The Casdagli Cigars Villa Casdagli line was announced in early 2021 and is named after the home of the Patriarch of the Casdagli family, Emmanuel Casdagli. According to the Casdagli Cigars website, the significance of this line lies in the method used to process the tobaccos. Don Olman of Tabacos de Costa Rica S.A. puts the tobaccos used in the Villa Casdagli line through another fermentation process (known as “mejorado”) for up to four months. This line is offered in four different vitolas: Pigasus, Robusto, Corona Gorda, and Toro. For this battle I only had three of the four vitolas to smoke. This will be an interesting vitola battle because, from what I understand, each vitola contains the same tobaccos but in different ratios. This leads me to believe that each cigar is blended to be a unique experience.
Country of Origin: Costa Rica
Factory: Tabacos de Costa Rica S.A.
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Ecuadorian Habano
Filler: Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Nicaragua, & Peru
Vitola: 5 x 54/58 Pigasus; 5 x 52 Robusto, 5 ½ x 46 Corona Gorda
Price: $16.00 MSRP, $12.50 MSRP, $13.50 MSRP
Release Date: June 2021
Company Website: https://casdaglicigars.com/
Expectations
Overall I have been looking forward to trying this line of cigars since I saw this release. Historically Casdagli has been hit or miss for me. There are some cigars that I thoroughly enjoyed, while others just miss my palate. That being said, I am always excited to try their new releases.
Pigasus - I anticipate a sweet and rich profile with notes of leather, dark fruits, and maybe some wood, earth, and pepper to balance the profile. Likely it will be medium-full in all categories.
Robusto - I expect this cigar to be a bit bolder than the first half of the Pigasus. From the experience with the Pigasus I anticipate flavors of oak, cherry, and floral notes with a bit more pepper and earth. Hopefully there’s no sourness like the Pigasus.
Corona Gorda - Seeing the difference in the other two as the ring gauge shrunk, I’m expecting even more earth, pepper, and leather. I still am hopeful for some sweetness and cream.
Prelight Characteristics
I really like the band design and color choice for the bands on these cigars. The bands are elegant, artistic, and look nice against the shade wrapper on the Villa Casdagli line.
Pigasus - This milk chocolate wrapper is veiny but clean. The cigar is very heavy and firmly packed. It smells of musty hay and barnyard. The cold draw is like cherry pie filling.
Robusto - This cigar is also fairly firm but not as dense. This smells like cedar and spice. The cold draw is fruity chewing gum cold.
Corona Gorda - This is another very firmly packed and dense cigar with a very nice wrapper. This smells like cocoa and leather and the cold draw is snug but very chocolatey and raisiny.
First Third
Pigasus - This starts off with mild-medium body and medium flavors of soft leather, oak, and dark cherry sweetness. There is a toast note coming in a bit. The widest part is requiring attention to keep the burn even. The retrohale shows some creamy leather and floral notes. Some tannins and oils are coming in on the draw. The cigar requires a small touch up. Midway through the first third the flavors are becoming a bit sour and off-putting for me. There’s another small touch up required just to keep the burning from waving too much on the thicker portion. Fortunately the end of this third is seeing a decrease in the sourness.
Flavor - .5/4
Performance - 1.5/3
Experience - .5/3
Robusto - This kicks off with medium-full body smoke with medium flavors of charred oak, a bit of earthy spice, and some slightly drying pepper on the finish. The retrohale is creamy leather with a little peppery heat but not pepper flavor. Quickly there’s a bit of dark cherry coming in. An inch in and the retrohale and draw traded some flavors. The draw has creamy leather now with some oak and pepper. The retrohale has cherry sweetness. There’s a somewhat sweet and sour note that’s causing a lot of salivation. The draw and performance have been great.
Flavor - 2/4
Performance - 3/3
Experience - 1.5/3
Corona Gorda - First light shows medium-full body smoke and medium flavors of leather, cocoa, and oak. Some earthy spices, like turmeric maybe, are on the finish. The retrohale has more leather, oak, and a touch of pepper and dark fruit sweetness. About an inch in and the burn is super straight. The flavors are about the same with maybe a little toastiness.
