Stogie Reviews: Gran Habano #3 Churchill

19 Jun 2008

This has all the makings of a great golf course cigar: generous dimensions, a pleasant but simple flavor, above average physical properties, and a sub-$4 price.

So why haven’t you heard of Gran Habano before? Its manufacturer, GR Tabacleras Unidas, has kept a relatively low profile since its inception in 1995. The “love child” of third generation leaf growers with outfits in Columbia, Panama, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, the company introduced three blends in 2003—Connecticut #1, Habano #3, and Corojo #5. I guess they don’t like even numbers.

Habano #3 is their “classic cigar,” sporting a “medium body with a smooth and balanced taste.” The wrapper and binder are Nicaraguan habano, and the filler is a three-nation blend from Nicaragua, Mexico, and Costa Rica. The Torpedo vitola earned a rating of 4.3 in the Summer 2004 issue of Smoke Magazine.

The 7 inch by 48 ring gauge Churchill is a slender, tightly packed stick with a few veins and almost no seams. It certainly doesn’t look like a cigar you could buy 20 for under $70 or five for under $20.

The taste is a festive one of cedar spice and pine nuts—satisfying, albeit a little dry and a tad mild. Despite the long, narrow format and the solid feel, each easy puff produces a lot of thick smoke from the get-go. The flavor moderately intensifies midway with hearty, meaty undertones, but I’d say the profile is mostly consistent from light to nub with few subtleties.

One characteristic you’re sure to notice regarding the even burn is a bulging black mascara between the coarsely layered ash and the wrapper. That ash, by the way, holds very well for up to two inches. My only construction complaint is that tiny flakes of the delicate wrapper had a tendency to tear away at the end of one of the two Churchills I smoked for this review.

All things considered, I recommend you pick up a few of these for the next time you hit the links or participate in any other activity where the primary focus is not on the cigar. The Gran Habano #3 Churchill may not have what it takes to be an after dinner centerpiece, but it no doubt makes for a worthy, inexpensive companion. I give it three and ½ out of five stogies.