How do you follow up being named cigar of the year for 2021? You change up the wrapper on the All Saints Saint Francis. This new release from All Saints takes the binder and filler from the award winning release and adds a Habano Colorado wrapper. Made at TAVICUSA in Nicaragua, a cigar factory owned by Rocky Patel the Saint Francis Colorado comes in 4 sizes and today we take a look at the Robusto.
Cigar Review: All Saints Saint Francis
Wrapper: Ecuador Habano Colorado Shade
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Length: 5.5″
Ring Gauge: 50
Size: Robusto
The Look: Packaged in 12 count black boxes, the box pressed cigars are laid out in 3 rows of 4 cigars. The cigar features the All Saints logo with colors of black, gold, red and white while a secondary band utilizing the same colors denotes the line, Colorado Saint Francis . In the hand, the cigar is firm to the touch with no voids of tobacco and a well packed foot. The Ecuador Habano Colorado wrapper lacks a reddish hue which I was expecting with a Colorado, but there are some subtle oils present.
The Notes: The cold draw of the Colorado iteration has a subtle molasses, cinnamon and raisin on the cold draw. It invokes a danish or breakfast pasty feeling to it which has me looking forward to the light. The aroma off the foot has more molasses, brown sugar and a touch of maple. Once we toast and light the cigar the initial pulls continue the cold draw experience with nuance of cinnamon and raisins.
Smoking the first third the cigar continues to offer up a natural sweetness with hints of honey, vanilla, cream, raisin and molasses. There is a lot going on with the cigar right out of the gate and it is simply divine. As we progress through this slow smoking cigar, the sweetness pulls back with notes of cedar becoming dominant. The retrohale serves up nuttiness along the lines of pecans and cashews with hardly any pepper present.
As we smoke into the second third with the ash holding strong until the half way point the cigar continues to provide notes of cedar with a subtle brown sugar lingering in the background and on the finish. The retrohale sees some pepper begin to develop but it continues to remain nutty.
The last third sees a subtle spice develop on the palate as the cigar burns a bit warmer once we get past the secondary band. There are continues notes of cedar with nuances of cinnamon and raisins. After the primary band is removed some more spice develops with a touch of rye on the finish. The retrohale continues to be nutty though there is a touch more pepper as the cigar comes to a close.
The Finish: While the majority of cigar smokers today still enjoy milder cigars by a landslide this is a nice alternative to the original release of the All Saints Saint Francis. It starts off relatively mild coming in at a 3 on a scale of 1-10 before slowly creeping up to around a 6 by the time we put the cigar. It starts off with a myriad of sweeter notes before finishing off earthy creating an interesting smoking experience. It’s something I could see pairing nicely with Angel’s Envy Rye that is aged in rum casks. At a 12 count box, this is a no brainer for a box purchase.
Score: 93
Price: $11.19 / $131.99
All Saints Saint Francis Colorado Robusto
All Saints Saint Francis Colorado Foot
All Saints Saint Francis Colorado Burn
