For this “Sessions” review (you can get a background on the concept here) I thought I should highlight a cigar I have been smoking the hell out of lately. The Patina Habano Precipitation. I can’t get enough of these as of late. Patina cigars launched in mid 2017 with the Habano and Connecticut lines. These cigars were made at the Casa Favilli Factory in Nicaragua. In late 2019, the Precipitation size was released for the Habano and Connecticut. These releases were the first Patinas to come out of the NACSA Factory in Nicaragua, where Patina cigars are made today. Prior to the factory change, the Copper (Corona Gorda) was my favorite cigar in their lineup. Post change, it is this Precipitation (Short Robusto).
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Factory: Nicaragua American Cigars S.A.
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Nicaraugua
Filler: Nicaragua & Pennsylvania
Vitola: 4 x 50 Short Robusto
Price: $7.94 MSRP
Release Date: December 2019
Company Website: https://www.patinacigars.com/
This short cigar has a firm, dense feel. The wrapper is clean and smooth. I love the colors of the band and the design, but I do miss the staircase. Side note - If your Patina band has a staircase on it, it is an older one made at Casa Favilli. The cold draw is like Raisin Bran cereal and the smell is light cedar. First light brings full body and flavor notes of toast, sweet pepper, some cocoa and a little wood. The retrohale is more pepper and the toast is highlighted. The finish holds the wood and pepper. The draw is perfect. Quickly the cocoa drops out but the rest remains. I love the toast and pepper combination that this cigar brings. About a 1/2 inch in and the wood has subsided and is replaced by a slight salted meatiness on the draw, with some sweet pepper. The toast is prominent on the finish. Moving into the second third, the toast disappeared and the finish is more of a nuttiness. The draw and retrohale flavors are about the same. A little touch up was needed from a running burn. At halfway the toast comes back in. The smoke is still full in body and flavor. It really coats the mouth. The sweet pepper is on the finish with the toast. The draw is showing some woody notes again, still with a tad of salty meat, and pepper. Some strength is noticeable in the final third. The draw is a savory charred wood and pepper. The finish has a cocoa quality but mainly some pepper and that savory charred wood. The retrohale shows a bit of cocoa, some pepper and the savory woodiness with some citrus mixed in. Midway through the final third a big coffee note comes in on the draw with some of that wood secondary. A slight touch up is needed. The finish is distinctly like a Tootsie Roll. Coming to an end it’s primarily wood with some pepper and a bit of toast. The total smoking time was about an hour and 13 minutes.
This cigar just packs in so much flavor. There is not a ton of complexity, but the flavors mesh nicely, and if you pay attention, there is some intricacy there. That toast note is a standout for me, I am not sure that I can accurately describe it, but that is the closest thing I can think of for it. I also enjoy how the pepper in this cigar is present, but it is not overwhelming to the other flavors in the cigar. It accents them nicely, like pepper in a dish. It also should be noted that this cigar can burn for much longer than you may expect. It is a real bang for your buck cigar in terms of flavor, smoke time, and price. That being said, this cigar smokes over its price range for sure, and should not be treated as a budget cigar. Favorite cigars are a moving target for cigar nerds, and right now this one is my crosshairs.
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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.