Felipe Gregorio has been making cigars for over 20 years, and their Icon derives its name from the many icons we see smoking cigars. The Twain is a torpedo roll, measuring 6.5×52, and received a formidable 91 rating from the cigar of the month club. Cigar is large and flavorful, and the many places that the tobaccos and wrapper are derived from are what give the cigar its wonderful and complex flavors.

The wrapper is a Costa Rican Maduro wrapper which gives it a rich, dark, leathery feel that often people say resembles that of a candy bar. It also has a nice shine, which makes it more and more enticing. The filler is a mix of Cuban-seed Dominican and Nicaraguan tobaccos, and the binder is Nicaraguan. The burn is even and the draw is outstanding, not too tight or too loose. It’s just perfect. It burns fairly evenly, and you should only need to touch it up mildly if at all to keep it going. And the ash is a wonderful, long, silver color.
The palate starts out sweet like you’d expect from a cigar that looks almost sweet enough to eat. There are hints of mocha and cocoa throughout, with small bursts of pepper. As you progress, the notes still remain, and some flavors of leather start to get brought together. As you get through the second third, you should have a complex mix of coffee, leather, mocha, and a little touch of pepper. The cigar ends sweet again, with notes of mocha and vanilla, and a touch of pepper here and there.

Even with the medium to full character of this stogie, because of the mildness of the early flavors, it’s never too much to handle. It transitions well between all the flavors, and should probably get more attention that it has. But take the opportunity to stick a couple of these in your humidor, and swoon over how good they are while you wait for other people to begin discovering them as well. You’ll find that these are especially great after a large meal, and you’ll be smoking these instead of going in for desert.

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