Plasencia Alma Fuerte Colorado Claro Robustus II

When the Plasencia family decided to launch its eponymous cigar line in 2016, it started with the Alma Fuerte brand. In 2020, it added a variation of the blend that used a 10-year-old Colorado claro wrapper. While both the regular Alma Fuerte and Alma Fuerte Colorado Claro’s wrappers come from the family’s farms in Jalapa, the latter is much lighter in terms of color.

While it’s never odd to see a company take an existing line and expand it by adding a new wrapper, Plasencia’s approach to market entry was a tad unique. Whereas most companies will release the new wrapper version with multiple regular production vitolas—or in rarer cases, as limited editions—Plasencia launched the Colorado Claro in 2020 with just one regular production vitola. A second size was added in 2022 and a third, the one being reviewed here today, was released last year. That one-by-one approach is nearly one of one.

The new size is the Robustus II—yes, robustus, not robustos—is a 5 1/8 x 55 parejo. Unlike the other two sizes, it has a round shape without any pressing.

• Cigar Reviewed: Plasencia Alma Fuerte Colorado Claro Robustus II
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: Plasencia Cigars S.A.
• Wrapper: Nicaragua (Jalapa)
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Length: 5 1/8 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 55
• Vitola: Double Robusto
• MSRP: $21.50 (Box of 10, $215)
• Release Date: Nov. 15, 2023
• Number of Cigars Released: Regular Production
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

Appearance-wise, to little surprise, these cigars remind me of the other Alma Fuerte Colorado Claros. There’s a lightly tanned-wrapper—like the color of a latte when the milk is first poured in—with decently integrated veins and a fair bit of oil. The Plasencia Alma Fuerte Colorado Claro Robustus II ships without cellophane, so I’m left with some muted aromas of barnyard, leather, and Spanish cedar; each cigar around medium. The feet are medium-full with a dry mineral aroma that reminds me of walking through the section of stones and pebbles at a home improvement store. In addition, there’s Spanish cedar, cocoa, and floral flavors; all three cigars are around medium-full. I find a very weird flavor in all three cigars, somewhat like the taste of celery though perhaps chemical or floral. Behind that is oak, green licorice, floral flavors, oak, and dry nuttiness. All three cigars are around medium-full in intensity, perhaps closer to full.

The Robustus II starts with lots of cedar flavors with pretzel and earthiness behind it. After the initial dose of flavors, grains, dough and nuttiness emerge. It’s tough to say that any one flavor takes the top spot, as the medium-full profile changes quite frankly. The first half inch takes a long time to burn through, but it’s pretty clear that a dry pretzel flavor—or a slightly toasty and salty bread flavor—has taken the top spot over nuttiness and dry earthiness. Underneath, there are grains, red apple sweetness, muted oatmeal, and Spanish cedar as secondary flavors. White pepper, black pepper and horseradish provide sharpness to the profile, though none of them are consistent. Retrohales have some more of that weird flavor that I found on the cold draw over berry sweetness, horseradish and creaminess. After the smoke leaves my nostrils, the horseradish and peanuts combine together to form a finish. Flavor is full, body is medium-full, and strength is medium. Construction is excellent with excessive amounts of smoke production being the only real standout feature beyond the aforementioned slow burn.

Pretzel remains the strongest flavor in the second third, though the gap between it and the medley of secondary flavors isn’t that much. Earthiness, creaminess, and peanuts—the latter as the final third gets closer—are right behind the pretzel flavor in terms of intensity. Leather, red apple sweetness, salt, oak, and some of that peculiar flavor from the cold draw are more tertiary than secondary flavors. The pepper is more restrained, at least until the finish when both black pepper and horseradish emerge. There’s a nice honeydew-like sweetness during one cigar, but oftentimes, the finish is more or less the same as the initial flavor, just with the individual flavors rearranged. Damp earthiness and dry creaminess lead the retrohale, followed by nuttiness, oak, some more of the unique flavor from the cold draw, and some horseradish. After the retrohale is complete, I find the taste spicier, with oak and cedar also having larger roles. Flavor is full, body is medium-full, and strength is medium-plus. Construction remains very good overall: two cigars are excellent and one cigar is having some combustion issues, though I avoid having to use a lighter to fix it.

The final third of the Plasencia Alma Fuerte Colorado Claro Robustus II sees the nuttiness finally overtake the pretzel flavor for the top spot. That said, the nuttiness is no longer like peanut butter and instead a more generic and less interesting nut mixture. The profile is getting drier and sharper with flavors that remind me of a pile of dry fall leaves, leather, cedar, and black pepper accenting the nuttiness. Two cigars show a distinct steamed rice flavor, though it’s nowhere to be found on my third cigar. The finish continues to get drier and a bit rougher, with cedar and bread flavors leading to some generic sweetness, creaminess, and nuttiness. There’s not as much defined sharpness, but the black pepper and horseradish from the second third are probably still there. Retrohales are much sharper with that flavor from the cold draw presenting itself as unsweet floral flavors with some chemical accents leading the fray. A lot more spiciness is present, joining hay, white grape and, on one cigar, a bit of grapefruit. The finish is either a super thick peanut shell flavor or something that reminds me of steamed rice and spiciness, almost like horseradish rice, something that may or not be a thing. Flavor is full, body is medium-full, and strength is medium-full. All three cigars go from start to finish without any construction issues.

Final Notes

• Due to its immense resources—capital, tobacco and manufacturing—Plasencia is able to zag in ways that few newer companies can. From the unique vitolas to high prices to unique product rollouts, Plasencia Cigars has consistently been different than most companies. I’m a big fan of it, and I think it has helped play a role in the brand’s quick success.
• Even something like the ordering of the bands, where the smallest band is applied at the very top of the cigar, is something that Plasencia has made its own. That sort of realization is what led me to think about Plasencia’s zagging in a world of zigging.
• At the end of the day, Plasencia hardly reinvented how to sell cigars, but a number of the little things it’s done differently.

• The box contains this quote from Rubén Darío, a famous Nicaraguan poet. Google translates the quote as follows:Blessed is the tree that is barely sensitive,
  and the stone is harder because it no longer feels,
  because there is no greater pain than the pain of being alive,
  no greater sorrow than conscious life.
• Darío is the inspiration for the Metapa line from Foundation Cigar Co.
• After cutting the cap, especially on the first two cigars, I was concerned by how tight the cigars appeared to be rolled. Fortunately, the draws never caused any issues.
• The burn seemed slow until the first bit of ash fell off. Once that happened, smoke production picked up to a more reasonable level.
• Plasencia Cigars advertises on halfwheel.
• The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
• Site sponsors Cigars Direct, Corona Cigar Co., and Famous Smoke Shop carry the Plasencia Alma Fuerte Colorado Claro Robustus II.