Every year, Gran habano releases a special edition of one of it's line called the Gran Reserva. The 2012, released in 2018, uses the #5 blend but is made of the the top 10% of the crop leaf from a year then aged 7-8 years. The cigar is then aged another 4-6 years after being rolled. The 2012 release was aged 3 extra years on that making it the longest aged release.
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.
The blend uses a Nicaraguan wrapper and binder with Nicaraguan and Costa Rican filler. The Gran Reserva comes in 5 vitolas of 20-count boxes: Corona Gorda (5 5/8 x 46) — $8.10, Gran Robusto (6 x 54) — $8.60, Imperial (6 x 60) — $9.40, Czar (6 x 66) — $11.10, Grandioso (7 x 70) — $11.50. Production amounts are not given but the company said about 200,000 cigars made in all the viotlas total. The cigar is rolled like all other Gran Habano releases at G.R. Tabacaleras Unidas S.A. factory in Honduras.
Vital Stats:
Vitola: Toro Length: 6″ Ring Gauge: 54 Country of Origin: Honduras Wrapper: Nicaragua Binder: Nicaragua Filler: Nicaragua & Costa Rica Factory: G. R. Tabacaleras Unidas, S.A. Blender: George A. Rico Number of reviewers: 4 – Ryan H. (Ryan H.) John A. (Bostoneo) John I. (John I.) Mickey T. (irratebass) Price: $8.60 Age: 4 Months Release Date: November 2018 Contributed by: Gran Habano
Initial Impressions
Appearance: 89
“A superb looking specimen of a toro sized cigar. The wrapper on this cigar is of great quality. ” –John A. (Bostoneo)
Aroma: 92
“Aroma is that of smokey cinnamon and pepper.” –Ryan H. (Ryan H.)
Flavor: 91 Strength: Medium Body/Complexity: Medium
“Profile starts out very nice. Espresso and pepper with a strong earthy enough to keep up with the espresso. Cigar strength is medium plus. Draw and burn are performing nicely. A nice very light sweet brown sugar joins it's less sweet but has similar characteristics to brown sugar.” –Ryan H. (Ryan H.)
“Initial impressions are of pepper and earth. Draw feels like its going to be a bit too open. Twenty minutes in there is a sweet herbaceous quality developing, particularly on the finish. Really enjoying this, especially on the retrohale. Toward the end of the first third there is a grape seed kind of quality that's raging into the fore of flavor here. It's not unpleasant, but it's definitely stealing the show. ” –John I. (John I.)
Flavor: 91 Strength: Medium Body/Complexity: Medium
“Spicy and sweet leather start things out here. Lemon, cedar and hay notes peak in midway and provide a wonderful transition to an interesting profile. ” –John A. (Bostoneo)
“The flavors are staying consistent, but there is a sweetness developing really rounding it out. ” –Mickey T. (irratebass)
Final Third
Flavor: 91 Strength: Medium Body/Complexity: Medium
“The finale is becoming more enjoyable as the primary flavor moves more toward sweet and fruity, rather than the overwhelming grape flavor noted previously. Above the
band things really improve with the sweetness subsiding even more and a bourbon/whiskey flavor developing toward the nub. Probably kept me hanging on longer than I'd have expected to keep working this. ” –John I. (John I.)
“The sweetness is still trying to join the party, but not quite there. Really getting that mushroom flavor mixed with wood. Mostly cream mixed with more of that mushroom on the retro. ” –Mickey T. (irratebass)
Overall Impressions
Draw: 90
“The draw was just a tad tight ” –John A. (Bostoneo)
Burn: 88
“Burn needed no corrections” –Ryan H. (Ryan H.)
Construction: 90
“Nice construction the cigar never got hot or bitter. There was plenty of smoke which I appreciate. ” –Mickey T. (irratebass)
Overall Strength: Medium Overall Body/Complexity: Medium Experience Overall: 91
“Buy boxes ladies and gentlemen” –Ryan H. (Ryan H.)
“This cigar was pretty darn good. Although a transition didn't pick up until halfway through, the medium bodied profile was very pleasant and quite enjoyable. I'd defiantly pick some more of these up for my collection. ” –John A. (Bostoneo)
“I enjoyed the beginning and the end of this. The mid portion nearly blew the experience though. The over the top grape flavors going on mid-way through seemed really excessive. I'd be very interested in trying this in a more standard gauge. I think in a robusto or corona this might be a really good smoke. ” –John I. (John I.)
“This cigar was good, but not sure it was for me. There were enough flavors, with mushroom, cream some cinnamon and wood, but it just didn't really do it for me. I don't know what it was, but just kinda of boring to me ” –Mickey T. (irratebass)
Smoking Time (in minutes): 90
Reviewer
Apr
Aro
1/3
2/3
3/3
Draw
Burn
Const
Ovr
All
Ryan H.
90
92
92
92
92
95
90
92
95
John A.
97
95
95
95
95
92
92
100
95
John I.
90
88
90
88
90
88
88
88
88
Mickey T.
88
78
90
90
90
85
88
90
88
To view the complete scores and notes, click here.
"This cigar was pretty darn good. Although a transition didn't pick up until halfway through, the medium bodied profile was very pleasant and quite enjoyable. I'd defiantly pick some more of these up for my collection. " -John A. (Bostoneo)
