Zino: Nicaraguan Toro

So here it is… twelve months after starting, I can’t quite believe I am about to reach the end of my cigar challenge! I have smoked a cigar from almost every single cigar brand in the A-Z directory of cigars from The Cigar Companion.

The final cigar I will be smoking is from the Zino cigar brand, and I will be trying the Zino Nicaraguan Toro cigar.

Funnily enough, the slogan associated with this brand goes as follows “Live life from A to Z” – quite fitting for this challenge, I thought!

The stats:

Length: 6″
Ring Gauge: 50
Vitola: Toro
Strength: Medium
Country of origin: Nicaragua
Cost: £18.95 @ Havana House

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut

Background:

Zino Davidoff was an adventurer and a pioneer in the cigar world. He loved to discover and enjoy life to the fullest. In the 1980s, he created the Zino cigar brand for the American market when the Davidoff brand was still made in Cuba. These cigars were made of the finest Honduras tobacco.

Nowadays the brand is much more global, reaching many parts of the world.

In May 2021, the Zino Nicaragua was launched. The medium to full-bodied Zino Nicaragua Cigar is available in three formats that offer distinctive aromas of cedar wood, coffee and fresh spices. All cigar formats have the same blend but the experience differs in the way the cigar is rolled.

The Zino cigars come in three formats suitable for every occasion: a Short Torpedo ( 4 x 52), a Robusto with (5 x 54) and a Toro (6 x 50). Regardless of the size, all cigars share the same blend consisting of filler tobaccos from Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic all unified with a Nicaraguan binder and finished with an Ecuadorian wrapper. The medium-bodied cigars surprise with a rounded taste of fresh peppers, cream and a hint of milk coffee that fit well with the taste palate of occasional aficionados.

My experience:

As it’s the final cigar of my cigar challenge I thought I’d do something different and film the moment I smoke the cigar and share some initial thoughts about it… this usually happens before I write the full review for my cigar blog. Beware I’m no Cigar Obsession, Cigars of London, Cigar Rants, Cigars Daily… these guys are the pros at cigar reviews… I’m just someone who likes smoking cigars and trying new ones that are out there.

Back to the normal procedure…

The first thing you notice about this cigar is the bright yellow cigar band, it’s very bold, and on the front, it has ‘Z’, ‘Nicaragua’ and on the back, it has the words ‘Zino’. The band is very different to any cigar band I have smoked recently.

The Toro is a nice size and has a great ring gauge; it is easy to light (when you have a working lighter).

Immediately after the first few draws, there is a little bit of spice but that soon dies down. Then comes the earth and woody flavour notes, plus a little bit of sweetness.

I had quite low expectations of this cigar after hearing a couple of reviews from other folk on social media, so overall it was a delightful surprise that I enjoyed it so much. Not as good as the Davidoff brand but decent.

Overall it’s a well constructed cigar, nice build up of ash, a good consistent smoke.

My rating: 8 out 10 – this cigar exceeded my expectations. See how this compares with the other cigars I have smoked.

And that’s it… I have completed my cigar challenge 🙌 well, to a point, there were lots of cigars that no longer exist that I didn’t get to smoke! I will post more about the overall experience in a future blog post. I’m also trying to work out what I should do next… do get in touch with any suggestions!