Cigar Review: Tierra Volcan
I like to consider myself a cigar geek, and despite Dave and Mr. Jonathan trying to turn that into a negative thing I wear the title with pride. However, this Tierra Volcan caught me off guard when we featured it during our IPCPR videos. Made by Mombacho in Granada, Nicaragua by a company based in Toronto that when we tweeted the video some our our Canadian friends spoke highly of them. Until this year the cigars were only available in Canada, China and Italy. At the IPCPR in Las Vegas they announced a distribution agreement with RomaCraft tobacco, another small boutique line that is made in Esteli, Nicaragua and we were given samples at the trade show, so without further adieu.
Cigar: Tierra Volcan
Size: 5.5 x 52 (Robusto)
Wrapper: Nicaragua Sungrown (Jalapa)
Binder: Nicaragua Criollo (Condega)
Filler: Nicaragua (Condega, Jalapa)
Strength: Medium
The Look: For a sungrown wrapper the Nicaragua leaf that adorns the Tierra Volcan looks light and lacks the thick texture I associate with this type of wrapper. There is an abundance of oils present on this stick that features a closed foot. There are two bands in both neon orange with brown. The bottom denotes the size (Classico) and the primary denotes Tierra Volcan with the word Nicaragua under it. In the hand, the cigar feels as light as styrofoam with no softs spots in an well rolled specimen.
The Notes: The cold draw of the Tierra Volcan is fruity with notes of apples and pears, which is not what I would expect from a cigar made in Nicaragua. The closed foot has notes of warm chocolate baked inside a puffed pastry. Once the cigar is lit there is a note that doesn’t agree with my palate and a tingling on my tongue.
Smoking our way into the first third of the cigar there is a sour note that reminds me of sour cream. As the first third of the cigar continues I am reminded of Sour Cream & Onion potato chips. The tingling on my tongue starts the fade and while the aroma of the cigar started out as less than enjoyable it is beginning to change.
The second third of the cigar the sour cream note is in the background but begins to fade revealing notes of nuts, and a strange onion like component. Not real onions mind you, but more like the powder. As the onion fades away, there is a taste and aroma that reminds me of burning paper, and I am struggling to stay with this cigar that is giving me tremendous heartburn.
The last third of the cigar continues to serve up some of the same flavors as before and my heartburn got so bad, I stopped before the band.
The Burn: While the medium gray ash holds on extremely well for more then half the cigar, the burn started off extremely jagged before straightening out. The draw of the cigar was perfect, with ample amounts of smoke produced. The Tierra Volcan stayed lit from start to finish.
Overall: I wrestled with the fact if I should publish this review or not, but you can’t have a website with only good reviews. For me, the Tierra Volcan wasn’t enjoyable. By the halfway point of the smoke I had a tremendous case of heartburn but decided to continue the cigar in hopes I would find a saving grace. Sadly, I did not. I do ask you you to remember that a review is one man’s opinion and you should formulate your own thoughts to a cigar good or bad.
Score: 80
Price: $TBD
Tierra Volcan
Tierra Volcan Foot
Tierra Volcan Burn
Last half of “The Notes” is quality humor. Undoubtedly, the most humorous thing you have written in a review. Onion powder, burning paper, and tremendous heartburn….. This baby is a triple threat.
between you getting heartburn from a cigar and mr j getting the shits from another cigar, i definitely don’t experience cigars like the people at the cigar authority. this review has made me want to smoke this cigar so much.
Barry keep keeping it real. It is so unfortunate that some many magazines, blogs are afraid to tell it like it is. I get one magazine that appears to be incapable of scoring anything less than a an 89. Do they just not publish lower rated cigars for fear of upsetting a manufacturer?? Seems so….
Not sure if this guy got a bad one or what but the flavors he experienced are completely unlike the ones I experienced and I have smoked several of these. It’s got a smooth start with sweet tones, no onions found! It continues with sweet flavors all the way thru to the foot. Incredible burn and a perfect ash. Sorry for the lack of flowery descriptions, but the quality of this cigar ranks well with other 90 plus rated cigars.
Dreamn ducks I stand by the notes I got, and for argument sake, lets say I did get a bad one, that would be reason enough for me to stay away. Why buy a cigar that lacks quality control.