Cohiba Spectre CS19

This review was supposed to be published about a month ago, more precisely, on Jan. 23, 2023. That’s relevant because that would have been the Monday after halfwheel’s 2022 Awards Week, which includes the annual Packaging Awards. During the Packaging Awards, I was reminded that there was no Cohiba Spectre for 2022—or so I thought. With an upcoming redux review scheduled, I also remembered that it had been some time since I smoked the 2019 Cohiba Spectre, a cigar I really enjoyed. So, this seemed like an ideal redux candidate.

Launched in 2018, the Spectre Series, for all intents and purposes, is the flagship cigar for General Cigar Co. Cohiba is the bonafide flagship brand for the company, and Spectre is Cohiba’s annual, high-end limited edition.

While the blends, packaging and price points have changed from year-to-year, the concept has remained pretty consistent. Each Cohiba Spectre blend uses aged tobaccos from General Cigar Co.’s massive library, each release is rolled by a pair or two of rollers, the packaging tends to be large and elaborate, and the price tags match all of this, having ranged from $90 to $130 per cigar.

Typically, each new Spectre has been released in November, though November 2022 came and went without a release. Less than two weeks ago—albeit after I smoked the cigar for this review—General Cigar Co. announced that there would be a new Spectre shipping in March 2023, the delayed Spectre 2022.

The CS19 was the sophomore release for the Spectre Series. Limited to just 1,800 cigars, it was a 6 x 49 toro that used a high priming wrapper from Jalapa, Nicaragua that was aged in barrels. Underneath the wrapper is a Connecticut broadleaf binder and a filler that contains Brazilian mata fina and Nicaraguan tobaccos from Estelí and Jalapa. The Nicaraguan tobaccos were aged in Spanish sherry barrels.

Ruben Dario Perez Peña bunched every cigar, while Xirolma Céspedes was responsible for rolling. This pair is credited with making all of the first three Spectre releases, though neither is part of the two teams that made Spectre 2022.

The packaging looked like it was inspired by a Pebble Beach show car, with a lid that opened in three different places to reveal the 10 individual tubes of cigars. High-gloss black and red were used throughout to provide extreme contrasts.

But it wasn’t all for show, as I found the cigar to be excellent. Here’s what I said when I reviewed it in December 2019:

The Cohiba Spectre CS19 is everything one could want when spending $90 for a cigar. While not as good as the Davidoff Oro Blanco, a $500 cigar, I have a lot of the same thoughts about this release. From the packaging to the cigar itself, this is what you would want if you are going to commit to spending that much money for something you light on fire. Last year’s release of Spectre was decent; the packaging was pretty, but the cigar was average. Not in 2019. There’s a sense when struggling, err opening, the tubos up that this is different, this year General figured out its mistakes from 2018. That extends through the dynamic first third to the final puffs; the Spectre is that rare meeting of different and very good: it’s special.

I was not alone. The cigar ended up finishing second on halfwheel’s Top 25 for 2019.

• Cigar Reviewed: Cohiba Spectre CS19
• Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
• Factory: General Cigar Dominicana
• Wrapper: Nicaragua (Jalapa)
• Binder: U.S.A. (Connecticut Broadleaf)
• Filler: Brazil (Mata Fina) & Nicaragua (Estelí & Jalapa)
• Length: 6 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 49
• Vitola: Toro
• MSRP: $90 (Box of 10, $900)
• Release Date: Nov. 20, 2019
• Number of Cigars Released: 180 Boxes of 10 Cigars (1,800 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Redux: 1

I am very quickly reminded why this cigar won a Packaging Award in 2019. The black plastic tube that the Cohiba Spectre CS19 comes in is incredibly unique: it’s semi-opaque and shaped like a D, where one side is curved but the other side is flat. Interestingly, when I remove this cigar from the tube, a piece of styrofoam remains attached to the cigar, a result of static. The cigar appears incredibly well-rolled with a great dark brown color. The wrapper’s aroma is medium-plus and smells like old mahogany furniture along with sugar sweetness, nuttiness and barnyard flavors. The foot reminds me of freshly-baked brownies along with some nuttiness and woodiness. Intensity-wise, it’s slightly stronger than the wrapper’s aroma, around medium-full. Given how dense the cigar felt, I’m surprised to find the draw is somewhat open. Flavor-wise, I pick up floral notes over some oak, white grape juice, cedar and some petroleum-like flavors.

Once lit, the Cohiba Spectre CS19 starts with a woody profile before transitioning to a bitterness, then earthiness, peanut shells, coffee beans and some metallic flavors. Fortunately, the metallic flavor isn’t present on every puff, but it doesn’t completely go away. Outside of the occasional metallic sensation, the profile is otherwise pretty smooth. Nuttiness and creaminess lead some Ritz cracker-like flavors along with some waffle cones. Once the smoke leaves my mouth, the profile changes quite a bit with a flavor that reminds me of horseradish, albeit without as much of the burn, along with some sharp earthiness and brute black pepper. Flavor is medium-full, body is closer to full and strength is medium. Touch-ups begin after I’ve smoked through about an inch of the cigar and unfortunately, they don’t stop. While I found the cold draw to be open, once lit, the cigar routinely feels like there’s some blockage that impedes getting the smoke from the end of the cigar to my mouth, which seems to necessitate the relights.

Unfortunately, while the issues started in the first third, they get progressively worse as the cigar continues. The flavors are seemingly pretty similar—nuttiness, crackers, earthiness and some peppers—but the tight draws and burn issues are really distracting from the details of the Cohiba Spectre CS19. There are some puffs where the detail really gets turned up and shows off how good this cigar can be. For five or so minutes, I’m able to pick up a dry peanut flavor, cashews and some dry floral flavors. The finish, an interesting mixture of dry nuttiness, floral flavors and herbs lasts for a long time. Unfortunately, before the end of the second third, the Spectre CS19 goes out. Once that starts, it doesn’t stop. The end result is a profile that tastes beaten down by the combustion issues. Earthiness, nuttiness, cedar, oak, bitter cocoa and raisins can be found in the final third, though they oftentimes have burnt and bitter accents to them. The same goes for the finish where burnt earthiness and nuttiness edge out sugar sweetness, leather and some sunflower seeds. Retrohaling has some reprieve from the burnt flavors as white pepper, red pepper, raisins and herbs are what I can taste while the smoke is just leaving my nose. Unfortunately, 10 seconds after that happens the end result is herbs, raisins and metallic flavors—not a great trio. Flavor ends medium-full, body is medium-full and strength is medium-full.