Background
The Cabaiguan Guapos is blended by Jaime Garcia in the My Fathers factory in Nicaragua for Pete Johnson of Tatuaje Cigars. The Tatuaje website describes the cigars as “Blended in the style of the flavorful yet medium bodied Cuban cigars”. There are four sizes; Guapos (5 5/8 x 54), Guapos RX (5 x 50), Guapos 46 (5 5/8 x 46), and the Guapos Junior (4 5/8 x 42). All sizes are available in a Connecticut Ecuador Sol Natural or Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro from the USA. For this review I selected the corona gorda (Guapos 46) in the Natural wrapper.
Stogie Stats
Origin: Nicaragua
Wrapper: Connecticut Ecuador Sol
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Strength: Medium
Vitola: Corona Gorda
Size: 5 5/8 x 46
Age: Unknown
MSRP: About $9.00
Review
The wrapper of the Cabaiguan Guapos 46 is a creamy coffee color. Specifically, I would categorize the color as a Colorado Claro. There is a fair amount of veins and there is a sheen to the wrapper. The cigar is packed firmly but does not feel too hard. There is a beautiful triple cap with a pig tail and a simple but elegant band. The torcedore’s attention to detail is obvious and the stick appears to be extremely well construction. The pre-light aroma and draw is full of rich tobacco and roasted nuts.
After firing up this work of art, I am greeted to a mouth full of smoke that is laced with flavors of coffee and roasted pecans. The draw is perfect and the burn is straight. This corona seems to be burning fast and I make a conscious attempt to space the time between my draws carefully. At about 1/2 inch into the cigar the roasted pecans come to the forefront with a very buttery finish. The strength is solid medium at this point. The ash falls at about every 1/2 inch.
Smoke is pouring out of the cigar by the start of the second third (no complaints there). The second third continues with the roasted pecans and the buttery finish but by the halfway mark I begin detecting coffee again and some mild spice. The ash is very jagged and keeps falling onto my keyboard. This is a minor annoyance but I take some precautions and continue to enjoy the cigar.
The last third continues with the same strength but the flavor begins to pick up a bit more. I detect some wood now and a lot more spice. The buttery finish has turned creamy and the ash is holding strong. I nub this stogie down to about 3/4 of an inch. The nub is a bit soft but remains cool.
Conclusion
This is a good medium bodied smoke to have with coffee or after lunch. But is strong and flavorful enough to enjoy after dinner. Although there is not a lot of complexity, the flavor profile is very enjoyable and versatile. The ash itself was an annoyance but it is a corona and I would be curious to see if the other Vitola’s have the same issue. I do feel the MRSP is a bit high, but if you search around the internet you can find these at deep discounts. In the end, I will give the Cabaiguan Guapos 46 Natural a StogieGeeks Rating of 3 “The Fiver”. After smoking all five, you may very well find yourself wanting more.
Paul Asadoorian
October 26, 2011 @ 12:05 pm
Great post Tim! I'm going to look on auction sites and grab a bunch of these.
Peter Brown
June 4, 2015 @ 7:43 am
Nice review! This is one of my favorite smoke. Thanks for the review.