This is the fabled “Peso Cigar”. This is the cigar the common Cuban citizen buys and smokes. They are NOT for sale at the tourist outlets at the duty free store, or on the resorts. They are sold in the stores frequented by the local people, so finding a place to buy them is a bit of a battle. Some people think they are a myth, but they are not. I found the Cuban Peso | SelectosBrevas (2016) in a small market in downtown Havana on my recent trip to the 18th Annual Habanos Festival.
This cigar was reviewed blind (no bands) by a panel of at least 4 reviewers. They did not know what they were smoking beforehand. The scores are an average of all the reviewers' scores with outliers removed. All of our cigars reviewed are shipped to the panelists with Boveda packs to ensure optimal smoking experience.
There are several brand names depending on where in Cuba you are. In the Holguin area, it is the El Selecto brand (Holguin). You get them in a plain paper type package in a bundle of 25, and they cost 1 CUC which is equal to 1 American dollar, which makes each cigar come out to around $.04 each, about as cheap at cigars get. They are inferior to the expensive brand cigars, without a doubt, they are not sorted by color of leaf, nor are they “hand rolled” (made by machine in most cases). They are however made in the same factories that produce the high end cigar brands, and you have the knowledge that some quality control did go into the making of the cigars. Some people say they are made from the leaf turned down as not making the grade for the high end cigars…this is likely so but still Cuban tobacco none the less.
Vital Stats:
Vitola: Corona
Length: 5″
Ring Gauge: 42
Country of Origin: Cuba
Wrapper: Cuba
Binder: Cuba
Filler: Cuba
Factory: Unknown
Blender: Unknown
Number of reviewers: 5 – Matthew T. (A Huge Nerd) Gregg (McGreggor57) Stefan (Stefan) Kyle (kaleehb) Dave W. (mdwest)
Price: $0.04
Age: 4 Months
Release Date: Unknown
Contributed by: Blind Man’s Puff
Initial Impressions
Appearance: 79
“There’s just no nice way to say it… This cigar looks like a dog slobbered all over it. Whoever rolled it must have been hit with a case of the shakes, or just had wrapper gum all over their hands, because there are dried gobs of gum all over this thing. Aside from that, it is light brown with multiple green spots all over, very dry, unevenly rolled, bumpy, veiny, and may have been rolled by a blindfolded 6 year old.” –Matthew T. (A Huge Nerd)
Aroma: 85
“Leather and subtle barnyard with a light sweet cedar on the cold draw.” -Gregg (McGreggor57)
Flavor: 86
Strength: Medium
Body/Complexity: Light-Medium
“Simple flavors of leather oak and tobacco get this cigar off to a good start. As the third progresses, a little char creeps in adding some depth to the profile.” -Gregg (McGreggor57)
“The cigar smokes like it smells and is all herbs and flowers in the profile with just a slight touch of salt on the finish. Very nice.” –Dave W. (mdwest)
Flavor: 83
Strength: Medium
Body/Complexity: Light-Medium
“A damp moss and earthiness begins to develop. While the oak and leather are still present, the sweetness of the tobacco is being replaced by a mild wild mint. The balance between the flavors is spot on.” -Gregg (McGreggor57)
“Cigar was having extraordinarily bad burning/performance issues. Had to be re-light as it continued to go out on its own. Tastes were burnt and sour, similar to a charcoal covered penny. This cigar was becoming more trouble than it was worth.” -Kyle (kaleehb)
Flavor: 84
Strength: Medium
Body/Complexity: Medium
“Cedar seems to be replacing the oak as the earthiness moves to the background. A little char continues in the mix. While the flavors are decent, I find this third to be a little flat in comparison to the rest of the cigar..” -Gregg (McGreggor57)
“Cigar was practically a failure. I was having to re-light and touch up the burn so frequently it took away from the smoking experience. Taste were bland and bitter. I put this stick down halfway through the final third.” -Kyle (kaleehb)
Overall Impressions
Draw: 82
“It was crazy bad at the beginning, but improved a bit in the second third.” –Matthew T. (A Huge Nerd)
Burn: 86
“Burned steadily, with short, occasionally flaky ashes and some instances of self-correcting canoeing. Wouldn’t go out too easily.” -Stefan (Stefan)
Construction: 82
“Despite being one of the ugliest cigars I’ve smoked in my life, construction was actually pretty solid and the stick performed exactly as it should have with no problems at all.” –Dave W. (mdwest)
Overall Strength: Medium
Overall Body/Complexity: Medium
Experience Overall: 82
“No, No, No, No, No! I hope I don’t find out this is some off the wall, awesome, well regarded cigar. My experience with it was just awful and I would not recommend this cigar to my worst enemy.” –Matthew T. (A Huge Nerd)
“I would rate the flavor profile of the first two thirds pretty high. Sadly it was offset by a problematic draw. The final third was a bit bland in comparison but not bad. I’m sure there were additional subtleties that I couldn’t detect due to the firmness of the draw. At the end of the day, I would give this ugly duckling another shot for the flavors, hoping my sample was missed by quality control.” -Gregg (McGreggor57)
“An insipid, monotonous smoke. What some might call a golf course stick, as it’s a notch better than a so-called dog rocket. Reminded me of Jose L. Piedra’s short-filler Cubans.” -Stefan (Stefan)
“I cannot recall having this bad of a smoking experience with a cigar….ever! Whatever this is I hope they put some time and energy into making some serious adjustments in their quality control. Pass on these, you won’t be sorry.” -Kyle (kaleehb)
“This cigar certainly smokes a whole lot better than it looks. If the price is right I’d definitely give it another whirl in the future.” –Dave W. (mdwest)
Cigar Info
