Stogie Reviews: Cohiba Siglo V (Cuban)
Thursday, August 10th, 2006
We have received a number of comments from our wonderful readers inquiring when we planned to post a review of a Cuban cigar. After all, over the past few months, we discussed Oswaldo Payá, analyzed Cuban reform, and even shared a Cigar Aficionado Fidel Castro interview with you. Well, beloved Stogie Guys, inquire no more.
A few days ago, I was lucky enough to partake in a Cohiba Siglo V. Since JFK signed the trade embargo in 1962, of course, Cuban cigars have been illegal in the Land of Liberty. I should therefore point out I was overseas when I purchased and smoked this cigar (cough, cough).
The Siglo V is an expertly constructed 6.69 inches by 43 ring gauge stogie with a beautifully smooth creamy brown wrapper. Placing the foot of this unlit cigar under your nose is like breathing in the subtle perfume of a delicate angel.
I gave the stogie a proper snip with my V-cutter (I didn’t want to unnecessarily squander any delicious tobacco) and patiently toasted the foot with an array of wooden matches. A sweet plethora of notes gradually accumulated.
The first puff yielded a heavenly blend of sophisticated floral notes pleasing to the whole palate. The second and finishing phases of this Cuban witnessed an evolution of complex salty and sour flavors complemented by an ever-present dark chocolate sweetness. Not surprisingly, I have no complaints about the burn or draw.
Now some will argue, perhaps effectively, that Americans are over-fascinated with Cubans simply because they are illegal. While I agree that forbidden goods are always more desirable, I tried to clear my head of such thoughts while writing this review.
Notwithstanding my attempts at inward thought control, I can’t honestly conjure any negative aspect of the cigar and, thus, must wholeheartedly give the Cohiba Siglo V a perfect five out of five stogies.
-Patrick A
Reader Contest!!!
Attentive readers should notice something about the photo we’ve used here…
Post a comment and we’ll give the first one to figure it out a shout out in tomorrow’s Friday Sampler. (We are looking for both the what and why.)
I suspect the photo is of a fake, but I cannot pinpoint why!
My guess would be that the single row of dots on the band is incorrect. I believe its supposed to be four
For more on spotting fakes read this article
Patrick A - Is that a picture of the actual cigar you smoked?
If so bummer!
Its an old band.
or its fake.
The band appears to be bad - also (maybe) no triple cap but hard to tell from the photo.
Just one row of checkers on label.
-MosesBotbol
It looks too long to be a Siglo V
Chris Loperfido
No, that’s not a pic of the actual cigar I smoked. I smoked a real Cohiba Siglo V. As Walt correctly pointed out, you can easily tell this one’s a fake by the lack of a correct number of dots.
Nice going, Walt. You’ll get a shout-out in tomorrow’s Friday Sampler.
If someone were to say, find a source to aquire such a great stogie, how much would one be worth? As in, how much of an investment should a person make?
I think the band on that sig V is fine, its just an older sig V band thats all…read up on the MRN book…same pic of the cigar in there….nothing wrong with it I dont believe
-mbraud4 @ clubstogie
I agree with mbraud4…looks just like an older Sig V.
But hey…as long as you enjoyed it and 5/5 it sounds like you did.
You can expect to spend $500 for a box of 25.
there are indeed two types of bands, the old and the new; however, a single row of dots on either eliminates any doubt regardless of which Cohiba label any stick in question has. I’ve Corona Especials with the old and Robustos with the new and I’ve been getting them from a source I first bought in person from in Italy. By the by, if it’s two boxes or fewer you’re not going to run into trouble…they (DHS, specifically ICE)simply have bigger things to worry about than personal consumption…Patrick is also right on about the price…
[...] 4) And speaking of fake stogies… Congrats to Walt from StogieReview who gave the answer we were looking for in yesterday’s contest. He pointed out that the Cohiba only had one row of white squares while the genuine article should have two or three rows. [...]
[...] As you know, StogieGuys.com gave two cigars a heralded five out of five stogies in recent reviews: the Davidoff Grand Cru No. 3 and the Cuban Cohiba Siglo V. These reviews generated a windstorm response from Stogie Guys Nation in the form of countless comments and emails – even lengthy discussions (or, rather, debates) on other websites. [...]
[...] Cohiba Siglo V [...]
I realize this is pretty old by now, but it’s actually illegal for U.S. citizens to smoke Cubans regardless of where they are. Just an FYI.
Is it not illegal to smoke or buy Cuban cigars in other countries as a US citizen under the current embargo?
Sorry, just saw comment 20. Yes, I believe this is the law. Stogieguys.com be warned…
[...] Without getting into too much history here, there are many cigar brand names that transcend their “country of origin.” Due to an uneasy legal environment and the U.S. trade embargo against Castro’s communist regime, you can find Cuban and non-Cuban versions of, among others, Romeo y Julieta, Montecristo, Hoyo de Monterrey, and – most notably – Cohiba. [...]
[...] the Exquisito, Espléndido and Robusto which debuted in 1989. The Siglo line, of which we gave the Siglo V a five stogie rating, was introduced later in [...]
[...] spice and plenty of cedar. While similar to the flavors found in the Cohiba Robusto or the other Siglo vitolas, the Siglo VI is more full [...]