It does give a smoker pause to read over and over, 'these cigars are rolled with the finest Vuelta Abajo leaves". When you have 20 brands all saying the same thing, it's hard to imagine how such a statement can be true with only so much "finest leaf" available. And when you position Trinidad as not only among the finest cigars in the catalogue, but equal to or just under Cohiba, you are bound to have some problems when the cigars don't stack up.
On the good side of the ledger, Trinidad's original lineup perform very well, and they do it with a unique blend that is refreshing when compared to box after box of cigars from the other brands that taste as if they could all be the same, only with different bands applied. One doesn't always get that impression, but it happens often enough to make more than a few connoisseurs shake their heads. The brand was launched with the Fundadores in 1998, and was quickly given the support of a few more vitolas, all unique at that time. The Coloniales and Reyes added a demi corona and a corona, in a manner of speaking. The sizes were 'weirded up' as in the launch of the San Cristobal line, making them JUST a little different, while remaining familiar to smokers with a preference for the small smokes. The small cigars also made the high prices a little more tolerable as did the trick of releasing them in boxes of 12 and 24.
It wasn't too long after the launch of the original Fundadore that the blend was altered completely, the bands changed, and the aforementioned extra sizes were added. After another short period of time, the problems began, in my eyes at least. New sizes came out, and after tasting a few of them, I realized that I was no longer interested in the brand. The flavors were weak and uninteresting to me. The original lineup were still great smokes, but for the big money they wanted, they could keep em all.
I cut the pigtailed cap on the Robusto T and was a little perturbed to find that it had a very airy draw. This would not be to my liking. An early strike against a cigar I had not liked in the previous two tastings for this blog. It lit quickly and delivered a nice, strong smoke. All of the other times I had smoked the Robusto T, it came across as too strong. All this from a cigar that was touted as the cigar of the year in a few publications and blogs. And granted, a lot of people do fine with a strong cigar, and manage to taste decent flavor in there. Just not me. If there was anything good in the Robustos T I have tried previous to this one, it was hard to tell from all the power. In one respect, that was good. A year or two in a dark box would render a much stronger and more delicious smoke than your run-of-the-mill habano. It had to. All of the raw materials were there. And so it was with this cigar. I was immediately treated to a sweet, but sharp-edged and tannic smoke, with lots of delicious side notes that ranged from almonds to chocolate to raisins and a little cream. I was impressed. But the airy draw meant that I always got more smoke than I wanted, and the light puffs required to keep from being overpowered were not quite enough to keep the cigar burning properly. Furthermore, when I DID give it a good puff for the burn, it was harsh and hot, unlike the much better BHK52. That cigar offered a great taste no matter how soft or hard you pulled smoke through it.
But on the whole, it was still an impressive cigar. And in a way I set myself up to fail. I searched the feet of the three cigars on the top layer of the box to find a bunch that I thought would draw well. I didn't want a plugged smoke or a tight draw to ruin the review of such an expensive cigar. I picked the cigar with the least tobacco showing at the foot, and the one that looked like it was not rolled up like a newspaper. As the smoke burned to halfway, it began to get tarry and hot. I wanted to smoke this as far as possible, again, because it was pricey, and because it was important to this review series. But I never smoke a cigar that begins to show it's butt to me, and this one surely did.
When I look at this cigar as a score or a recommendation , I have to look at it as something for special occasions and one that will be there for you no matter how long you wait to smoke it. This cigar has not even begun to be ready to smoke, much less reached a point at which it is starting to offer diminished power and richness of flavor. I would highly recommend picking up two boxes of these cigars as they are slated to be discontinued, and perhaps already out of production. It could also be a scam by Habanos SA to drive purchase activity on the brand and this vitola. The word on the street is that the entire line is set to be 're-imagined' and knocked back in price to once again cement Cohiba as the bell cow of havana cigars. It is too hard to see inside the murky minds down south to try and understand what they might do in the near future. But what I CAN see in the future is a box of cigars that would still be delivering big flavor in 15 years. I am not sure WHEN you would begin to see this cigar as 'past it's prime'. So again, if I had to score this cigar, I have to factor in construction, which is going to knock 8 points off the score. But if you were to forgive that entirely, and think "maybe I will cut the smallest possible hole and test the draw FIRST before I light it", and you got the flavor I got out of this cigar, you'd be hard-pressed not to award a 94 to this smoke. But in this series, I have to be critical and portray each cigar for what it is. If HSA was serious about this cigar being top of the line, they would watch the bunching a bit better and turn out 12 perfect cigars in a box. SO I have no choice but to knock those 8 points off and score this 86. VERY CLOSE, as the saying goes, but in this case, NO CIGAR is just about right...not MUCH of a cigar, anyway.
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