I wanted to like this cigar. It’s from a small producer in Estelí, Nicaragua, and Luis Martinez offers sticks at reasonable prices and frequently promotes good deals. This is the kind of company you can pull for.

Unfortunately, my experience with an eight-stick sampler pack ($25 including shipping and sales tax) left me unimpressed. Construction and burn were fine. The draw was consistently good. Even the faint pre-light aroma of nuts and mint was pleasant.

Taste was the downfall. Smoking through the sampler, I noticed little difference among the various vitolas. The beginning was harsh and biting, and throughout there was a dry, musty taste—and aftertaste—that I associate with Mexican tobacco.

My assumption was heightened by the fact that while the company identifies the wrapper (Ecuadorian sungrown) and binder (Honduran Cuban-seed), it refers to the filler only as a mix from Central America.

In the second third, the Silver Selection tended to smooth out a little and there was even a little pepper here and there. Even at its best, though, the cigars were not my cup of tea.

For just a shade over $3 a stick, you won’t be risking much if you want to check them out. I believe there’s even a no-risk special deal with a travel humidor. Rating this one wasn’t easy, but in the end I can give it only two and a half stogies out of five.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here.]

-George E

photo credit: Stogie Guys