Factory: San Lotano – Estelí, Nicaragua
Size: 5″ x 54 Robusto
Strength: Medium-Full
Wrapper: Mexican San Andrés
Binder: Sumatra
Filler: Nicaraguan and Honduran Criollo ’98
Presentation: Box of 16 cigars
Once upon a time. . . AJ Fernandez had a very rare and flavorful harvest of San Andrés wrapper he was itching to use on a new blend. He approached Altadis USA, but at the time, they were not taking on any more projects. Luckily, Famous Smoke Shop was looking to expand their exclusive “Estelí” collection, which includes the Altadis-produced Trinidad Estelí and Romeo y Julieta Estelí, Having already made several private selections for Famous, AJ offered to use that vintage San Andrés wrapper in a new blend for them. Working with Famous‘s private label team, the result was the Onyx Estelí collection, which is handcrafted at AJ’s San Lotano factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. Although I mentioned in the video that the blend was “undisclosed,” apparently it was disclosed in our 2018 panel review, and is listed above.
Onyx Estelí is sold in boxes of 16 cigars and 5-packs in the following three shapes:
Solidly. The cigar is well packed, seamlessly rolled, and fitted with a triple seam cap. In the Onyx tradition, the Mexican San Andrés maduro wrapper is very dark, and just short of bordering on oscuro. It had some decent thickness and a sweet aroma when sniffed. The draw was just right with pre-light notes of sweet tobacco, some woodiness, and slightly salty.
Very well. For starters, the Selección No.1 revealed more earth and wood, a little sweetness and some light pepper. The cigar produced plenty of thick creamy smoke from end-to-end. The burn was even and exposed a firm and almost solid grey ash in color.
Crossing over into the midsection, an undercurrent of sweet tobacco and pepper continued to draw my attention, while the smoke remained exceptionally creamy and well balanced. A pleasant surprise of tangy citrus entered through the back door, while the final act jettisoned the sweet component as some light salt returned. Finally, the cigar nubbed-out with a mostly earthy–spicy flavor.
Medium to full, but leans more toward full. There is a fair amount of sweet spice and cedar in the mix until the final inches, when it turns much bolder and earthier. Additional notes of salt, white pepper, and citrus also chime-in at various intervals. Unfortunately, I didn’t pick up the espresso that I tasted in the 2018 review, and the woody component was more like cedar than oak.
Although I thought the Onyx Estelí Selección No.1 made a pretty good “morning cigar” with coffee, it seems better suited for smoking later in the day or after dinner with a fine bourbon or single malt. In my 2018 review, I wrote: “For beer lovers, the tart Weyerbacher Riserva.”
(Find more cigar and drink pairing combinations here.)
Yes, if you’re among the more initiated. The Onyx Estelí Selección No.1 is marvelously smooth and creamy, but could possibly be a bit much for newer cigar smokers. Otherwise, it’s a very dark, flavorful smoke with a decent amount of complexity. At just over $7.00 (at press time), the Onyx Estelí No.1 delivers the goods at a pretty fair price.
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Executive Editor
Gary Korb has been writing and editing content for CigarAdvisor.com since its debut in 2008. An avid cigar smoker for over 30 years, he has worked on the marketing side of the premium cigar business as a Sr. Copywriter, blogger, and Executive Editor of Cigar Advisor. A graduate of the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, prior to his career in the cigar business, Gary worked in the music and video industry as a marketer and a publicist.
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