Bodega Premium Blends is one of the newer additions to the House of Emilio group of boutique manufacturers. From what I can gather, the brand was started by four cigar loving entrepreneurs from the Great White North. They currently have two cigars in their Reunión line, the Aperitivo and Digestivo, which are available in three sizes. I received one of each in the 5” x 54 “Double Robusto” size recently in a goodie bag from Gary Griffith.
Tuesday I took a walk with my wife with the Reunión Aperitivo. Don’t get me wrong, I love taking walks with my wife, but I’m still wrapping my head around not having an energetic and curious canine pulling at my left arm on my walks. This will take some getting used to. Thank you all for your kind words on Monday’s post, it’s much appreciated. Anyway, the name of this cigar implies that I should smoke it perhaps before dinner, or early in the day. My weekday schedule is such that I prefer to have a cigar after dinner, and after a meal normally. I just don’t ever feel like smoking on an empty stomach. So after dinner I lit up the Aperitivo and we took a walk. This one has a Jalapa Habano wrapper and fillers from Jalapa and Condega. The binder is listed as “proprietary”, so I don’t know if it’s a Nicaraguan puro or not. Anyway, the cigar burned perfectly, the draw was perfect, and it held an ash very well. It had a nice, medium flavor that was kind of dry on the palate, with some nuttiness. This cigar smoked really well, and was enjoyable, even though it isn’t in a flavor profile that I usually gravitate toward. I resisted the urge to smoke the San Andres wrapped Digestivo first in this case, it just seemed like these should be smoked in order, from a CDO standpoint (CDO is OCD in alphabetical order, like it should be).
The “after dinner” cigar in the Bodega line is the Reunión Digestivo. It’s wrapped in San Andrés Negro and has fillers from Jalapa and Esteli, with presumably the same proprietary binder as the Aperitivo. The wrapper is beautifully dark and oily and it was a really hard decision last night to choose the Aperitivo over this one, but the CDO won out. I took a solitary walk as it was looking like rain, which it eventually did. The Digestivo lit well and started with a very similar astringent quality to that which the Aperitivo had, a dryness, if you will. It had the underlying cocoa flavor associated with the San Andrés wrapper, which I liked. It burned dead even and had a very nice draw. It was a bit stronger than the Aperitivo, as the names would indicate ans smoothed out nicely into a nice smoking experience. Considering it’s Canadian roots, it had no maple syrup undertones or hints of back bacon. It was a nice smoke and I wouldn’t hesitate to smoke it again. I would give these both 97s on my rating scale, with this Digestivo having a slight edge.
I think it’s a risk offering two distinctly different cigars for sale in the same box. Suppose you really like one and hate the other? You have to buy both to get the one you like, and either be stuck with the one you don’t like or have to figure a way to get rid of them, and, starting at $10 each, it’s a tough sell. If you love both, it’s a great way to have some variety in your life. Fortunately, they are available in boxes of ten in each blend. I suppose it would have been silly to have the mixed box be the only way to get these other than buying singles. I gotta say, for Canadians, these guys are making some good cigars :-). It shouldn’t be a surprise as Gary only really invites good cigar makers into the House of Emilio. Thanks again to Gary for providing the samples of these tasty treats. Nicely done, eh.
That’s all for now, until the next time,
CigarCraig
