Reinado Capablanca

I had a ton of family in and out of town the past few weeks and found it a bit difficult to get this review completed. However, now that the holiday is passed we are ready to get rocking on the all-new Reinado Capablanca

The Good Stuff:

Anytime Antonio from Reinado reaches out to me to take a look at their newest offering I get excited. Reinado is a small, boutique company who has consistently kicked out bangers since their inception. The Capablanca is named after a famous Cuban chess player who donned the same last name. As a tribute to Antonio’s father he named this cigar after the chess player as his father would often replay his chess matches with Antonio and his brother. Proceeds from each of the Capablanca blends sold will go to the Dementia Society of America as his father is suffering from dementia. The only known detail on the blend is its Cameroon wrapper while the rest of the blend is kept secret. The Capablanca will come in a single 6 x 54 format which will run $14 per stick. Big thanks for Antonio for sending this my way for review.

• Size: 6 x 54
• Wrapper: Cameroon
• Binder: Undisclosed
• Filler: Undisclosed
• Body: Medium/Full
• Strength: Medium
• Price: $14

Prelight:

The Reinado Capablanca starts out with a medium brown wrapper that showcases some darker and orange-tinted areas scattered throughout. The medium-density wrapper’s texture is gritty and toothy with a good amount of oils coating it. The Capablanca features an unfinished foot where the wrapper extends past the filler and then is folder around it. There are a few smaller veins running from the unique foot up to the cigar’s round, point, pig-tail style cap. The cigar is then polished off with a simple, yet elegant, white and black band with the Reinado crest and the “Capablanca” moniker printed on the front.

The wrapper of the Reinado Capablanca gives off an absolutely incredible cologne/sweet woody aroma while the foot of the cigar is more natural with loads of earthiness and spice. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces some rather unique flavors of black liccorice over sweet herbal flavors and a dash of wood.

First Third:

The Reinado Capablanca starts out with a very minor blast of black pepper which fades almost instantly allowing the cigar to release notes of graham cracker, musky wood, and earthiness with lighter notes of citrus and an awesome black licorice. The more I venture into the first third, the more pronounced the licorice is. The draw is perfection. Each puff kicks out huge clouds of thick, white smoke, which stick around for a very long time before dissipating while the cigar releases only a minor amount of stationary smoke while it rests in my ashtray. The burning is dead even and razor thin leaving behind a trail of tightly compacted white ash which held on for about an inch before into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Reinado Capablanca and the flavor profile is very similar to the first. The black licorice is still hanging in there under great notes of musky wood and graham cracker with a touch of honey and vanilla. The retrohale brings out a little bit of spice that I dont really pick up during the regular smoking experience. I close out the second third with no signs of nicotine.

Finish:

The flavor profile really ramps up in the final third of the Reinado Capablanca. The woodsy flavors mixed with the graham cracker ramp up and completely dominate the profile. Under are some light notes of honey and vanilla. I really enjoy the profile here at the end. It took me an hour and a half to take this cigar down to the nub. I experienced no harshness and no extended heat. The cigar burned flawlessly from start to finish and I never once had to touchup or relight the cigar. I close out with no signs of nicotine at all.

Note: In some photos there are signs of wrapper crackage. Super minor and didn’t affect the the experience at all. I chalk this one up to the insane heat and dryness in my area. In retrospect I should have let this cigar sit in my humidor and acclimate a bit more, but I was excited to fire it up.

Overview:

When Cameroon is done well, it rocks. In the case of the Capablanca, it is done VERY well. Every time I smoke a Cameroon-wrapped cigar I often wonder why I don’t smoke them more. The tobacco treats a bold and complex flavor profile that usually more unique than most other tobaccos. The Capablanca is such a great example of this. The flavor profile is not only unique, but very enjoyable. It’s not overly complex so you don’t have to really reach in and dig for flavors, yet it does carry enough complexity to keep my both entertained, and craving for more.