San Cristobal Seleccion Del Sol

Today's review is of a new addition to Ashton's San Cristobal line. This is the Seleccion Del Sol, and has a sungrown wrapper grown in Nicaragua by Don Pepin Garcia (who also blends and rolls this cigar for Ashton). This Nicaraguan Puro comes in three sizes, and today I am smoking the Robusto (5x52)

The wrapper on this particular stick seems a bit dry and rough, but Sun grown wrappers aren't always the prettiest. This one is a nice dark brown and a little mottled. This line features a band on the foot to distinguish it from the regular San Cristobal line. The construction overall looks very nice, with a perfectly applied triple cap. The predraw flavor shows just a touch of cedar and nicely aged tobacco.

This cigar starts out with a nice bit of spice that I tend to notice with a lot of Pepin's blends. Behind the spice there is a definite flavor of sweet cedar. The mix of sweetness and spice really works nicely together. This seems a bit dialed back compared to the original San Cristobals. It is not as full bodied or as rich, but it is still an enjoyable cigar. At the halfway point I would consider this to be at the low end of medium bodied. There is just a touch of citrus on the finish as well.

Overall, the new San Cristobal Seleccion Del Sol is a solid cigar. The construction and burnline are pretty much perfect. I didn't have to touch up the burn at all, which is always nice. I think I prefer the standard San Cristobal line over the new one though. I like the richness of the originals, as well as the dried cherry flavor combined with the spice that they offer. This one has some spice to it, but just a little. The sweet cedar flavor and slightly citrusy finish is very tasty on the new one. I was expecting a full bodied cigar, but this one lands at the low end of medium. The price of the robusto is around $8 if I'm not mistaken. These will be great to smoke when I want something medium bodied with a nice complexity to the flavor.

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Ashton San Cristobal Event

Tonight was the Ashton San Cristobal Event at Bull and Bear Tobacco, my favorite local shop. What a fun evening filled with a ton of cigars, great food and drinks (beer, wine, you name it)! A San Cristobal Fabuloso (Torpedo) was provided to smoke, which i did, and i also picked up 3 San Cristobal Guajiro's (6 5/8 X 46) and smoked one of those as well. They did a few different raffles, and i won a bag of Ashton cigars to cap off the night! San Cristobals are fantastic cigars, blended by Don Pepin Garcia for Ashton ,and as anyone who reads my blog knows, im a huge Pepin fan.

The La Aroma De Cuba Especial (pictured on the right) and the machine made cigar on the bottom were given to me on the side by the rep, who i talked to for at least 2 hours tonight. There was also an Ashton Maduro in the cigars i won, but i gave it to my buddy Jim who went to the event with me. Alex Merick was the Ashton rep at the event, and was an absolute pleasure to talk to. He was very down to earth and a fun guy to talk shop with, and he certainly knows his cigars!

Thanks again to the fine people at Bull and Bear for a really fun event!