Pinar Del Rio Oscuro Robusto (5x50)

I have a small sampling of Pinar Del Rio cigars that I got in a sampler from Cigars International a few months back. I decided on this one to kick of the series of reviews on them because this isn't the first one of these I have smoked. The presentation is nice with the double bands near the cap and a blue ribbon as the foot band. Pinar Del Rio is one of the brand offerings from A. Flores and J. Rodriguez crafted in their factory located in the Dominican Republic. This cigar has a Brazilian Oscuro wrapper that houses a Dominican binder and a blend of long filler from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. The wrapper was toothy with a nice oily sheen and one fairly big vein running the length of the body. The wrapper gave of a faint scent of hay and the foot had a mildly sweet honey-like aroma. It was firm to the squeeze with little give and no soft spots that I could find. I clipped the cap with my Xikar MTX and found a perfect draw with fruity notes with a bit of honey sweetness. I used my faithful single flame torch to toast the foot and light it up with little effort. The Initial third offered up nice woody oak notes with a touch of toasted nuts. There was a nice pepper spiciness to go with the natural sweetness on the retrohale. There were occasional notes of honey that popped in and out in the first third. Going into the second third some light coffee notes join the roasted nut and coffee. The notes of honey didn't last in to the second third. The finish remained crisp and nutty throughout the first two thirds. The final third didn't really change much from the second third except for a very subtle note that resembled oregano, it was very faint yet noticeable. It had a fair amount of complexity and it was a very enjoyable cigar. The ash was flaky, light-medium gray in color, and held to about an inch and a half at a time. This one did produce tons of smoke, even at rest. The burn went a bit erratic about an inch and half into the burn and required a total of 3 minor corrections to keep it on track. I look forward to giving the rest of the Pinar Del Rio cigars in my humidor a go and will post them here when I do. The price point on these is around 5.50 per stick and can be found in a variety of samplers at Cigars International. For more information on Pinar Del Rio Cigar Co. and their lines visit them at www.pdrcigars.com and find them on twitter at http://twitter.com/pdrcigars