Review -- Corona House Brand Nicaraguan (really)

[ScoopKW]

First review (and such a weird one for a first reviews) so here's some background:

I generally cycle the 'gars in my humidor through a "First in, First out" strategy.

That means I'm always smoking the longest-aged cigars. Since I take humidification fairly seriously, I rarely have draw problems, and I get the burn that I want.

For most of my stogies, that means 68RH/68F

Here's a review of a house brand. It was a gift that turned out to be an interesting sleeper. The Corona Nicaraguan Selection House Brand Churchills are now the oldest cigars in my humidor. Since I need to make room for a slew of Montecristo Jambo Jambos, I need to smoke these Coronas.

And since I see several threads of "which house brands are good," here's a review.


7x50 Churchill, Natural Wrapper. Damned if I know where the wrapper was grown.

Roughly six months back, I received two boxes of Corona (Orlando FL) cigars from a friend who was leaving the area. The "Cielo Apollo" Maduros are (in my opinion) total dog rockets. I won't smoke them. I'll give them to a friend of mine who will smoke anything -- even those misspelled "Cohidas" found in Key West gas stations.

The ones simply labled "Corona" and made in Nicaragua are another story. The first one I smoked was fairly green, with too easy a draw and rather harsh. A spin in my humidor fixed that problem.

Now they're rather nice. I would actually order Robusto versions of this cigar without hesitation.

These are solidly constructed, with a uniform color and appearance of wrappers that is, well, unexpected. Some veins, but nothing that will interfere with the burn.

Easy lighting, with a nice (although grayish) ash. Actually got some decent plume on these in the six-month aging process. VERY mellow at first becoming more complex with nice leather and wood notes through the middle third of the cigar. The end becomes significantly stronger, with strong (but pleasant) earthy notes.

Ash holds up to two-point-five inches but varies from cigar to cigar. Knowing nothing about the manufacturing process, I will guess that these are "trainer" cigars for apprentice cigar rollers. Some are good to the very end, while others change little throughout the entire smoke -- they start mellow and finish only slightly less mellow.

Checking the price, these are $50 for a box of 25.


The main question becomes -- if I wanted a smoke, would I pay $2 for one of these? Most certainly. I'll give them a solid 6 out of 10 rating. (A bit better than average.) I think the robusto would yield a better smoke, because the last third of the Churchill suffers from occasional blandness.

I'll be done with these in 10 days or so, and then I'll have some Montecristo reviews for ya. (Rapture and joy, yet ANOTHER montecristo review.)

[bigpoppapuff]

first point...jeff,the owner of corona is a good friend of mine (fwiw)....

i'm surprised that you don't like the cielo...it's a pretty good cigar (imho)...made by perdomo.....i'm going to guess that perdomo makes this cigar for corona,as well...

i'm pretty sure that caribe makes a few of the house brands....that would be from honduras....not sure who is making his D.R. house product....


jeff has an amazing operation...he's done well for himself....

[ScoopKW]

i'm surprised that you don't like the cielo...it's a pretty good cigar (imho)...made by perdomo.....i'm going to guess that perdomo makes this cigar for corona,as well...

i'm pretty sure that caribe makes a few of the house brands....that would be from honduras....not sure who is making his D.R. house product....

The Cielo box was stamped Honduras -- the main problem with them has been construction. Plugged at the foot, plugged at the head, soft spots, you name it. Maybe I just got a bad box, but I gave five a good try and hated them all. Three were completely unsmokable, and the other two had flavors that I will only describe as "odd."

I can't see where a lower humidity would improve things. They might draw better, but they were pretty harsh at 68RH. I guess I'll just write this one off as a "bad box" and call it a day. As written above, no complaints whatsoever with the Corona house brand Nicaraguans -- a solid $2 churchill that you can enjoy for an hour.

[bigpoppapuff]

my mistake....if they're made in honduras,caribe is making them......i know caribe is making two or three other cigars for corona.....some of his bundled stuff...