Bolivar Belicosos Finos Review – Small size, big punch
At first draw of the Bolivar Belicosos Finos, you find yourself walking through a park in the fall, kicking the neatly piled stacks of leaves on your way. Just under is a hint of floral sweetness that says sunflowers and the honey that bees produce from their pollen. When barely lit, there’s a nuttiness, like blanched almonds with the skin still on. Fresh wood shavings are overlayed by a light floral finish that continues to mature as the cigar burns past the first third.
After that you’re forgiven for thinking you’ve been transported to your Nona’s home in Italy. There’s vanilla bean and sweet basil which makes you think you’ve walked into a kitchen where the pasta and the panna cotta are being cooked at the same time. As you settle into the final third of the cigar, you’re surrounded again by the dark earth of a freshly watered flower bed, the bark peeling off a nearby tree. And then, if that’s not surprise enough, there’s caramel on the finish.
Although it’s not a very large cigar, this burnt consistently for an hour and 20 minutes, giving me time to savour each shift in flavour for a period of time. Pair this with a botanical gin to complement the complexity of flavours in each, from earth and wood to floral and spice.
Length: 5 ½ inches
Ring Gauge: 50
Shape: Torpedo
Origin: Cuban
Appearance
Wrapper Colour: Colorado Maduro
Rolling: Very good
Cut employed: guillotine, shallow cut
Tasting/Flavour
Aroma (Unlit): Honey, dried leaves
Cold Draw Aroma (After lighting): Topnote – Honey; Secondary notes – Floral
Cold Draw Flavour: Balsa wood, Almonds
At 1/3: Wood shavings, light floral
At 2/3: Vanilla notes, herbal vegetal
At 3/3: Dried earth, bark, caramel
Overall
Burn: Consistent throughout
Ash: Firm and light gray.
Strength: Medium to full bodied
About The Author
