About.com Rating



Antano (pronounced “antanyo”) is a very dark corojo cigar and comes in several shapes and sizes with interesting names. Azarosa (risky), El Martillo (the hammer), Peligroso (dangerous), Poderoso, and Pesadilla (nightmare).  I smoked the “nightmare”. The filler is Nicaraguan long leaf tobacco that is aged for 3 years.  The wrapper  is a corojo tobacco also from Nicaragua.  The “nightmare”, Pesadilla, is a belicoso, 4.5” x 60 ring gauge cigar.

Draw and Construction

The draw on this short fat cigar was surprisingly good.  I only used a 9mm punch to open this large ring gauge.  I doubt if a smaller punch would have worked, and being a belicoso, I should have used my cutter.  The burn was okay, somewhat even and due to the cigar’s good construction, it never went out.  The ash was dark grey and did not hold at all.  In fact, this is one of those cigars that demands that you tap off the ash often or it will just fall into your lap.

Flavor and Aroma

The flavors in this cigar are very, very, very, very, spicy.  I mean we are talking ‘Habanero’, tongue stinging spicy.  Oh, did I say that the cigar was ‘SPICY’?  Okay, there was a hint of cocoa and the aroma was that heavy full bodied.  This is a real Man’s cigar, the kind that will put hair on your chest.  I am normally not one to smoke such a macho cigar, but I have to admit that this one intrigued me enough to smoke a couple more.  The cigar was not as smooth as I would have liked.  Any time I smoke a full bodied cigar, it really needs to be smooth and this one was just too harsh to become a regular resident in my humidor.

Value

The Pesadilla size cigars are selling in boxes of 20 for $140 ($8 a stick) and in 5-packs for $40 ($7 a stick).  My single cigars at a local tobacconist cost me $8.50.  I expected a bit more from this cigar that it delivered.  Saying that, for those of you that like dark corojo tobacco and full bodied bold cigars, this is the one for you.  I still have one more in my humidor and will probably save it for my brother.  He loves cigars like this.