Cuba Aliados Miami

The Cuba Aliados line of cigars is produced by the Reyes Family Cigar company. At the head of the Reyes family is Rolando Reyes, born and raised in Cuba and emigrated to America when he was almost 50. He had a long history of cigar making and rolling from when he was very young. The history of his career is very interesting, including a harsh government seizure of his brand and assets in 1968. I highly suggest reading about the history on the Reyes family website.

The cigar we are reviewing today is the Cuba Aliados Miami. This is a special edition cigar that is rolled in the Miami, Florida factory. Each cigar comes packaged in cellophane and wrapper with a stamped cedar sheet. One thing I found odd was that the cedar was not secured in anyway, so as soon as it came out of the cellophane the cedar fell off.

There isn’t too much information out there on this cigar. What little I did find was that the rest of the Cuba Aliados line is produced in Honduras and this special edition cigar is the only one rolled in the Miami factory. I do know we don’t really talk much about the Reyes Family of cigars but they are a fairly large producer and have a strong variety of lines. I’ve had a chance to smoke a few from their selections and although none have really stood out, none have been poor either. So let’s see how this one does and get on to the review.

Cigar: Cuba Aliados Limited Miami Edition
Drink: RocketFuelCoffee.com Kona Kaze
Vitola: Robusto (5 x 50)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: $7.00
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The cigar is very evenly rounded from cap to foot
• The wrapper is a honey-brown color and has some visible veins running through it but none appear large enough to pose any problems
• The foot appears fairly well packed but not cut evenly
• The top of the cigar is finished with a super clean triple cap
• The entire body of this cigar is fairly firm with almost no spring
• The wrapper did have some parts that chipped off even though I’ve never removed it from the cellophane
• The cap cut off cleanly but the draw on pre-light seems a bit tight
• The cigar expanded quickly after the first inch and caused a nice size crack in the wrapper
• Surprisingly, the crack did not get any larger and posed no issues

Burn:
• Toasted was fairly quick but it refused to glow evenly, hopefully it doesn’t affect the burn too much
• The uneven toasting did affect the initial burn of the cigar and required a quick touch up
• Burn has been very good through the first half after my small correction
• Another small correction needed near the end as it seems the wrapper stopped burning and it started tunneling on me, killing the flavors

Smoke & Ash:
• Each draw offers a moderate amount of smoke, a little more would have been preferred
• The ash is very clean and tight, color is very light grey
• The resting smoke here is consistent, nothing overpowering but the stream of smoke rising off the cigar is steady
• The ash held strong for nearly 2 inches before tumbling into the ashtray

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper gives off a sweet cedar and tobacco aroma
• The foot offers more sweet woodsiness and a touch of spice on the nose
• The pre-light draw brings with it a lot of cedar flavors
• Initial draws have some light and very flavorful cedar and tart notes
• The cedar and tart flavors are giving a nice creamy finish as the cigar progresses past the first third
• So far it’s been fairly mild with no bite as I pass the smoke through my nose, finish is still nice and creamy
• As I approach the half-way mark, I’m getting a light coffee flavor sneaking into the mix now and again
• As I get into the last third, the flavors haven’t changed much but the body has increased a bit, landing in the medium range now
• As the body continues to ramp up slowly, the other flavors are slowly becoming less noticeable and it’s becoming more of a burning wood flavor
• A strong bitterness started creeping in towards the last 1.5inches, a big change from early parts of the cigar here
• After a small touch up to the wrapper the bitterness subsided a tad
• Some of the bitterness came back so I had to set this down early

Final Thoughts:
I’m on the fence with this cigar. It started out as a nice smooth and fairly mild cigar with some good cedar flavors. As the body picked up near the end of the cigar I found that the balance was thrown off a bit. The flavor profile suggested a light early day cigar but the stronger body started to drown out or overpower the flavors. They also didn’t change a whole lot and the bitterness at the end was a disappointment. I’ll note that the intensity of this bitterness wasn’t the same as my previous experiences with this cigar, but it was always present. I think this cigar would have been a much better smoke if it stayed mild or if it had some more intense or flavorful notes to balance it out. that’s not to say I didn’t like most of what it had, it just didn’t seem to be as balanced as I would have hoped. It’s still worth trying a few of these as the construction was nice and the price isn’t bad either.

Pairings:
It was earlier in the day when I went outside to enjoy this cigar so I decided to sit down with some coffee. I also brewed a pot for review with the Carmelo Red Label not too long ago. It’s an interesting light and bold blend of Hawaiin Kona and Espresso beans making for a mouthful of flavor. It paired nicely with most of this cigar but I think something more bold would have been better near the end as the body of this cigar ramped up. But a strong coffee would have overpowered the beginning of this cigar. This goes back to the whole unbalanced thing I mention above. I think this would have also paired well with a nice stout or tasty Amber beer.