Cuba Aliados Original Blend Robusto

There are a number of memories rattling around in my brain that don’t have a firm date on them. So many, in fact, I’d be afraid to get a list of them and a directive to put a date on when those things actually happened.

It’s something that is particularly noticeable this time of year, as the Arizona Fall League has been going on for the past several weeks and is about to wrap up its season. If you’re not familiar with the AFL, and the fact that I also work in pro baseball, it’s a league best described as Major League Baseball’s finishing school, a way for elite minor league players who are almost all considered viable major leaguers to play against each other for a few weeks between the end of the Minor League Baseball season and MLB’s Winter Meetings. It serves a number of purposes, not least of which is to see who may be ready to begin the next season in the majors, decisions which can affect a number of off-season transactions.

I bring it up because I have countless conversations about players who have come through the Arizona Fall League in the last decade, all of which go something like this: remember when the Blue Jays sent Marcus Stroman to the Fall League and he wasn’t even a starting pitcher? What year was that? 2017? Nope…it was 2013.”

It’s a lead into this review because I don’t remember when I first heard of the Cuba Aliados brand; for all I know, it has been a part of my cigar memories for as long as I have been smoking cigars, which has reached about 15 years or so now.

What I am more sure of is the relaunch of the Cuba Aliados brand, which happened in 2022 at the hands of the Vandermarliere family, best known to readers of this site as the owners of Oliva, which purchased the brand in August 2021. The purchase of the Cuba Aliados brand came with the Puros Indios and Roly brands, three brands that were made popular by Rolando Reyes Sr. in the 1990s and continued into the subsequent decades with varying degrees of success and popularity.

“Puros Indios, Cuba Aliados and Roly were all started by the remarkable Rolando Reyes Sr., for whom I have a lot of respect,” said Fred Vandermarliere, owner of Oliva Cigar Co., in a press release. “They have a significant loyal following in the US market, so it made sense to us to take these brands under the Oliva roof, where we can ensure their quality from leaf to the market.”

In June 2022, Oliva Cigar Co. announced its plans for Cuba Aliados, which would include two new lines, neither of which would be made by Oliva. One line, the Cuba Aliados by Ernesto Perez-Carrillo, would be a limited release using an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper that has been aged for five years, along with a Nicaraguan binder and fillers from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.

The other line would be the Cuba Aliados Original Blend, a regular production line made by Julio Eiroa of JRE Tobacco Co. Despite the name, it will not be the original blend of the Cuba Aliados, but instead, a Honduran puro that is offered in five sizes:

It’s an interesting blend selection for a line whose original creator, Rolando Reyes, once said that he doesn’t like Honduran tobacco, saying that he felt it didn’t offer what he was looking for. Oliva said that the Honduran blend was used to recreate the flavor of the cigars that Reyes made while working in Cuba and using Cuban tobacco.

• Cigar Reviewed: Cuba Aliados Original Blend Robusto
• Country of Origin: Honduras
• Factory: Fábrica de Puros Aladino at Las Lomas Jamastran
• Wrapper: Honduras
• Binder: Honduras
• Filler: Honduras
• Length: 5 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 50
• Vitola: Robusto
• MSRP: $10 (Box of 20, $200)
• Release Date: July 2022
• Number of Cigars Released: Regular Production
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

The Cuba Aliados Original Blend Robusto has a matte, medium-brown wrapper. Maybe it’s the red in the bands playing a trick on my eyes, but the leaf seems to have a bit of a red hue to it. There are a decent number of small veins, the seams are flat on the whole, and there isn’t a lot of oiliness to the leaf, which gives it a bit of fine, dry texture to the fingers. It may not be the prettiest wrapper leaf I have ever seen, but the cigar is rolled well, firm but with a bit of give, and with cleanly constructed heads and caps, making for an overall attractive final product. The foot has aromas of dry, dusty earth, some leaves that have fallen over recent days and then a syrupy sweetness that incorporates sweet apples, maple syrup and tree sap. That combination is then followed up and accented by a good amount of black pepper, enough to elicit the occasional sneeze. The airflow on the cold draw is very good, while the flavor is smoother and creamier than the aroma. That said, my lips get a good tingle from the tobacco. While not as intense as the descriptor might suggest, there is something that reminds me of strawberry foam, which is counterbalanced by some Honduran terroir.

