Cigars.ie

The Lonsdales of Christmas, Day 10 - Trinidad Ingenio EL 2007

Second day of 2011 and I am halfway in this group review. Today’s Lonsdale is one of the two that carry the Edicion Limitada band; the Trinidad Ingenio. There is a lot of mysticism and rumors on how the Trinidad marca was created. What is accepted as a fact is that before Trinidad’s were released to the public market in 1998, they were Diplomatic gifts. James Suckling, on a recent video review, stated that to his knowledge, Trinidad were the highest level of diplomatic gifts one could get, and that they were only given out from Fidel Castro himself. This came to contradict what Fidel Castro said back in 1992 in his interview on Cigar Aficionado, that he had never given Trinidad cigars as a diplomatic gift. It is an interesting subject that will surely be revived again in the cigar forums after the recent comments.

The post-1998 history of Trinidad is well known. The first cigar that was released with the launch of the brand was the Trinidad fundadore, which was the only Trinidad cigar up until 2004, when 3 more cigars were added to the brands portfolio. In 2007, Trinidad released their first limited edition cigar, the Trinidad Ingenio. The Ingenio is a Cervante, measuring 6.5″ in length by 42 ring gauge, and has the distinctive pigtail found in every Trinidad. It came only in boxes of 12 and all the tobacco used in its production was aged for at least 2 years. I haven’t smoked this cigar since it was first released; on that occassion I found it bland and way too young. However, now it is 3 years old (or almost 4 since we are in 2011) and I am very interested to see how much this cigar has changed.

Appearance

The Ingenio has an unusual shade of wrapper, with a dark brown colour and shades of dark chocolate. It is not maduro, but it is not far off it. Although the colour is not consistent, it looks enticing. The wrapper has a coarse feel, with some veins. The cap is well applied, but the pigtail has broken, something that happen very easy if the cigar gets a little dry. The bunch is good and the cigar feels spongy. The prelight draw is a little loose and aromas of damp earth are present on the foot of the cigar.

Flavour & Body

The cigar lights up in a cloud of dense smoke and flavours of chocolate and almonds. These two flavours dominate the first third with a touch of leather on the background, and the cigar has a long and peppery finish. The body is medium and the flavours don’t have the depth and smoothness you would expect from a limited edition. The second third is a struggle, as I have to relight constantly. This has devastating effects on the cigar, as all I can taste is bitter charcoal! After relighting constantly I decided to put it down and get back to it after a couple of hours. A couple of hours later, I relit the cigar; although it was not going off every time it did not taste good. Hot and harsh this cigar, there was no pleasant flavours at all… I did not even wait to get to the last third and I put it to sleep…

Draw & Burn

Although the cigar draws very well, the burn is problematic. After the first third, the cigar keeps going off and the coal is not even. Regular touch ups are required in in order to reach the last third and this gives the cigar an unpleasant charcoal flavour. I had to relight the cigar about a dozen times in the second third. The ash had good structure and would have reached a good length if I didn’t have to tap it in order to relight.

Overall

I was hoping to get a pleasant surprise from this cigar, but what I got was a bad cigar. I have enjoyed every other Trinidad, but I have yet to enjoy one of these. I had to throw out about half of it as it was far from being enjoyable! I am sure not every Ingenio is like that, I was unlucky to get a bad cigar… I will not even try to mark it as it would be unfair. I will definitely have a go at it again when I get my hands on another one and hopefully it will be smokeable!