Garo Habano Blue

Our friends over at Garo Habano Fine Cigars sent us a few of their cigars to be reviewed. Over my next few reviews I will be evaluating the samples they sent us. You can read more about Garo Habano Fine Cigars by visiting their website at www.garohabano.com. Garo Habano was established in 1996 by Dr. Garo Bouldoukian and currently has 6 varieties in multiple vitolas. I have personally not had any exposure to this brand prior to receiving these samples and feel that this will make my reviews as unbiased as possible.

The first one I decided to light up was the Garo Blue. This seems to the mildest of their line and thought it would be a good starting point. Here is a short description of this cigar from their website:

“With mild bodied flavor and wrapped in a golden brown Connecticut shaded wrapper, Garo Blue smokes smoothly and maintains the same consistency through and through. Delicious flavors of nuts culminate in a lingering ceder-like light finish. The solid ash refuses to fall off from this hand crafted masterpiece. It is an excellent addition to your humidor collection.”

I am sitting down to enjoy this cigar on a Sunny Canadian morning in my backyard, the weather is just a bit below freezing and I have my propane heater keeping me warm.

Cigar: Garo Habano Blue
Drink: Diet Coke
Vitola: Robusto (4.75×52)
Wrapper: Connecticut
Binder: Olor Dominican
Filler: Piloto Cubano
Price: $5.68
Burn Time: 1.5 Hours

Construction:
• Soft feel throughout with minor springiness
• Wrapper is a nice light brown in color
• Cleanly applied single cap
• Foot seems lightly packed, still some room left
• Open to Moderate draw on my samples, one was very open

Burn:
• Burn is going very fast at the start
• Slight waviness at the start required a minor touchup
• No problems after initial touch up
• Stayed lit surprisingly well considering how soft it felt
• Burn slowed down a bit as the draw improved about halfway through

Smoke:
• Moderate amount of smoke
• There’s a fair bit of resting smoke
• Not much aroma coming off the resting smoke
• The smoke coming off the foot had a blue tinge to it but the smoke coming from the cap was a normal blue color

Ash:
• Light gray
• Tiny bit of flaking, nothing major
• Strong ash, held on past 1.5 inches

Tasting Notes:
• Dry aroma is light and earthy
• Light spiciness on the lips
• Initial draws are earthy and nutty
• Mild bodied
• Retrohale is mild with a touch of spice and a nice cedar finish
• Slight cedar flavor developed near the last 2 inches
• Slight bitterness in last inch, fixed mostly after a little purge
• Consistent flavor through most of the cigar

Final Thoughts:
• Good as an early morning or lunch smoke
• Great to give to a friend interested in trying cigars for the first time
• Flavor was enjoyable but never changed, I wouldn’t opt for the larger vitolas but this can make a good go-to smoke in the smaller sizes
• Would pair great with almost anything, coffee, soda, water or a light beer
• The price is a little high when compared to similar mild Connecticut cigars but still a good smoke