Puros Indios Viejo Rothschild

June 10, 2008 at 12:57 am (Cigars, Reviews)

A while back the guys over at my local Tinderbox dropped me a line to stop by and say hi. So a day or two later, I did just that. I was in the mood for another Winston Churchill, or maybe one of those Illusiones I kept seeing in their newsletter. After picking up a few of each, Grant surprised me with a small assortment of smokes to review. I greatly appreciated the cigars, and determined to review them as soon as possible.

But time passed. Possibly a month, possibly more. Work and the Stogie Review was keeping me busy. One day I was digging around in my humidor and I stumbled on a bag of unfamiliar smokes. Almost immediately I realized they were those smokes from Tinderbox. And I was really lagging behind.

I reached blindly in and the first smoke that appeared was the Puros Indios Viejo Rothschild. Good choice, I thought. I haven’t heard much talk or seen many reviews about Puros Indios recently. And truth be told, I haven’t had all that many.

The Puros Indios Viejo is a special edition line of that was first introduced in 1999. Each year 50,000 cigars are produced and are aged for four years. And that about covers my knowledge. Now let’s talk about the experience.

Cigar Stats:
Size: 5 x 50
Wrapper: Ecuador
Binder: Ecuador
Filler: Brazil, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua
Smoking Time: 1 1/2 hours
Beverage: Water
Price: $5.95

The Pre-Smoke
The band on the Viejo is much like the bands on any Puros Indios cigar. It has that same trademark bright green background with the red lettering, with just an extra bit of white space to denote the special edition. It’s the wrapper that’s a little more interesting. It’s an oily rustic looking leaf. As I looked it over, I noted that it had a few veins in it, and it was visually a little lumpy. And then I noticed something a little unusual. A big patch near the foot. What makes the patch unusual is that it covers a little pointy bit that really noticeably sticks out from the cigar.

To the touch, the cigars seemed nice and hard, with no inconsistency in the firmness. I noticed a bit of butteriness in the scent of the wrapper, and the cold tasted was creamy. I also noticed something I’ve been getting a lot in the cold taste recently. Prune, or something like it. It definitely wasn’t raisin.

The Burn
Aside from a slight runner in one cigar, a relight in the second third and a comical little bit of smoke coming out of the little point bit I like to think of as Mt. Puros Indios, the burn on this cigar was good. The draw was great in both cigars, and though they did stray a bit on the burn line, they self corrected nicely. No complaints here.

The Flavor
As you might expect from double dose of Ecuadorian tobacco, this cigar starts of creamy with some nuttiness and a little bit of coffee. I noticed that the flavor was slightly savory, and the creaminess became buttery. Beyond those flavors, the cigars seemed different one time to the next. One had more predominant wood and aromatic cedar, while the other was considerably more nutty. In fact, I got a great creamy peanut butter flavor from that cigar that I really enjoyed. These flavor profile differences continued throughout the second thirds as well.

In the final third the nuttier cigar became a bit more earthy and spicy, with some leather appearing right toward the end. The woodier cigar remained surprisingly buttery almost to the end with leather joining the wood.

The Price
I have no issue with the price I paid for these cigars. They both seemed like quality sticks, and considering that they a special aged addition price tag seems reasonable.

The Verdict
I really enjoyed the creaminess and butteriness of this cigar. When those combined with the nutty flavors, the cigar was just outstanding. Now to be clear, this isn’t a particularly full bodied or powerful smoke. It’s probably around Medium at best, but if you enjoy a creamy cigar, I’d recommend you check this one out. Just be sure to check your cigars out before you buy them. That is unless you like mini smoking volcanos on your wrapper!

Seriously though, I’d like to thank the guys over at the Tinderbox in Lenox Mall for hooking me up with the great cigars. If you live in the Atlanta area, check ’em out. I’ll bet they have a few of these guys left if you’d like to try one out!

Liked It: Yes
Buy It Again: Yeah, I think I will.
Recommend It: Yeah, it’s a good smoke.

What Other People Are Saying

• Cigar Jack thought it was a good smoke, but the flavor profile didn’t do it for him.
• Gary thinks you shouldn’t pass these up.

My Other Reviews
If you enjoyed this review, be sure to check out my Cigar Review Index for a complete list of my other cigar reviews. Also, I’m a regular contributor to Stogie Review, so head over there once you’re done!

Tower of Burn
Here for your viewing pleasure is my trademark Tower of Burn.

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