According to the a press release back on July 8th, The 7¼ x 57 Salomon comes in individual, hand signed and numbered, cedar coffins housed in 5 count boxes. All 3000 cigars have been personally rolled by Santo at our Nicatabaco factory in Esteli, Nicaragua. This limited edition cigar features the same Ecuadorian Habano Criollo wrapper of the Roberto P Duran Signature line with the blend slightly altered to Santo’s liking.
My co-worker caught up with Jack Torano at the IPCPR where he captured the video of Jack Torano of Duran Cigars telling us a little bit about the cigar as well as sending back samples of the Santo Salomon.
Cigar Review: Roberto P. Duran Signature
Size: 7.25 x 57 (Santo Salomon)
Wrapper: Ecuador Habano Criollo
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Strength: Medium-Full
Source: Duran Cigars
The Look: Each cigar is hand rolled by Cristano “Santo” Cardenas, and they are truly a work of art. The perfectly and flawlessly rolled Salomon has some oils present and it feels a little coarse under the fingers. It is firm to the touch, though light in the hand. The cigar features a dual band system; the first of blue and silver denotes Roberto P Duran Signature and the secondary of the same colors denotes Santo Cardenas who rolled each cigar in the release.
The Notes: The cold draw of the Santo Salomon reminds me of pork rinds, while the aroma of the wrapper is slightly nutty. I’ll admit I found myself enjoying the pork rinds that I experienced on the cold draw and I took a while to light this puppy up.
Once the cigar is lit, the cigar has a ton of flavor and the blend tweaks to the brand are noticeable. The pork rinds begins to take on more of a Chicharrón flavor, which is fried pork belly and similar to pork rinds. There is also nutty similar to roasted cashews and a bit of cedar on the finish.
The second third of the cigar sees the pork notes fade away and some notes of cinnamon and leather come into play. Also into play is nuts especially on the aroma with some cedar on the finish that mixes in with the leather and a touch of vanilla.
The last third of the Santo Solomon from Duran Cigars has a nice mix of spices and vanilla bean. There is a slight cedar and floral note on the finish and a bit of a nicotine kick that brings this cigar from medium to full as it smoked past the band.
The Burn: Like many Salomons the burn of the cigar is uneven to start and around the end of the first third it is 100% corrected and burning perfectly. The smoke production of the cigar was slightly more than average and the draw was perfect. While I was tempted to touch up the burn in the first third of the cigar I was impressed with how it self corrected. I will however not take the first third into consideration on the review due to the fact it was a trade show sample and New Orleans has less that ideal conditions for cigars (too much humidity).
The Finish: I love this tweaked blend that Santo Cardenas put into the Salmon. It is wonderfully complex, and it has a really nice kick on the finish. The cigar progresses through each third with a complexity that enjoyable to say the least. The tweaked blend to me moves the Duran Signature to the next level and I’ll be curious to see if moves to regular production one day.
Score: 93
Price: $25.00
Bullet Points
Random Thoughts While Smoking
- While I love the salmon size there burn can often be disappointing. One has to light up the cigar perfectly and there can be no room for user error.
- Normally I don’t like to smoke trade show samples for review, but being Jack sent these back specifically for me I felt if I didn’t it would be disrespectful.
- I paired the cigar with some Cuban coffee.
- I was really impressed with the burn of the cigar once it self corrected.
- While not pictured here, you can see the packaging in the video as well as on the press release.
- Jack Torano joined Duran Cigars shortly after Torano was sold to General.
- While the cigar is something special; I wish they had a more friendly price point.
- Both bands removed with ease.
- Smoking time was 1 hour 50 minutes.
Duran Signature Salomon
Duran Signature Salomon
Duran Signature Salomon Foot
Duran Signature Salomon Burn
