Initial Thoughts
From my experience thus far with Cuban cigars I feel that the Bolivar brand is hands down my favorite brand thus far. So when I got this Bolivar Coronas Junior from the Cigar Terminal sampler pack, I was very excited to smoke it. If you remember from my review of the Bolivar Belicosos Fino I was blown away by this cigar. So I had high hopes for this Coronas Junior.
The only downside to this cigar is the size.Coming in at 4.3″ x 42 I knew it was going to be a quick smoke which bums me out, but hey at least it should be a great smoke even if it only lasts for 45 minutes!
Looks
This Bolivar Coronas Junior looks great. A nice parejo shape to it, subtle light chocolate brown wrapper on it. A little bit of texture to it minimal veins and looks tasty. This cigar is also slightly box pressed from what I can tell. Since it came in a sampler pack it’s hard to tell if it was actually box pressed or not, but the edges appear to be more straight edged than others.
The band is the traditional Bolivar band. Nothing distinguishes this blend from the others except for the size. It’s a great looking cigar, nothing too flashy going on just a traditional look and feel. Hopefully it lets the tobacco do all the talking.
Function
The foot of this cigar is nice and full not overly packed. I don’t see any stems in the long filler tobacco which always makes me happy. It has a nice spring to the filler when rolled between my fingers as well.
I nipped the cap off the head and tested the dry draw. It was a bit tight, but I figure it will open up after getting it lit. I can pick up some great aromas on the foot and the barrel. During the dry draw wasn’t picking up too many notes, probably due to the lack of an open draw at this point though.
Smoking
I put the flame to the foot of this Bolivar Coronas Junior and it instantly took off. Delivery a nice bellow of smoke. The aroma quickly filled the garage and I had to begin airing it out. This little cigar smoked great, never offered any resistance to the draw once I got it going. I did however have some issues with it burning straight. Nothing that I couldn’t overcome, but it was still a bit of an annoyance to touch it up a couple of times.
Flavor
Some great flavors came out of this Bolivar Coronas Junior. For it being such a small cigar it seemed to really pack a punch. It built from medium to nearly full bodied by the end of the cigar. The flavors were fairly complex, I got notes of sweet molasses and earth up front in the first third. That developed into a bit of black pepper spice followed down by a leathery and toasted note. It seemed to be all over the board, yet still contained in this one little bundle.
I felt at times I was switching between coffee notes and cocoa. They were a bit faint and hard to pull in those exact flavors, but there was something else hidden in there that was exciting to try and dig out.
Overall, a really great cigar packed into a tight package. I highly recommend trying this out!
Would I Buy It Again?
Easily, for $110 you can get 25 of these. That’s a great deal if you ask me, that’s less than $4 a cigar. I don’t think you can beat that.
Is It an Every Day Smoke?
I think at $4 a smoke this could easily be a daily smoker.
Would I Buy a Box?
I would love to have a box of these laying around the house that I can just go and pick up. I mean $4 for a great Cuban cigar. What more could you ask for? It’s a nice 45 min smoke that gives a ton of flavor. It’s really a win all around!
Conclusion
Can’t ask for much more from this Bolivar Coronas Junior. It provides complex flavors, even though the smoking time is a bit short, it is winter and that isn’t a bad thing. I can’t recommend this cigar enough, especially for the price. Most people complain about the price and availability of Cubans, for $4 a cigar and the constant availability on Cigar Terminal I think you’re out of excuses now.
