At this year’s IPCPR Convention & Trade Show, Cornelius & Anthony showed off two new cigars: The Gent and The Mistress.

I think it’s fair to say that The Mistress got a bit more attention, as the company was telling anyone that would listen just how strong of a cigar it is. As for The Gent, it’s supposed to be the more medium-strength offering of the two.

As with the rest of Cornelius & Anthony’s portfolio, the cigar is made at the La Zona Cigar Factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. Blend-wise, it uses an Ecuadorian rosado wrapper over an American binder and fillers from Honduras and Nicaragua.

The same four sizes are offered in both The Gent and The Mistress:

  • Cornelius & Anthony The Gent Corona Gorda (5 1/2 x 46) — $7.95 (Boxes of 20, $159)
  • Cornelius & Anthony The Gent Gordo (6 x 60) — $9.75 (Boxes of 20, $195)
  • Cornelius & Anthony The Gent Robusto (5 x 52) — $8.50 (Boxes of 20, $170)
  • Cornelius & Anthony The Gent Toro (6 x 50) — $8.90 (Boxes of 20, $178)

  • Cigar Reviewed: Cornelius & Anthony The Gent Gordo
  • Country of Origin: Nicaragua
  • Factory: La Zona Cigar Factory
  • Wrapper: Ecuador
  • Binder: U.S.A.
  • Filler: Honduras & Nicaragua
  • Length: 6 Inches
  • Ring Gauge: 60
  • Vitola: Gordo
  • MSRP: $9.75 (Boxes of 20, $195)
  • Release Date: July 2018
  • Number of Cigars Released: Regular Production
  • Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

My initial reaction would say an Ecuadorian habano wrapper in a 6 x 56 or 58 ring gauge. The box-press does seem to hide some of the ring gauge, but there’s no doubt this is a big cigar. Aroma off of that wrapper has cocoa, some leather and barnyard. Despite the latter, it’s quite sweet and around medium-full. The foot is smoother with graham cracker, milk chocolate, peanut butter and some faint black pepper. While there’s some semi-sweet chocolate and potato chips, the main takeaway from the cold draw is some funk. It’s intertwined with some barnyard, which may or may not make it better for you.

While the pre-light ritual doesn’t give any indication of anything bad, it certainly doesn’t show any indication for just how rich The Gent starts. There’s a hearty and smooth cedar, roasted pecan and a ton of nutty and buttery flavors, similar to really good sushi rice. It’s full, it’s smooth and it’s incredibly detailed. Fortunately, there’s zero let up as the cigar gets going. There’s some raspberry, some beef fat, butter, lots of that aforementioned nutty and umami flavor. Two cigars show milder spices, like nutmeg. Through the nose there’s some hay and even more of the umami flavors. Flavor is full, body is medium-full and strength is medium-plus. While the flavor is sublime, two of the samples need a touch-up to prevent the cigar from going out.

Unfortunately, the umami-flavors depart the profile one by one. The good news is The Gent still has a great profile with walnuts on top of white pepper and earthiness. At the halfway mark, the white pepper takes over on top of a dry breadiness and a creaminess. The finish has lemon and walnuts. Flavor remains full, body is full and strength is medium-plus. While there were some burn issues in the first third, those are corrected and the second third is without any construction woes.

If the second third was a drop off in complexity—and it was—the final third is a return to the levels of detail that the first third had. A rich, moist banana bread sits on top of some creaminess and a raw nuttiness. Retrohales rotate between a sort of roasted apple and some generic meatiness, while the finish is thick buttermilk. Flavor is full, body thins out to medium-full and strength is medium-plus. Construction remains excellent until the end, no doubt helped by the larger ring gauge which keeps the cigar cooler.

Final Notes

  • Recently, I mentioned that sometimes smaller ring gauge cigars can constrain the flavor. When large ring gauge cigars were gaining extreme popularity, many people within the cigar industry acted with disdain towards the larger cigars, something that still happens today. I don’t enjoy the feel of a larger cigar in my mouth, but I have certainly learned to appreciate many of the benefits of the size. Those can include:
    • Smoke Production — Usually, the smoke production is greater and easier to keep steady.
    • Draw — I rarely have any big ring gauge cigars with tight draws.
    • Easy of Smoking — Taking repetitive puffs is far easier and leads to far less chance of a cigar getting too hot with a larger ring gauge.
    • Flavor — Some blends do better with more filler and less wrapper.
    • Value — Due to my job, this is less a concern of mine, but I understand the bang for your buck mentality that leads to many people trying to smoke larger cigars.
  • I really like the Cornelius & Anthony branding, though without the secondary band things would get very confusing.
  • Strength lived up to the billing, it was medium-plus throughout, though the flavor and body were much more intense.
  • Unless I’m missing something, seven out of the eight Cornelius & Anthony lines are offered in the same exact four vitolas.
  • Cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
  • Final smoking time was three hours and 10 minutes on average.
  • Site sponsors Atlantic Cigar Co., Cigars.com, JR Cigar and Serious Cigars all carry The Gent Gordo. Famous Smoke Shop carries the three other sizes.
92 Overall Score

Over the course of the year, I will smoke hundreds of different cigars. While many of them are great cigars, it’s not every year that I find myself smoking a cigar that seems magical. As with most reviews, I had zero expectations of what would happen, but as with something like the original Las Calaveras, I was completely blindsided with just how good this was going to be. The Gent is simply fantastic. It’s a seamless transition of rich and balanced flavors that I rarely ever experience and it does it for over three hours with no reprieve. This is one of the best cigars I’ve smoked not just of this year, but of many of the years preceding it.

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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.