Produced in Jacaleapa, Honduras at Compania Hondurena de Tabacos, Kuuts Nicaraguan Blend is available in five vitolas: Momentos (4 by 48), Pequenos (4 1/2 by 58), Robusto (5 by 52), Toro (6 by 52), and Gordo Especial (7 by 60).

The Facts

Samples Provided by Kuuts, LLC
Price: $6.10 at Famous Smoke Shop
Vitola: Toro
Size: 6 by 52
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Smoke Time: 1 Hour and 35 Minutes
Drink: Water

Pre-light

The veiny and bumpy Ecuadorian Habano leaf is medium brown in color with a dry appearance. Against the tips of my fingers, the wrapper feels just as dry. Softly pinching the cigar, I do not find any soft spots and the cigar is firmly filled all the way through. There is not much in the aroma department off of the wrapper, while the foot gives off mild notes of tobacco, cedar, pepper, and raisin.

A triple cap rounds out the Kuuts Nicaraguan Blend. The draw has a perfect amount of resistance, and some potpourri spice and rich cedar are on the cold draw. Also, a slight spice sting is felt on the lips.

First Third

Kuuts Nicaraguan Blend is beginning with a mild to medium profile with some pepper, wet wood, and a sour quality, possibly lemon zest. I actually find the sour quality to be intriguing and fitting in the profile. The spice jumps out on the retrohale causing me to almost sneeze, accompanied by some pencil-shaving notes.After an inch of burn, the woodsy notes build in richness. A beautiful ash is being formed as the cigar burns mostly even.

Middle Third

While the sour quality is still there, it has moved behind the other flavors that have gained ground in the profile. Sweet tobacco, a nuttiness, and toasted bread join the earlier flavors of wood and pepper. The toasted notes are at the forefront of the finish of the smoke. The added sweetness is bringing a very nice balance to the profile. The burn is a bit out of whack midway through the second third requiring a quick touch-up.

Final Third

After an hour and ten minutes of smoking, I make my way to the final third of the Kuuts Nicaraguan Blend. The last third is rich and sweet. The toasted quality remains on the finish accompanied by a chocolate sweetness. The cigar reached the medium realm in the second third and remains a solid medium as the cigar begins to wind down.

Wrap-up

For  a cigar coming in around $6, a very reasonably priced cigar in my book, Kuuts Nicaraguan Blend is a solid offering. The profile was well balanced, rich, and sweet with a core of cedar and pepper. The cigar performed well with a perfect draw, satisfying amount of smoke, decent burn, and a fairly nice ash. I can wholeheartedly recommend a five pack purchase of the Kuuts Nicaraguan Blend. I know I will snatching a few more up as well.

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According to Kuuts Cigars’ website:

Miró Cigars are a product of a prime selection of perfectly fermented tobacco. Their distinct aroma precedes their intense, profound, slightly matured flavors that slightly intensify the further you get into them. The Miró brand of cigars is a full bodied cigar that is sure to make any ordinary occasion into an absolutely unique one with the incredible flavors and aromas given off by the perfect blend of a Sumatra wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and combined Nicaraguan and Honduran filler.

The Facts
Samples Provided by Kuuts
Price: Unknown
Vitola: Lancero
Size: 7 1/2 by 38
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicraguan and Honduran
Smoke Time: 1 Hour and 25 Minutes
Drink: Water

Pre-light

The Kuuts Miro Lancero sports a light to medium brown Sumatra wrapper that has mainly small veins and a bumpy texture. This lancero contains one soft spot just below the band. The wrapper aroma is of barnyard, chocolate, and rich cedar.  The chocolate and cedar are present on the foot with a very unique hickory addition. If the pre-light aroma is a foreshadowing of the things to come, this stick is going to rock!

The cigar comes to an end with a crazy pointy pig-tailed cap that actually snapped off in the other sample. Clipping off a small piece of the cap, I find a very rich, but dry, cold draw that is heavy on richness and spice. The spice that is present is not your typical pepper but rather clove and nutmeg.

First Third

The draw is right on with this 38 ring gauge stick, which is not always the case, and the smoke is pouring out. Flavors of oak and chocolate are noticeable in the first inch and some spice is creeping into the profile. Unlike the exotic spice on the cold draw, this is more of a common black pepper spice. As I burn farther into the first third, I find the flavors have lessened in intensity but still at a solid medium. A good amount of heat is felt on my palate. The eyeliner burn-line is even and the ash is holding till about 3/4 of an inch.

Middle Third

As I pull into the second third, the chocolate has either left the stage or is being overwhelmed by the pepper and earth that are now dominating the profile. A rich cedar seems to be bouncing in and out of the profile, while the oak lingers on the finish. Like the cold draw, my palate is left somewhat dry. The ash is flaking all over the place and dropping every half inch (Warning: keep an ashtray near by). The burn-line remains solid. I am beginning to feel a nicotine kick as I wrap-up the middle third.

Final Third

Rich clove and cedar are now at the forefront of the profile and the spice remains full. The chocolate notes have made a reappearance but more of a dusty chocolate on the finish.. The cigar has heated up to a point where a sharp bite is felt in my mouth so I am going to slow my roll in hopes that the smoke cools. The cigar being extremely soft in the final inch and half, on top of the small ring gauge, may also be causing some of the heat in the smoke. The ash is extremely ugly and ashy, but other than a small inconvenience, it is not impacting the cigar.

Wrap-up

The Kuuts Miro Lancero is a very nice evening smoke that delivers in the spice department for sure. Don’t let the small ring gauge trick you. This Lancero packs a punch with its strength. Other than the flaky ash, the performance was just about perfect with an easy draw that delivered a copious amount of smoke and the burn was even throughout. Only 500 boxes of ten were produced, so if you enjoy spicy cigars and adore the lancero size, I recommend that you get your hands on this stick before they are gone.

