May 3, 2010 Brooks Whittington Bahamas,  Cigars,  Contests,  Graycliff,  Previous

Graycliff Double Espresso

There are not many cigar manufactures that reside in the Bahamas, but I can guarantee on of the most prominent is the Graycliff brand. The cigars for Graycliff are produced in their factory in Nassau, Bahamas, and they were originally blended by (the late) Cuban expatriate Avelino Lara, the creator of the original Cuban Cohiba, Trinidad and Davidoff blends.

First came the Red Label, followed by the Blue Label (Profesionale), then the more full-bodied White Label (Crystal) and finally the Black Label (Espresso). The Graycliff Double Espresso is made regularly in just one size, (4 1/2 x 54) and differs from the regular Espresso blend in that additional ligero has been added to increase the blend’s body and flavor. It sports a Costa Rican wrapper, and the filler is a combination of Cuban-seed Corojo, Ecuadorian ligero, and Nicaraguan tobaccos.

Graycliff sells this cigar in this size only at Cigars International, where the MSRP is listed at $13 per cigar, but mazes of 15 are oftentimes purchased for under $100. Graycliff Double Espresso 1.png

  • Cigar Reviewed: Graycliff Double Espresso
  • Country of Origin: Bahamas
  • Factory: Graycliff Cigar Factory
  • Wrapper: Costa Rican
  • Binder: Costa Rican
  • Filler: Ecuadorian & Nicaraguan
  • Size: 4 1/2
  • Ring Gauge: 54
  • Vitola: Double Robusto
  • Est. Price: $13.00 (Mazos of 15, $175.00)

The Graycliff Double Espresso is a fairly ugly stick, with a rough medium-colored wrapper that has very little smell to it and no oil on it. The wrapper is quite bumpy along the entire length, and has quite a few veins showing as well. The cap is not pretty and looks very sloppily executed.

The dominant flavor for the entire stick was coffee with cedar, leather and a creamy note that was very pleasant. There was precious little spice or pepper for the entire smoke. The flavors did not change much for the entire cigar, keeping a pretty solid creamy coffee flavor for the entire length of the smoke. It did get a bit hot at the end of the nub as well.

Graycliff Double Espresso 2.png Unfortunately, the draw was very loose, the burn was erratic and the ash was extremely flaky, which, while a problem with Graycliff cigars in general, it does not make it any more annoying. There was quite a bit of smoke coming from the stick (which I like), and it smell great, like coffee. The final smoking time was one hour and 30 minutes. Graycliff Double Espresso 3.png

84 Overall Score

For a morning cigar, you could do quite a bit worse. I use this cigar as a very different change of pace smoke, one that I always have on hand in case I get the urge for the specific profile only this cigar can provide. It is a good smoke for what it is, but it is not overly complex, has almost no punch at all, and is basically a one note wonder. But if you like coffee notes in your cigars, forget about it! Nothing even comes close to this.

Avelino Lara Bahamas Cigars International Enrico Garzaroli Graycliff Cigar Factory Graycliff Double Espresso Philippine Simaba
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Brooks Whittington

I have been smoking cigars for over eight years. A documentary wedding photographer by trade, I spent seven years as a photojournalist for the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star Telegram. I started the cigar blog SmokingStogie in 2008 after realizing that there was a need for a cigar blog with better photographs and more in-depth information about each release. SmokingStogie quickly became one of the more influential cigar blogs on the internet, known for reviewing preproduction, prerelease, rare, extremely hard-to-find and expensive cigars. I am a co-founder of halfwheel and now serve as an editor for halfwheel.

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