17. Partagás Corona Gorda Añejados
Habanos S.A.
- Country of Origin: Cuba
- Factory: n/a
- Wrapper: Cuba
- Binder: Cuba
- Filler: Cuba
- Size: 5 5/8 x 46
- Est. Price: $16.15 (Boxes of 25, $403.75)
- Release Date: Feb. 17, 2016
- Number of Cigars Released: Regular Production
- Original Score: 92
A Cuban has once again made the list.
For some of our readers, this will be a positive thing; for others, you probably think less of the list, or perhaps even us. So I’ll briefly repeat what I’ve said for the last few years.
This is a list of the 25 best cigars that debuted from Dec. 1, 2015 to Dec. 31, 2016. There are a lot of cigars from 2016, particularly the later stages of 2016 missing—more on that here. We review Cuban cigars, a mixture of limited edition Cubans that are oftentimes a few years old and new releases from Habanos S.A. Some of them score well, other’s don’t.
The Partagás Corona Gorda Añejados did.
For those complaining because you can’t buy this Partagás at your local shop. There’s one other non-Cuban cigar not for sale in the U.S., three store exclusives and at least three other cigars that have long since sold out just about everywhere—or roughly one-third of our list is not available at 99 percent of U.S. retailers. That doesn’t count the dozens of limited editions that make up this list and our four previous top 25 or take into account that about a quarter of halfwheel’s traffic comes from places outside of the U.S.
As for the Añejados. It’s a relatively new program from Habanos S.A. The Cuban cigar company has so far limited it to its global brands, i.e. the most famous marcas like Cohiba, Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta and of course Partagás. Cigars, not ones regularly available for that brand, are rolled and then placed to age in boxes for 5-8 years before they are banded and shipped to stores.
In theory, this could help to mitigate a common theory about Cuban cigars, which is that most of them need to rest because they are not aged as long in their non-Cuban counterparts. In practice, this hasn’t worked out flawlessly with the first two releases garnering mixed reviews to say the last.
Turns out, the third time is a charm. The Partagás Corona Gorda produced fruity, creamy and grassy flavors alongside what Brian Burt eloquently described as a “parade of pepper.” It’s a good cigar and one that can, or it least could, be had for a little more than $10, something that oftentimes isn’t the case with Cuba’s best and brightest. — Charlie Minato.