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Over the last few weeks I have smoked quite a few of Kuuts blends. Not familiar with the blend? Not surprising. Kuuts has actually been in the cigar business for 15 years now doing most of their business over-seas in the European market. They have only recently decided to bring their blends to the US. They also recently opened up shop in Danli Nicaragua in hopes of boosting production and distribution. There are 3 blends currently in the US market, the Placeres Reserva, Tabacalara Zapata, and the Miro.

I’ll be taking a look at each one of these three blends as well as bringing you some information on each as well as my thoughts. You can read up more about Kuuts and their offerings on their website, or by following them on twitter. They provided me with a few samples to bring you this review. Since these were all quick draws, and I only smoked a few of each, they were all paired with water as to not cloud my palate.

Tabacalera Zapata:

Wrapper: Honduran Connecticut Oscuro
Binder: Honduran
Filler: Nicaraguan/Honduran/Jaltepec
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium
Price: $5.75 – $7.80

Construction/Prelight: The construction on this cigar is magnificent. From foot, to cap this cigar is flawless. The wrapper is a medium brown with some nice yellow and dark brown areas. This cigar is OILY! You could blind someone with the amount of light that reflects off this baby. There are only very few, small, seamless veins throughout the body to the round triple cap. The cigar is very thick and dense and gives little to no give when condensed between my fingers.

Burn/Draw: The burn on this cigar is dead even right from the start. There were a few waves once I reached the halfway point which kindly corrected themselves as I burned into the final third. The draw was remarkable. I was a bit scared due to how firm this cigar was, but each puff kicked out tons of creamy smoke.

Flavor: There wasn’t too much to this cigar. When I say that, I mean there wasn’t much in terms of complexity, but the flavors were very strong and solid. I picked up some real nice sweetness, cedar, honey, and natural tobacco with hints of earthiness. While the flavor remained pretty similar through the entire experience, the amount of flavors and the creaminess of the combination was enough to keep my satisfied from start to finish.

Overview: This is a solid, well-balanced cigar. While I found it a bit too mild for my liking, I think it would fit great for those times when I do actually crave a milder cigar that carries some flavor. The construction really makes this cigar in one word, perfect. The price is reasonable and I’ve seen quite a few sales on these sticks making the price a great value. You can already find these on most of the larger mail-order and b&m’s shelves.

Miro:

Wrapper: Sumatran
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaraguan/Honduran
Strength: Medium/Full
Body: Full
Price:  $6.80 – $8.10

Construction/Prelight: This cigar is as dark as the night. Seriously, this cigar is a very dark brown with a reddish tint, and the wrapper is even almost black in some areas. The big, dark purple band only accompanies the dark characteristics of this cigar. This cigar is crazy oily too. I don’t know what Kuuts is doing over there to produce these oils but I like it. The wrapper sports some nice, subtle tooth and very, very small veins as it reaches the round double cap. Unlike the firmness I encountered in the Zapata, this cigar is pretty soft with noticeably softer spots near the foot of the cigar.

Burn/Draw: This cigar started out pretty wavy but corrected itself halfway through, only to require some attention from my lighter into the final third of the cigar. The filler seemed to be burning evenly but the wrapper had a bit of trouble keeping itself even. It didn’t bother me, nor did it effect the experience in anyway. The draw on this cigar was a bit looser than the Zapata but it produced just as much thick, white smoke.

Flavor: The Miro pumped out lots and lots of sweetness and chocolate right off the back. Sadly, that quickly faded and I was left with some soft woodsy, leathery, natural flavors. I really wished that sweetness and chocolate stuck around a bit longer as I really enjoyed what it had to offer.

Overview: This cigar preformed on par, but just wasn’t for me. The flavors were a bit muffled and it just seemed as if the cigar was missing a certain something that would have really brought it up to another level. The experience and construction however were spot on and I have absolutely no complaints there. Again, same price point as the above cigar with similar sales as well. While this cigar didn’t appeal to my flavor profile I do think cigar smokers that tend to reach for those more traditional, smooth, sweet maduros would really enjoy it.

Placeres Reserva:

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano
Binder: Costa Rican
Filler: Nicaraguan/Honduran
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $5.90 – $8.10

Construction/Prelight: The Placeres Reserva carries a very reddish/dark brown wrapper with darker areas. This cigar is the only box-pressed one in the 3 part series. The box-press is very firm, but in both samples I smoked there was some tenderness around the cap of the cigar, right around there area where you would rest your lips when smoking. The wrapper on this cigar isn’t as oily as the other two but it makes up for it with the tooth, not to mention I love the band. Again, this cigar had very small, seamless veins running through the body of the cigar.

Burn/Draw: The cigar started out with some slight waves but it quickly corrected itself to a dead even, razor sharp burn. I never had to break the lighter out the entire experience. The draw on these cigar was incredible. Every little, tiny puff filled my mouth with super thick, white smoke. It’s also worth mentioning that this cigar kicks out a whole ton of stationary smoke.

Flavor: The Placeres Reserva started out a bit mild, showcasing some really peppery, spicy notes before the whole cigar took a drastic change just before reaching the second third. On both of the samples I smoked the cigar just poured on the strong spice, cedar, vanilla, and woodsy flavors. It caught me by surprised and I really enjoyed the change-ups. Once I reached the final third the pepper had faded out as a more musky, creamy experience began to form.

Overview: Needless to say this was my favorite out of the bunch. I loved the format (I’m a sucker for box-press), and the flavor and complexity of this cigar kept me on my toes the entire time. This cigar seemed to be on a whole different level than the other two in my humble opinion and I think the price point is right where it should be. Heck, I wouldn’t mind pay a bit more as I was pleasantly surprised by this one.

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