Stogie Reviews: San Lotano Habano Robusto
2 Nov 2010
Though you may not have heard of him, chances are you’ve enjoyed one of A.J. Fernandez’s smokes. The prolific cigar maker has crafted stogies for Rocky Patel, Padilla, Graycliff, and Gurkha, and he’s also made limited distribution lines like 5 Vegas AAA, Man O’ War, Diesel, La Herencia, and Sol Cubano.
Fernandez, who has as much cigar blending talent as anyone his age, has made quite a name for himself in recent years. So it wasn’t completely surprising when he announced just before this year’s industry trade show that he would be producing his first solo nationally distributed cigar. The San Lotano brand originated with Fernandez’s grandfather in San Luis, Cuba, but has not been made in decades.
The brand is being released in three versions: Connecticut, Maduro, and Habano. On the latter, beneath the shiny Brazilian Habano wrapper is a Honduran binder and Dominican, Honduran, and Nicaraguan filler tobaccos.
Each blend is released in four sizes: Churchill (7 x 52), Robusto (5 x 52), Toro (6 x 52), and Torpedo (6.5 x 52). The Toro that was the subject of a Quick Smoke and each of the three Robustos I sampled for this review were notably firm.
The San Lotano features an impressively complex combination of flavors. Warm tobacco, spice, toastiness, cedar, meaty char, and roast coffee are all apparent in the full-bodied blend.
It’s not knock-you-on-your-ass full-bodied, but there’s a lot going on here, including a certain “crunchiness” that is hard to describe properly, but easy to enjoy. The hour-long smoke features excellent construction as the firm cigar has a deliberate, but not difficult, draw.
Having sampled all three of the San Lotano blends, I can definitely say that while none are disappointing, the Habano is my clear favorite. And at $6 apiece, it provides good value.
The San Lotano doesn’t change much from beginning to end, but it doesn’t need change to be enjoyable, as the interplay between the flavors keeps the smoker plenty interested. That complexity, combined with excellent construction and solid value, earns the San Lotano Habano Robusto four and a half stogies out of five.
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photo credit: Stogie Guys
Patrick Ashby
Co-Founder & Editor in Chief
Patrick Semmens
Co-Founder & Publisher
George Edmonson
Tampa Bureau Chief
Sounds like another to add to my must try list.
Not only is he skilled, he's very young to be that skilled. Moreover, although I have a lack of Spanish language ability, the fire and passion that radiated from him while talking about tobacco was obvious when I had the pleasure of meeting him at his factory.
Hey guys, can you please start posting where one can obtain the cigs you review?
I'm telling anyone reading these guys…this cigar absolutely rocks for a $6 robusto! Awesome
I'm with Mike, sounds great but where can you buy these??
The San Lotano is not available over the internet. You can purchase this brand from Cigar.com by calling them direct and speaking to a customer service person!
Picked up a San Lotano maduro torpedo at the IPCPR show in Vegas. This was, in my estimation, far and away the best new smoke of the show. I ordered a box immediately after returning from the show. I've gone through 4 already. And though the first could have benefited from some time in the humidor, the other three have confirmed my initial response to this stick. Wow! What a smoke. The word " perfect" comes to mind. I honestly could not find anything about this cigar that I did not love. I would feel comfortable saying that this is the best cigar I have ever smoked, and if I had to choose only one cigar to smoke this would be the one. To say I love this cigar is to do it a gross injustice.
you can pick them up at cigar.com or cigar international