Flavor -2/4
Performance - 3/3
Experience - 1.75/3
Second Third
Pigasus - The second third draw flavors are still oak, dark cherry, some oil and tannins, and maybe a touch of leather left. The retrohale is more floral with no cream or leather. Nearing halfway there’s a bit of pepper and oak joining the floral notes on the retrohale now. The draw is showing a bit of a bitter cacao note. The ash dropped at halfway and I had to do a bit of a touch up. The flavors have remained relatively unchanged for the remainder of this third.
Flavor - 1/4
Performance - 2.5/3
Experience - 1/3
Robusto - Starting this third the smoke output dropped off after the ash dropped and I had to touch up the burn line some. The body is down to mild-medium and the flavor is medium-full with notes of earth, some wood, and some baking spices on the finish. The retrohale is very light with some floral notes and wood. Crossing halfway the smoke production is back to normal and back up to medium-full body and flavor. The flavors are back to leather with some wood and earth. The baking spices are still there. This third ends like the cigar started with charred oak, earth, spice, and pepper.
Flavor - 2/4
Performance - 1.5/3
Experience - 1.5/3
Corona Gorda - Going into the second third the wrapper began to split slightly along the seam, but nothing concerning. The only profile change is a slight bump up in flavor and body and there’s a bit of pepper coming in on the draw. The ash dropped at halfway. The burn was just out of even and so one side started to lag but it corrected itself. The oak is becoming more primary, then leather, pepper, and earth. The retrohale shows some nice baking spices followed by dark fruit sweetness.
Flavor - 2/4
Performance - 2.75/3
Experience - 1.75/3
Final Third
Pigasus - The final third is adding a slight char to the oak, which is nice. There’s still dark cherry and cacao. There are less tannins. The retrohale is still floral and the finish has a brighter fruit sweetness with a bit of baking spices. Half inch from the band some of that sourness from the first third is coming back. A touch up is required near the band. Hitting the band the draw is still oak, dark cherry, and some tannins. The finish is showing the cacao a bit. It’s struggling to burn a bit here passed the band. The strength is around medium now. I need to perform another slight touch up. The strength is up to near full. The cigar ends at two hours and 5 minutes ending with some earthiness, oak, and a bit of dark cherries.
Flavor - 1.5/4
Performance - 1.5/3
Experience - 1.5/3
Robusto - The flavors are still charred oak, earth, and spice. There’s a burnt caramel-like sweetness. The retrohale has some char, dark fruits, and some creamy leather. Approaching the band the wood is less oaky and the earth is still present. There’s a little less caramel and spices and there’s a bit of a slightly bitter dark coffee. The retrohale is picking up more pepper with a little bite to it. Nearing the end the flavor is relatively unchanged with the exception of the pepper being more forward and washing out the palate a touch. The retrohale has become more earth and wood forward. This cigar ended at about an hour and 30 minutes.
Flavor - 2/4
Performance - 3/3
Experience - 1.5/3
Corona Gorda - I am starting to get some dark fruits on the draw. There is still leather, earth, and oak as well. The retrohale is dark fruit, baking spice, and now some pepper. At the band it’s a bit more earthy with some brown sugary sweetness. The finish is like cinnamon in flavor but with no heat. Ending at an hour and 40 minutes with the cinnamon taste (now with some heat), some brown sugar sweetness, a bit of oak, and leather. It ended full in flavor and body with no noticeable strength.
Flavor - 2.5/4
Performance - 3/3
Experience - 2/3
Overall Experience
I smoked these in the order of: Pigasus, Robusto, and Corona Gorda. Overall I was not crazy about any of these cigars. The Corona Gorda was my favorite, and the score reflects that. It provided flavors that were most suitable to my palate and had no construction problems or off-putting flavors. The Pigasus was far and away the loser of the three for me. The overall profile was not my cup of tea and the addition of a sourness did not help. I should note that I hadn't realized until after I smoked them that the ratios in each blend were different. I will say that I personally found this line to be a departure from the flavor profiles of other Casdagli cigars I have smoked.
Pigasus - 3.83/10
Robusto - 6/10
Corona Gorda - 6.92/10
Try the cigars yourself at Small Batch Cigars and let me know what you think! Use code “Whiskey” to get 10% off your entire order. Plus, sign up and begin earning 5% back in rewards points with each purchase.
Feel free to reach out to me with questions, concerns, criticisms, or just to talk at @guitarsandcigarsfarm on Instagram, or via email at trevor@whiskeyandwhitetails.com.