Joya Red by Joya de Nicaragua

The Joya Red is a soon to be released regular production offering from Joya de Nicaragua. It also marks the first new regular production offering since President Juan Ignacio Martinez has assumed the duties of company president. While this is a traditional cigar in a lot of ways, this is a very different cigar for Joya de Nicaragua. This is because the company has established a reputation as an innovator for making strong and bold cigars. With Joya Red, this is a dialed back cigar in terms of strength and body making this a true change of pace cigar for Joya de Nicaragua. Any time a company makes a cigar that is outside of their usual profile there is some risk. However with the case of the Joya Red, this cigar comes through with flying colors – namely this is one outstanding cigar.

Last year, we did a feature story outlining changes happening at Joya de Nicaragua. A theme the company adopted was tying its rich history of the past to today’s contemporary culture. In a lot of ways, Joya Red was a reflection of this theme. This cigar effort has also bridged the gap between past, present and future as it was a collaborative effort of industry’s youngest executive team (led by company President Juan Ignacio Martinez, age 31) and a team of experienced Master Blenders (led by Leonel Raudez, age 62).

Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the Joya Red and see what this cigar brings to the table. Since this assessment is based on a pre-release cigar, we will default to our pre-review format. This will allow us to share our thoughts and perspectives. Once the Joya Red is released, we will revisit this cigar and provide a formal assessment rating and score.

Blend Profile

Joya Red is an all Nicaraguan puro. To accomplish a tamer blend, the company said they moved away from their abundant use of ligeros and thick wrappers and made use of more viso leaves. The company also says the wrapper is a lower priming habano. The binder and filler come from Esteli, Jalapa, and Condega.

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan

Looking for a morning smoke with a kick? This one is for you! Love this smoke, great price, great smoke. This one smoked better after some much need proper humidification. Awesome flavors, nice change ups, never thought I would reach for a nica-puro for breakfast, but here I went! Box worthy.