one of my favorites by the company. The cigar sports lots of character with a complex and interesting flavor profile that isn’t too far over the top. The strength is medium/full at best the it never overpowers the body, and the price is absolutely justified and much lower that I would have expected for this cigar. Box worthy? Very much so. Especially since they come in 10 count boxes.

Pairing:

This week, we take a look at another great beer from our friends over at Evil Twin Brewing. Lil’ B is a 11.5% ABV Imperial porter brewed in New York. The Lil’ B leads with some great roasted malt, sweet caramel, oat, chocolate, and coffee with a bit of acidity and a heavy mouthfeel before finishing clean with a splash of cherry, chocolate, spice, and a whole ton of awesome sweetness. This is probably one of my favorite porters I have had to date and it’s easy to see why I chose this pairing. While the flavors in the beer are very complimentary with those found in the Crux Du Connoisseur, the sweetness really adds another dimension to an already great cigar. This cigar would also pair well with just about and porter, ruby port, or sweet bourbon. Hell, even sweet tea would be a rockin’ combo.