- Made by: Cordoba and Morales
- Wrapper: Criollo ‘98
- Binder: undisclosed
- Filler: undisclosed
- Ring Gauge: 52
- Length: 6”
I paired The Whiskey Maker’s Series: The Cooper’s Croze with Cordoba & Morales Finca Santa Fe FSG Toro on the recommendation of a sales specialist at Corona Cigar Co. & Drew Estate Lounge. I am a fan of the FSG and have never previously tried a Cordoba & Morales. The limited edition cigar is intended to take enthusiasts back to the golden age of Cuban cigars. The Finca Santa Fe was created to honor Cordoba & Morales’ co-founder Azarias “Z” Cordoba’s abuela, who would have turned 110 the year of its making. The Finca Santa Fe FSG, however, is a collaboration between Azarias “Z” and Jeff Borysiewicz, creator of the FSG tobacco. FSG stands for Florida Sun Grown and is intended to bring back to life the Florida tobacco industry after a nearly 50 year lapse of production.
The collaboration is a limited run, available only at Corona Cigar Co., and of the two sizes available I chose the Toro. The criolo wrapper is a veiny, light brown. The binder and filler, I understand, are from five undisclosed regions and have been aged in rum barrels for over a year. When handling it, the Finca Santa Fe FSG is loosely packed, with an accommodating give and I infer that it is likely hand rolled. There is a detailed band in keeping with the Finca Sante Fe with an additional binder below it indicating it is the FSG release. It smells like clove, spices, and lemon. Tempting.
The cigar lights with some trouble but has an even draw. It starts off with a heavy clove taste as promised, followed quickly by cinnamon and spice. This taste increases in strength and reminds me of gingerbread cookies. The smoke is not as full as I would wish but I still find it to be satisfying in amount.
The first ash falls away and a pet peeve of mine begins to make itself known. The burn line is wavy and, as it turns out, I will be fighting this tendency throughout the entire smoke. Reaching towards the middle of my one night stand with this specialty cigar, the baking spices continue but are soon overtaken by a flavor of char. Despite having been told that this is a bold but not aggressive cigar, I find it numbing my tongue. At this point, all I can taste is char and spice, all other flavor notes have fallen away.
I get to the final third and the clove and cinnamon return but do not compensate for the char flavor I am finding so distasteful. The cigar has become overwhelming and unsatisfying. I find myself unwilling to find out if there is a pay off for the hour and a half I’ve already committed to.
Overall, the smoking experience distracted me from the reading and sipping because of the canoeing and strong char taste. I find this is not a good match despite the pedigree. It will remain a one night stand.