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Cigar Review: Partagas Spanish Rosado Rojito

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Summary:

Excellent medium-body cigar, rich and complex in taste. This one goes in my personal humidor in the “everyday, short, evening smoke” category.

CE Cigar Rating: 93

Background Information:

The Rojito is 4 1/2″ long and has a ring gauge of 50 (making it a Rothschild even though you’ll often see it mis-called a Robusto). A Honduran San Agustin wrapper covers a binder made from Connecticut Broadleaf. The filler is an interesting blend of Dominican, Honduran and Mexican tobacco. The cigar is manufactured in the Dominican Republic at General Cigar’s Dominicana factory.

From the Manufacturer:

Partagas Logo

“The Partagas brand of premium cigars is renowned by cigar smokers for its quality, consistency and richness of flavor. Ramon Cifuentes and his father before him instilled these attributes in all of the people who have made Partagas cigars. After his exile from Cuba , Ramon began making Partagas cigars in the Dominican Republic with these same demands on his new Partagas cigar makers.

Daniel Nuñez who was an apprentice under Ramon Cifuentes in the Dominican Republic and later his successor as the Partagas Cigar Master has continued to demand only the best for Partagas cigars. In 2001, Daniel developed a fuller-bodied version of Partagas called Partagas Black Label. The newest addition to the family that boasts “the richest cigar in the world” is Partagas Spanish Rosado.

“Because of the uniqueness of the soil in the San Agustin Valley, the wrapper provides a spicy taste with hints of cinnamon that burns white, leaving a beautiful ash. A Connecticut Broadleaf binder with a blend of Dominican, Honduran and Mexican tobaccos combine to make this medium to full-bodied cigar a must-have for serious cigar smokers.”

Partagas Spanish Rosada Rojito

Cigar Envy Cigar Review:

Appearance: 9 of 10 points

First and foremost, this is a beautiful cigar. The wrapper is dark, reddish, fine-veined and oily — that description doesn’t really do it justice. You have to see it for yourself.

The San Agustin wrapper is much darker than most rosado wrappers, and is grown exclusively for General Cigar. At first glance, you might actually think it is a maduro. Hold it to the light and you’ll see the reddish tones.

Aroma: 14 of 15 points

Excellent after it begins, although the first few moments of burn are less than stellar. From that point on, however, it is consistent and produces a wonderfully-aromatic, full smoke.

Burn: 9 of 10 points

The burn was generally excellent and produced a beautiful silvery ash.

There have been reports of uneven burn in this cigar, but remember that this wrapper is a bit thicker than the average and any uneveness ican be quickly corrected by rotating the cigar.

Also, the cigars seemed to produce a longer smoke than I expected from a Rothschild size.

Consistency: 15 of 15 points

This was an extremely consistent cigar from start to finish, and from cigar to cigar. Very dependable.

Construction: 9 of 10 points

As is usual and to be expected from the Partagas line, construction of the cigar is excellent.

Draw: 9 of 10 points

The draw was also good. There have been reports of tight draws here, so I’m dropping the rating a bit to allow for my limited sampling of the cigar, however I personally had no problems with draw on any I smoked.

Flavor: 28 of 30 points

The taste was complex and very good. Spicy, earthy, and extremely rich are words that come to mind to describe it. The body is medium to medium-full, but the appearance of the cigar is so rich and dark that the actual flavor seems less full than you might expect.

Remember, this is a Rosado, not the Maduro that it appears at first glance. Remember also that even with maduros a dark wrapper doesn’t automatically mean a full-bodied smoke. Expect a medium to medium-full smoke with spicier tones.

This is not a negative, nor is it a complaint.

The complexity of the blend delivers a very rich and satisfying experience. Just beware pre-judging this cigar based on your own expectations of how it should taste. Accept it on its own terms, and enjoy.

Number Sampled For Review: Six.

Other Reviewers:

Cigar Aficianado gave it a 90, praising the even burn, rich aroma, great balance and depth. Smoke Magazine panelists gave it a 9.0, 9.5, 9.6 and 6.0 — the lone low vote coming from a reviewer who complained of a tight draw and pulled the combined rating down to an 8.5.

Price:

The manufacturer’s suggested retail price is US $198.00 per box of 40 ($4.95 each).

Atlantic Cigar has the lowest current online price per box at $136.77 ($3.42 each), followed closely by Abner’s World of Discount Cigars at $139.95 ($3.50 each).

The next lowest price is from Famous Smoke Shop at $141.95. JR Cigars and Mike’s Cigars also have them at that price. Current listed prices at other online retailers fall into the $144 to $150 per box range, for the most part. If they are higher, then you’re paying too much.

You can also find it by the five pack at Famous Smoke Shop for $22.95 ($4.59 each). Also check CigarBid — I’ve seen samplers there snatched up at times in the $12.00 to $15.00 range.

Prices do not include shipping and are current at the time of this review.

Posted on Tuesday, March 7th, 2006 at 5:21 pm.