Las Cumbres Tabaco Senorial by Jose Blanco

By Tony Casas | February 9, 2015

The Las Cumbres Tabaco Senorial by Jose Blanco is a blend that has been in my rotation for a while now, and I am just now getting to review. Part of this is due to the way I choose my cigars to smoke along with their pairings. I knew exactly what situation I wanted to review the Senorial in and part of that was on a calm, sunny, warm spring day and El Paso has gifted me just that.

The Good Stuff:

We all know Jose Blanco. He’s an amazing man as well as a huge contributor to the cigar industry. Most of us know him from his long time work with La Aurora which he left a few years back to join forces with Joya de Nicaragua for a few years before his newest venture, Las Cumbres Tabaco. The Senorial is Jose’s debut release with the new company. It’s a cigar that he produced alongside his cousin Jochi Blanco created at the Tabaclera Palma factory in the Dominican Republic. The cigar features an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, Nicaraguan Binder from Esteli, and Piloto Cubano and Corojo filler tobacco grown on Dominican Republic farms owned by Jochi. The Senorial is offered in 5 sizes: Paco Robusto (5.25 x 52), Corona Gorda (5.5 x 46), Belicoso No.2 (6.25 x 52), Toro Bravo (6 x 54), and the Le Grand (6 x 60). The Senorial comes in boxes of 24 and will run you roughly $7.50 to $10.25 a cigar. I purchased a handful of these from our friends over at 2 Guys Smoke Shop.

Size: 5.5 x 46
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Nicaraguan Esteli
Filler: Dominican Piloto Cubano and Dominican Corojo
Body: Medium/Full
Strength: Medium
Price: $7.50
Pairing: Prairie Artisan Ales – Prairie Somewhere (Saison 7% ABV)

Prelight:

The Senorial starts out with a beautiful, medium brown wrapper. The wrapper show cases some medium-sized veins and lots of darker areas around the natural webbing in the tobacco leaf which gives the cigar a very natural/rustic look and feel. The texture is slightly toothy with some slight oils. The wrapper is a bit thin a delicate while the cigar has very little give when I squeeze it between my fingers. the Senorial is capped off with a beautifully round double cap and polished off with an amazing gold and cold colored band with an almost Monet style feel to it. The front of the band carries the Senorial badge just about the words “by Jose Blanco” while the back of the band simply states “Dominican Republic”.

The wrapper of the cigar gives off a very light, earthy aroma while the foot of the cigar carries a bit of musk alongside some spice and lots of tobacco scents. The cap cut clean and easy using my double bladed Palio cutter. The cold draw on the Senorial produced some slight pepper, spice, and cashew over natural tobacco flavors with a fluid draw.

 

First Third:

The Senorial started out with a nice little pepper punch which quickly faded leaving behind some great spice, cashew, earthiness and tobacco with a nice little fruity/floral aftertaste. The draw on the Senorial is absolutely flawless. Each little puff kicks out a massive cloud of thick, white smoke while the cigar produces very little stationary smoke as it sits in my ashtray. The burn line on the Senorial is razor thin, and dead even leaving behind a perfect trail of tightly compacted, white ask which held on a bit over an inch before giving way.

 

Second Third:

The flavors remain much the same into the second third of the Senorial. Spice, cashew, and earthiness lead the way with a trail of fruit and floral flavors chasing behind. I am also picking up this great butter/toffee flavor as the cigar continues to burn. The retrohale coats my nasal passage with some soft spice, and a lot of oakiness that I don’t really pick up during the smoking experience. The buntline is still dead even and I close out the second third feeling absolutely noting in the nicotine department.

Finish:

A bit of a ramp-up in the flavors here into the final third of the Senorial. The fruit and the butter toffee flavors are out in full force now while the spice, earthiness, floral, and cashew all remain in the mix. It’s impressive how smooth and balanced this cigar is. It took me a little over an hour and half to smoke this cigar down to the nub and I experience absolutely no harshness, nor did the cigar burn hot an any point. I never once had to reach for my torch to relight or touch up the cigar as it burned perfectly from start to finish leaving me with no nicotine kick whatsoever.

Overview:

It’s natural to think that just about anything that Jose Blanco creates is going to be solid, but the Senorial exceeded my expectations. The flavor profile is amazing, the construction was perfect, and the smoking experience rocked. This is a great cigar, at a great price and really leaves you wanted to see what’s in store for the future of Las Cumbres. This cigar is box-worthy, and will play a large role in my regular rotation for a while. It’s not the most complex cigar out there, but it delivers a great profile that the seasoned cigars smokers will love, as well as a mild, affordable one that will be perfect for a novice getting into premium cigar smoking.

Pairing:

Prairie Artisan Ales is an Oklahoma based brewery who’s been kicking out some great, experimental beers over the last few years. Prairie Somewhere is a Sour Farmhouse Saison which clocks in at 7% ABV. The Prairie Somewhere leads with a ton of sharp citrus and banana with a very light mouthfeel before finishing a bit sour, yet smooth with notes of lemon and spice with a very heavy banana aftertaste. This beer has refreshing summer awesomeness written all over it and I couldn’t wait for the right time to put this pair to the test, which obviously rocked. I could also see myself pairing the Senorial with some black coffee in the morning, and a sweet bourbon later in the evening.