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Cigar Reviews: Leaf by Oscar Corojo Toro

12 Sep 2018

If you’re familiar with Leaf by Oscar, that’s likely due to the unique packaging. Each cigar is wrapped in a tobacco leaf (hence Leaf) folded around the cigar and held in place by a brown paper band. Opening it is like unwrapping a present with tobacco (the leaf is not wrapper-grade, from the look of it). Beneath is a tobacco treat: a cigar with another brown band.

Leaf by Oscar is a collaboration between Jim “Island Jim” Robinson, known for his Leaf and Bean shop in Pittsburgh, and Danlí, Honduras-based cigar maker Oscar Valladares. The line comes in four wrapper varieties. In addition to the Honduran Corojo (the subject of this review) is a Honduran Connecticut, Ecuadorian Sumatra, and Nicaraguan Maduro Jalapa.

The reddish brown Honduran Corojo wrapper is oily. The line comes in four sizes: Lancero (7 x 38), Robusto (5 x 50), Gordo (6 x 60), and Toro (6 x 52). The Toro sells for around $9 per cigar and comes in bundles of 20.

I smoked four Toros for this review. (The Toro size apparently was adjusted from 50 ring gauge to 52 at some point.) Despite being slightly soft to the touch, the draw was easy, burn even, and the smoke combustion was abundant.

Pre-light, Leaf by Oscar features cashew nuts and pepper spice. Once lit, there is a combination of roasted notes, gritty earth, blackened toast, and slight red pepper.

Pepper is more prominent towards the first third of the cigar, which is medium- to full-bodied. As the cigar progresses, leather emerges as the spice dips slightly. The cigar has a dry element that is particularly notable on the finish.

Distinctly Honduran, but not a one-note cigar, it may not be exquisitely balanced, but it features complex, full flavors. That earns the Leaf by Oscar Corojo Toro a rating of four stogies out of five.

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

–Patrick S

photo credit: Stogie Guys

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