Cigar Geeks - Stallone Cigars Zaino Broadleaf Toro

Cigar Geeks Geek Critique

Stallone Cigars Zaino Broadleaf Toro
Written by Cigar Geeks Member: arrow34

89
Cigar Geeks Rating

Welcome to another Member sponsored Geek Critique. This one has been generously sponsored by our member Cfickter (Chuck). The cigar provided for this round is the http://www.cigargeeks.com/cigardb/default.asp?action=showcig&cigar_id=192427">Stallone Cigars Zaino Broadleaf Toro. Tony Barrios, a cutting horse competitor, founded Stallone Cigars in 2014, though its cigars didn't enter the U.S. market until August 2020. While there are many companies that use horses for various parts of their branding, few cigar companies have leaned into the theme quite like Stallone. It has six different blends sold under the Cowboy Series name, each of which features Stallone's horse-themed logo and the name of each cigar can be identified by the color of the cigar wrapper resembling the horse's color in Spanish. Zaino refers to the dark-colored brown Broadleaf wrapper found on the cigar.

Stallone Cigars Zaino Broadleaf Toro

Brand:: Stallone Cigars
Name:: Zaino Broadleaf Toro
Length:: 6
Ring Gauge:: 52
Country of Origin:: Nicaragua
Filler:: Nicaragua
Binder:: Nicaragua
Wrapper:: United States
Color:: Maduro
Strength:: Full
Shape:: Toro
Average Member Purchase Price:: $6.50
Average Member Rating:: (1 Review(s))
Notes:: https://stallonecigars.com/cowboyseries/ https://www.smallbatchcigar.com/stallone-zaino-toro

This cigar was enjoyed with Water

Pre-Light: 9 Points of 10 Possible

The Zaino broadleaf is a nice toothy medium/dark wrapper, cold draw is earthy, coffee, slight sweet note. Firm, very well packed filler. Did a straight cut and it was a perfect cut, top cap came off smoothly.

Lighting and Burn: 12 Points of 15 Possible

Burn line was. Bit wavy right off the bat, had to relight the stick after I let it sit for a few minutes right after lighting it and getting a few puffs. Lot of smoking after the first light, almost had to move because there was so much. Burn line has stayed straight into the second third and after the first flame out, has stayed lit. Part of the way through the second third, had to correct the burn with a minor touch up.

Construction: 28 Points of 30 Possible

Solid, well packed. Nice firm draw, not too much resistance, not too loose. Nice triple cap and well rolled. Seemed like the roller did good job keeping the draw consistent throughout. Stayed firm and didn't go squishy until the last few inches.

Flavor and Aroma: 40 Points of 45 Possible

Zaino Broadleaf Toro kicked off with notes of earth, coffee, strong pepper, and a sweet hint of something, not sure. The coffee and pepper are the primary notes early on. As the stick progressed through the first third, the black coffee notes and pepper continued to dominate. There also was an additional layer of pepper on the retro-hale.

During the second third of the Stallone, the coffee remains on the forefront, with a sweet cedar. With some chocolate notes layered in.

By the last third, the black coffee flavor is still dominant. The sweet cedar notes receded into the background with the earth, black pepper, and becomes just a cedar. By this point there was an increase in the white pepper notes, but they did not take over the flavor profile. Stayed pretty much medium, almost full.

Summary

This was my first Stallone stick and had only seen them advertised. Pretty good introduction to the cigar line. I would like to try the other sticks in their lineup. I really enjoyed this broadleaf, even though it wasn't as strong as most broadleaf.