Powstanie SBC 18 (Top 25 2018)

12. Powstanie SBC 18

Powstanie

  • Country of Origin: Nicaragua
  • Factory: Fabrica de Tabacos NicaSueño S.A.
  • Wrapper: Mexico (San Andrés) & Ecuador Connecticut
  • Binder: Nicaragua
  • Filler: Nicaragua
  • Length: 5 1/2 Inches
  • Ring Gauge: 46
  • Vitola: Corona Gorda
  • MSRP: $16 (Boxes of 20, $320)
  • Release Date: September 2018
  • Number of Cigars Released: 250 Boxes of 20 Cigars (5,000 Total Cigars)
  • Original Score: 92

After releasing the SBC 16 two years ago, Powstanie returned to the limited edition space in 2018 with the aptly named SBC 18, a barber pole of Mexican San Andrés and Ecuadorian Connecticut covering a binder and filler from Nicaragua. The blend results in an interesting and exciting journey along the flavor and strength scale, starting off mild enough to be the first cigar of the day and developing into a robust profile marked by plenty of earth, pepper and coffee.

Like many of the cigars on this list, the SBC 18—an abbreviation for surrounded by champions—manages to take what could be a fairly potent blend and find balance and complexity with it while also delivering one of the better flavor and strength progressions of any cigar on this year’s list. The cigar, which was made at Fábrica de Tabacos NicaSueño S.A. in Estelí, Nicaragua, also excels in construction and combustion. — Patrick Lagreid.

You might as well learn the proper pronunciation of the company—pov-stan-yah or poh-shan-yah depending on how you hear it said and choose to write it phonetically—because this is a cigar worth asking for by name.

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