Today’s Pick / Review – Los Blancos Nine Torpedo

So my whole Los Blancos introduction came from the Los Blancos Cigars President, Cesar Blanco. The story begins just a few weeks ago when earlier in the night myself and Ben were smoking Anejos down in Ybor City at King Corona. During our time at King Corona we had been chatting about the Alec Bradley Vice Press and wanted to go pick one up. So we finished our cigars and headed strait to a shop where we knew they had them. Arriving at SoHo Cigars we noticed Scott the owner of SoHo Cigars sit back and another guy popped up and started helping us out. We later found the guy who popped up was Cesar Blanco. Apparently according to Scott they were having an impromptu event that hadn’t even been announced. Cesar asked some great questions about our tastes and pointed Ben at the Los Blancos Criollo while I picked up the Los Blancos Nine Robusto. By the way I also picked up the Vice Press.

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After we had finished paying we decided to have a seat and smoke our Los Blancos at SoHo Cigars. Cesar gave us a lot more information about the Los Blancos brand and probably some stuff that we shouldn’t mention on the site. Some of the info was about the perfect 9th blend that took them 15 months to get just the way they wanted it. He also told us that a good cigar shouldn’t change flavors that they should build flavors. That night my impressions of the Los Blancos Nine Robusto was very similar to the experience I ended up having with my choice tonight the Los Blancos Nine Torpedo. The only difference was that the Robusto started cracking up towards the cap.

So without boring you any further I will begin my review of the Los Blancos Nine Torpedo

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From the back

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Some quick information on the Los Blancos Nine – Torpedo.

• Length: 6.5″ x 52
• Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano Corojo Oscuro
• Binder: Nicaraguan
• Filler: Nicaraguan Triple Ligero
• Body: Medium-Full Bodied.
• Nicaraguan Puro.

To start I took a few pictures of the cigar which after inspecting it I found no real imperfections. It had a great sheen, great color and was firm with a minimal amount of sponginess. Pre-light aroma had Leather, Oak and Pepper notes.

When I grabbed my V-Guillotine and gave it a quarter inch snip and took a pre light draw it seemed to be really plugged up so I grabbed the cutters again and snipped some more. Unfortunately the second snip didn’t help clear up the cigar and it brought back memories of the Robusto I smoked a few weeks ago which was plugged as well. So at this point I had cut nearly an inch off trying to clear the plug and just gave up and decided to light up.

For the first time I got to use the CigarObsession.com flame / torch combo lighter given to me by Bryan last week. With a nice slow roast and light torch I was ready to go. Right off the bat you can tell the tobacco quality is there but with it being plugged I think the value is lacking. This was the same problem I had with the Robusto and for me draw quality is very high on the list of things to look for in a good cigar.

When I smoked the Robusto a few weeks ago and asked Cesar if the Nine was a Medium-Body he got a little upset with me and said no this is a Full-Body cigar. For me I still would have to say that the Nine leans heavily toward the medium side.

The balance of the cigar is pretty impressive and pretty strait forward. The same notes I took on my pre-light ended up being the same notes when smoking the cigar. The first half of the cigar had notes / flavors consisting of Leather, Oak and Pepper. Toward the last 1/3 of the cigar it started to get some sweeter notes.

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From the other side

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The ash color was a super light gray with small spots of dark gray. My first ash length was right at 1.5″ and my second ash ended up falling after two more inches. After the second ash fell I started to get some good draw and the plug was pretty much gone. Unfortunately just before the second ash fell I started to get some light impurity buildup. After that the heat buildup began around the last 1 .5″ of the cigar and I ended up just finishing it there.

Really bad photo of the crooked ash

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Overall my impressions are that after aging the cigar for a couple months that impurity buildup should be non-existent. Even still I personally have no plans in my future to smoke this cigar again. For me I would have a hard time recommending the Nine and I think I am in the minority since all other reviews and people I talk to seem to love this cigar. If you don’t mind a tough draw or plugged cigar the Los Blancos Nine is worth trying but if draw is even mildly important to you I would have to say without a doubt, skip it.

Additional Info:

• Weather: Clear Skies – 48 degrees / 76% humidity.
• Time: 8:30PM – 9:40PM – cutting nearly an inch off hurt the smoke time.
• Minimal buzz.

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