Guayacan by Noel Rojas

7 / 10

Quick Review

It took me about four attempts at reading the label on this cigar to try and figure out how to pronounce it. And then a few more attempts to try and spell it correctly while writing it out. What is a Guayacan? Well, it’s a cigar company and the cigars are made by Noel Rojas who is from Pinar Del Rio, Cuba. Mr. Rojas first began working in tobacco fields when he was 13 years old. Perhaps his love for tobacco and cigars helped spark the true artist in him. After spending some time in the military, he decided to become an actual artist and began carving sculptures for tourists out of wood. This type of wood he used was tough, oily and aromatic. It was a wood called ‘Guayacan.’

Stogie Specs Made By: Guayacan by Noel Rojas

Wrapper: Ecuadoran Habano

Binder: Nicaraguan Corojo ‘98

Filler: Nicaraguan Corojo ‘98

Average Price: $7

Ring Gauge: 52

Length: 6 1/8"

Flavor Wheel Your Browser Does Not Support Our Flavor Wheel.



Initial Thoughts

After I learned a bit about the man behind this cigar, I was intrigued. Would it taste tough, oily and aromatic? Would there be woody notes in the flavor? Would I feel like a tourist while I smoked it?

The Guayacan line is another cigar distributed by Emilio Cigars. Seems we’ve been on an Emilio kick lately. So far, all points have pointed to amazing with everything else that Emilio has so I was hoping this cigar would be incredible as well.

Looks

The appearance of this cigar was thick, dense and meaty looking. It had a heavy feel in my hand (she whispered) and had a nice sheen look to it.

The Ecuadoran Habano wrapper was a solid brown color that almost seem to sparkle in the sunlight outside. When the torcedor rolled this cigar, he or she must have used a lot of the vegetable paste or oil byproduct that’s used to seal the band around the cigar. There was a lot of this oily/pastey substance that looked like it was seeping out from behind the band.

I’ll be honest; the overall look of this cigar wasn’t pretty. There were two heavy veins and two splits on the wrapper. At the foot, there was a sizeable chunk missing from the wrapper. The triple cap looked as if whomever applied it was very rushed at the time. I can get past not-so-hot construction if the flavor is still there; after all, these are handmade products.

Function

Given what I just said about the looks and the construction, I found no soft spots at all. This Guayacan cigar looked to be packed very evenly throughout.

After smelling the wrapper I got a very light tobacco smell. On the foot, a very faint hay flavor and a skotch of spice.

I clipped this torpedo with my vintage cigar cutter and got a very nice medium cold draw. Again, this cigar felt heavy and seemed to be packed full of tobacco. There was a very light taste in the draw of leather and tobacco.

Smoking

Ok, time to get this cigar goin! I used my Lotus torch lighter to get this thing toasted. Very soon after, I had to touch up the burn because it was very uneven. From that point on, the burn stayed fairly even but not perfect.

The ash never hung on for long. Maybe just a half-inch or so and flaked off pretty quick.

About halfway through the second third, the burn started canoeing and I had to touch it up again.

The actual smoke was gray in color and there was a medium amount of it. It smelled like burnt leaves.

Flavor

After taking the first few puffs, there was a hickory, smoky flavor in my mouth. It reminded me of burning grass (not THAT kind of grass. Sheesh…). There was a little spice but overall, a very mild flavor.

A nuttiness showed up towards the end of the first third and that grassy taste was gone. Into the second there was a small amount of floral flavor that showed itself but everything was very mild.

Into the final third, the spice had gone and a lot of the flavor had subsided. Finally in the nub, a little more of the floral flavor had come back but not much.

Is It An Every Day Smoke?

No, not for me.

Would I Buy A Box?

No.

Conclusion

On Guayacan’s website, they list this cigar as being medium to full bodied. I didn’t get that at all. To me, it was a mild cigar through and through. It may have opened up into the nub as medium but everything else was mild.

I was surprised by the somewhat lack of flavor this cigar had since it was packed full and the blend was Nicaraguan. I didn’t not enjoy it but, I’d much prefer something with more flavor.

Noel Rojas was quoted about his Guayacan cigar saying, “I’m not trying to make the best cigar in the world, I want to make something people will enjoy smoking.”

I guess I understand what he’s saying but unfortunately, because he was not trying to make the best cigar in the world, I feel he may have produced a sub-par product. My two cents…