Cigar Review: Sencillo Platinum Pirámide

God of Fire is best known for selling high-end accessories and limited Fuente smokes (like God of Fire and Angelenos). Back in 2010, though, the California-based company entered the mid-priced cigar market with Sencillo, its first line not made by the Fuentes.

The latest Sencillo (Spanish for “simple”) is Sencillo Black, which features filler from Nicaragua, Honduras, and San Andreas surrounded by Nicaraguan binder and filler tobaccos. It’s made by the prolific Nestor Plasencia Jr. in Nicaragua and comes in five sizes.

Before Black there was Platinum, made by Christian Eiroa of Camacho Cigars in Honduras (Eiroa has since left Camacho to launch his own cigar brand). Prometheus founder Keith Park tells me Platinum came about when he asked Eiroa to replicate a particular cigar he had given Park back in 2008. It features “Habano de Jamastran tobacco for the wrapper, filler, and binder, with Piloto Cubano tobacco added to the filler to balance out the flavor,” according to the Sencillo website.

Sencillo Platinum is a Honduran puro that’s available in six sizes ranging in price from $6.95 to $8.95. The Pirámide (6.1 x 54) is advertised as “the most visually impressive” of the line with “the most intense aroma.” It is characterized by a beautiful, reddish wrapper, a robust fragrance of cocoa, and a smooth pre-light draw.

Immediately after lighting, the Pirámide is salty with black pepper spice. Before even the quarter-inch mark, though, the profile mellows considerably to display wonderful balance and subtlety. Flavors include buttery oak, coffee, dried fruit, and mushroom—a note that reminds me of some Henke Kelner smokes, including Davidoff and PG.

Cream, caramel, and spice come and go as the cigar progresses. The texture is silky, the nicotine impact is minimal, and the body falls in the mild- to medium-bodied spectrum. The word “harmonious” comes to mind, and the theme seems to be soft yet flavorful. At no point does this cigar taste like a Honduran puro. It performs expertly with a straight burn, fine white ash, and bountiful tufts of thick smoke.

Given its more approachable price point, I don’t think I’m supposed to like the Sencillo Platinum as much as God of Fire’s higher-priced offerings. But I do. The Pirámide is one of those superbly balanced smokes that makes you want to fire up another as soon as you’re done with the first. I don’t say that too often, and that’s ultimately why this cigar is worthy of four and a half stogies out of five.

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–Patrick A

photo credit: Stogie Guys