Gran Habano Corojo #5

Gran Habano Corojo #5

This cigar came to me as part of a sampler pack at a recent herf. I’ve had a few Gran Habano cigars before but never reviewed one. Overall I’ve had good experiences with them. Gran Habano is made by the very experienced hands of Guillermo Rico, a third-generation premium cigar maker who’s leafs have touched the lines of Oliva and many premium leaf brokers in Tampa’s Ybor City. Guillermo operates out of Honduras and runs a successful business under the name of GR Tabaqueras Unida. The Gran Habano line long-filler and hand-made Honduran cigars began in 2003 with 5 cigars, the Corojo #5 being one of them. If you would like to read more about the Gran Habano line, Guillermo Rico, or GR Tabaqueras Unida, head over to www.ghcigars.com

Gran Habano Corojo #5

The Corojo #5 line is Gran Habano’s strongest blend with its rich and complex wrapper. This line is available in a variety of sizes ranging from Churchill down to Lunch Break (Petite Corona) with 8 other sizes in between. All offer a strong cigar full of flavor and spice. I found the Lunch Break to be a good intro to this line since the smaller vitola allowed the flavors of the wrapper to really shine through. It is also a great price point for an everyday full strength cigar.

Cigar: Gran Habano Corojo #5
Drink: King Brewery Dark Lager
Vitola: Lunch Break (Petite Corona) (4 x 40)
Wrapper: Nicaragua Habano
Binder: Nicaragua Habano
Filler: Nicaragua, Mexico, and Costa Rica
Price: $2.40
Burn Time: 1.5 hours

Construction:
• Nice and even diameter throughout
• Wrapper is dark brown with a slightly oily sheen to it
• Clean triple cap with a small pigtail
• Foot looks moderately packed
• Slightly soft but even firmness throughout with a quick spring back
• Some medium veins but none that look problematic
• Clean and easy cut
• Draw is perfect right off the start

Gran Habano Corojo #5

Burn:
• Toasting was a little uneven at first but straightened itself out
• Burn started off nice and even but started to canoe within a half-inch
• Began to fix itself soon after, I let it try before attempting to correct it
• Cigar made an awesome recovery and is back on track
• Burn was a little wavy throughout but usually corrected itself with a couple minor touch-ups here and there
• Felt like the cigar was rushing me a bit, had to give it a little extra attention
• Cigar went out once near the end but re-lit easily with no harshness

Gran Habano Corojo #5

Smoke & Ash:
• Tons of smoke off this little cigar
• Not too much resting smoke
• Ash is light gray but fairly weak
• Lots of flaking happening
• Although flaky and weak looking, ash held on past 1.5inches

Gran Habano Corojo #5

Tasting Notes:
• Wrapper smells slightly woodsy with a definite peppery spice
• Foot has the same woodsy aroma but much less spice to it
• Lots of pepper on the lips is evident right away
• Pre-light draw is mostly woodsy flavors with a bit of pepper
• Initial draws are earthy, woodsy and a bit of peppery spice
• Leaving a bit of dryness on the back of my throat
• Retrohale is surprisingly mild so far and smooth, just woodsy/cedar like flavors
• About two inches in, flavor hasn’t changed much but it has balanced out. The cedar came through and the spice took a backseat, although still there.
• Around the halfway mark I started tasting a toasted bread type of flavor
• Body has been mostly medium through the cigar
• Past the halfway mark, the retrohale started to get some bite to it, but still smooth
• As I burn through the last two inches, the peppery flavor has come back strong and is paired mainly with leathery type of flavor
• Body has ramped up to full at this point as well

Gran Habano Corojo #5

Final Thoughts:
Minus the few burn problems this was a great little cigar, especially considering the amazing price point. It offered a full bodied smoke with lots of flavor and spice to it. The variety of vitolas available will also satisfy any cigar enthusiast allowing them to choose their favorite. It surprised me that such a full bodied and inexpensive smoke had no harshness right down to the nub, even after re-lighting. The length of the burn time was also quite good for this vitola, coming in at 1.5 hours. The name might be a little misleading, I don’t get 1.5 hour lunch breaks! haha! I wouldn’t recommend this to novice cigar smokers as the body may be a little strong but would work very well as a mid-day or late day smoke for the veteran smoker. Definitely give this cigar a try, the peppery notes are not my favorite flavor profile but I did enjoy this particular blend as it wasn’t over powering and will be picking up more very soon. If you are also not a fan of peppery cigars, try a slightly larger ring guage which might bring the body down a bit.

Gran Habano Corojo #5

Pairings:
The beer I paired this with is a straight up Dark Lager, there’s nothing special to it and no flavors to it other than the normal malt/hop. It’s a decent no frills dark ale and fairly cheap. It’s also brewed very close to my house, about a 10min drive away and the only real local brewery to me. So although not my favorite dark beer, I like to support my local businesses and there’s something appealing to it’s straight forward flavoring at times. A dark beer paired fairly well with this cigar, some other choices for me would have been tawny port or scotch/cognac. They would have been even better matches to the body and flavor or this cigar. Some strong coffee or sweet tea could have also made a good match.

Gran Habano Corojo #5 and King Brewery Dark Lager