Name: Casa Turrent Serie 1901 Gran Toro

Country: Mexico

Shape: Parejo

Size: Gordo (6 inches x 62)

Strength: Medium to Full

I regularly smoke the Casa Turrent Serie 1901 Robusto. It’s a more practical vitola than the Gran Toro if the plan is to smoke it on your lunch break or in the car on your way back from work after a long day…

The Casa Turrent Serie 1901 Robusto is a good stick, and it usually lasts around 45 minutes. But this makes it a small break cigar or a backup cigar. (A backup cigar is the second cigar you carry with you to the party. It remains in your pocket just in case you need to light up a second one.) The lesson to learn here is that your everyday robusto wasn’t born to be the star of the show. For that, you need a bigger cigar — examples are Toro, Gordo, Double Corona, and Churchill vitolas. As the saying goes, a bigger cigar is a better cigar, especially if time is on your side.

And time was on my side when I lit up the Serie 1901 Gran Toro, a 6-inch cigar with a ring gauge of 62. It was sweet with notes of dark roast coffee, cocoa, mud, almond, and oak.

Name: Paradiso Revelation Odyssey

Country: Nicaragua

Shape: Parejo

Size: (5 3/4 inches x 60)

Strength: Medium

Some cigars are made in paradise. The Paradiso Revelation Odyssey is one of them. It’s an aromatic, medium-bodied, Nicaraguan cigar that will find a place in your heart no matter who you are.

Cocoa, coffee, earth, and leather are the prevailing notes, but hints of cinnamon, hazelnut, white pepper, and even oak can be detected.

I smoked the Odyssey vitola for the first time at a wedding. I paired it with a twelve-year-old Scotch whisky, and I was more than happy with it. I can confidently say that it’s one of my favorite cigars of 2022.