Hey Punch, Christian has a little surprise for you …

I got this cigar nine months ago in a cigar swap with members of the Phoenix Cigar Club, so it could be a bit older than the nine months that I have had it — likely it is two years old, based on the “2013” on the band. It has great looking construction; a sandpaper like feel to the wrapper and a simply elegant narrow brown and silver band with a spot color of red for the small “2013”. This is a Honduran puro with “100% authentic Corojo seed wrappers”, according to the CLE Cigars web site.

Looking at this web site one can tell that Christian gets it. The site is modern looking with a simple elegance like the band on this stick. And, as far as I can tell, it is up to date with information on all of their current CLE lines. This is something I can’t understand about many of the cigar web sites I visit; I want to know the details on the latest releases, and so many are sorely out of date. They have gone to the expense of having a nice web site to represent their company, yet they neglect to have their latest offerings included. Marketing 101 seems to dictate that the information about a new release be on the web site the day it releases — or better yet, weeks in advance saying “coming soon” or similar, to help build anticipation.

Start: I did a clover leaf punch which yields a perfect medium draw. The first impression for me is “meaty”; more specifically red meat, iron, akin to liver — but not really liver — just the iron part. I also get flashes of cinnamon oil.

I remember when I was in grade school I asked mom to get me some cinnamon oil at the drugstore and I would put toothpicks in the bottle and soak them to make cinnamon toothpicks. Upon retrospect I probably didn’t really need to leave them soaking overnight, as that let them get soft, but they definitely packed a cinnamon punch and would burn my lips.

Another thing that adds to the classiness of this CLE product is the absence of pretentious or goofy names for the different vitolas. Kudos. The only suggestion for improvement which comes to mind is to have a favicon for the site, to help easily identify it among the multiple tabs I generally have open on my browser.

Back to the cigar: the flavor profile is subtle at about medium in flavor intensity. It includes that slight cinnamon, now joined at inch-and-a-half in with a mild floral note, carried along on a meaty leather. There is also a mild red bell pepper which remains on the finish.

The CLE line is one of two which were released with the launch of the CLE company in 2012, which Christian Luis Eiroa started when his non-compete clause with Camacho/Davidoff expired after his time with them.

Into the second third the flavor intensity has built to medium-plus. The profile has not changed drastically, but I have noticed a slight citrus brightness which maintains a fresh, open personality.

In the middle I started noticing some nicotine effects. The last third is remaining very consistent with the preceding flavor profile but with mild menthol replacing the pepper on the finish.

Summary:
This large ring gauge has smoked nice and cool. It did require two touch-ups to deal with peninsulas. This was a well balanced stick with the flavor being nuanced as opposed to being over the top and in your face. It started off meaty with some cinnamon and progressed into a meaty leather base accompanied with some subtle florals and a mild citrus openness with a red pepper finish, ending with some menthol. The strength was medium, overall. It was a fine cigar for the experienced enthusiast, but could be enjoyed by anyone who has a couple of hours to appreciate a nuanced medium bodied smoke and can tolerate some nicotine strength.

Update:
Here was my surprise: this is a nicotine ninja! Thirty minutes after I finished smoking this CLE Corojo 2013 I was bowing at the porcelain throne. If you are sensitive to nicotine, or have not had a tall stack of buckwheat pancakes with a pint of syrup within an hour before smoking this, I suggest you select something else from your humidor until the conditions are in your favor.