Given that the Cuba Aliados Original Blend Robusto is a Honduran puro, I’m not surprised to get a lot of Honduran terroir from the first puffs. That means some dry, vibrant earth and a middle-of-the-road pepper that hits the tongue and lips. In the first cigar, where I’m not expecting it, I’d call it full-flavored, while the expectation from the subsequent cigars are closer to medium-full but still quite a big start. Retrohales are quite hearty and pepper-forward, delivering a good bit of the Honduran earthiness as well as the associated pepper. What I am not expecting is the creaminess that can be part of the flavor in the first inch. It’s only prominent in one of the three cigars smoked, but when it is, the complexity and richness it gives the cigar is simply fantastic. There is a bit of a mellowing as the first third comes to a close, though it almost feels as if the cigar has simply reached its cruising speed, as the flavor is still vibrant and fairly intense, just a bit more familiar than it was at the start. While it might not be the most complex profile or one that delivers a long list of notes, what it does offer is quite good, both punchy and smooth. Flavor is medium-full, body is medium and strength is a bit more than mild. Construction and combustion are very good thus far, highlighted by an easy draw and good smoke production.

The second third doesn’t start with any pronounced changes, though it seems I’m getting less of the Honduran terroir than what I found in the first third. In its place, there is a bit more creaminess, a subtle addition that coats the taste buds but also gets quickly overshadowed with a retrohale and its combination of pepper, dry wood and terroir. Where I find some surprisingly enjoyable moments is in the finish of a puff and retrohale, as the creaminess returns and seems to migrate its way up to the nose, creating a refined, vibrant sensation that hits all the senses. Around the midway point, the burn line of each of the three cigars begins to become uneven, and by the end of this section, it has become quite uneven, shoveling to the point where I simply have to use my lighter to correct it. The final puffs of the second third have a tendency to get noticeably more intense, particularly in the earthiness while adding a bit of heat and a pepper that really tingles my lips. It’s not consistent in terms of when it happens, and sometimes a bit more creaminess pushes it more into the final third. The flavor is medium-plus for most of the second third, while body is closer to medium-full and strength is just shy of medium. Outside of the burn line issue, which is fairly persistent, the cigar continues to smoke well.

While I have not been shy about my fondness for good, well-processed Honduran tobacco and its distinctive terroir, like anything, there can be too much of a good thing. It’s a point I raise as the Cuba Aliados Original Blend Robusto gets into its final third with an impressive creaminess that is thick and palate-coating. While the cigar had largely led with a dry earthiness, it now finishes with it, giving my taste buds the sensation of drinking a creamy coffee drink or even something in the vein of a chai tea latte, though the latter is more a reference point as opposed to a specific descriptor. There are spots where I get a more pronounced woody tone, a subtle shift to the profile that also helps to take the focus off the terroir, even if just slightly. For a cigar that is so rooted in earthiness, it never drops down into a heavier profile, which is not surprising given the blend, even though it feels poised to do so. The cigar finishes with the kind of heat and spiciness I’d expect from certain spicy snack mixes, and there’s also a bit of dry graininess in the flavor. The flavor finishes medium-full with a good amount of zing for the taste buds, body is a smooth medium, and strength is still mild by my system. Construction and combustion remain good, and thankfully the burn line issue doesn’t return.

Final Notes

• Regarding the purchase of the brands, Oliva purchased the rights to the brands but not Reyes Family Cigars, which makes cigars under its own names as well as for other companies.
• There appears to be a Cuba Aliados line that looks like a private label line made for catalog retailers.
• The Cuba Aliados line is named for an old bus company in Cuba called Aliados. The word means allied.
• Brooks Whittington reviewed the Cuba Aliados by Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Torpedo.
• I have not had the chance to smoke that line, so I can’t compare the two blends released under the Cuba Aliados brand.
• I have also not yet had the chance to smoke the other vitolas in this line, though I am now very intrigued to do so.
• It appears that the Cuba Aliados brand dates back to 1955, when Rolando Reyes Sr. began making cigars under that name in Cuba. He left Cuba in 1975, moving to Union City, N.J. and opening a cigar factory. He then moved to Miami, and eventually onto Honduras.
• Rolando Reyes Sr. passed away in March 2012.
• I wish I would have had more time to know and learn from Rolando Reyes Sr., as I had only met him a handful of times prior to his passing. I can only imagine the wealth of knowledge and experience that he had, not only about tobacco and cigars but also about agriculture. He left his home country of Cuba, came to the U.S., established his operations in Honduras and so much more.
• Reyes is often credited with—and takes credit for—bringing the diadema vitola to the U.S. market.
• I didn’t find there to be much nicotine strength in the Cuba Aliados Original Blend Robusto.
• Oliva advertises on halfwheel.
• The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
• Final smoking time was one hour and 45 minutes on average.