Back in the day during the cigar boom when I was partners in a cigar store in Brooklyn, NY of our biggest selling cigars was Gispert. Over the years the cigar in my opinion became a shell of what it once was, a mild flavorful cigar. This year Altadis USA intensified the brand with the release of the Gispert Intenso. The cigar is being billed as a dark full-boded addition to the mild line. It was created in collaboration with AJ Fernandez who worked with Grupo de Maestro. This isn’t the first collaboration with a cigar maker for Altadis who reworked the Henry Clay with Pete Johnson as well as Rafael Nodal who reworked the Romeo & Juliet.
Cigar Review: Gispert Intenso
Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Dominican Republic, Nicaragua
Length: 6 1/8″
Ring Gauge: 52
Size: Belicoso
The Look: The Gispert Intenso Nicaragua comes packaged in a black slide top box with Gispert on the box and a large bronze and black sticker the denotes Intenso which matches the color of the band. An interesting item of note is the box and band make zero reference to AJ Fernandez. The cigar features a darker Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper that looks like it was worked to create an unnatural near black color. If your interested in how some cigar companies create a Maduro cigar, we invite you to tune in this week to The Cigar Authority where we pull back the curtain on how this is accomplished.
The Notes: The cold draw of the Gispert Intenso Belicoso which is box pressed features a mineral component and an abundance of earth and leather. The nose mimics the latter two components as well. Once the cigar is lit, I am taken back to my youth when I played softball in Brooklyn. However, that trip is not a good trip. You see we played softball on a dry dirt field known as the dirt bowl. When a breeze would kick up, it was like being in a sand storm as dry earth filled your nostrils and coated your mouth. This cigar recreates that experience with notes of dry earth and an leather. There is a long finish, and the cigar leaves your mouth dry.
In the second third of the cigar I am surprised but how much it lacks any type of balance or complexity. It’s almost as if Altadis said lets create a cigar thats strong, but lacks anything enjoyable about it.
At the half way point of the cigar I’ve had enough and decided to jump ship from this horrendous experience.
The Finish: Groupo de Maestros has yet to release a reworked cigar that I can say I liked and this one might be the worst of the bunch. It was one-dimensional unless you want to count leather and earth as being two dimensions. It left me nauseous and jittery and one has to wonder why they would release a cigar such as this. In fact, I am going to put it on the list of one of the worst cigars I ever smoked. I think I will go pour myself a glass of Flint, Michigan tap water to get the taste out of my mouth.
Score: 74
Price: $6.95
Gispert Intenso
Gispert Intenso Foot
Gispert Intenso Burn
