A Brief Cigar Review - Cuban Trinidad Reyes

This fine Sunday afternoon I select a small size Cuban to enjoy with the rest of my coffee, then perhaps a whiskey and coke. The Trinidad Reyes, first produced in 1969 at the El Laguito factory in Havana, is a Habano that has a similar blend to the famous Cohiba brand. Trinidad cigars lack the third barrel fermentation that Cohiba receive, but retail at about half of the price.. This particular Trinidad has been in my humidor for over a year, so even for a Cuban, it should be aged plenty. 

Wrapper: Cuban
Binder: Cuban
Filler: Cuban
Vitola: 4.4 x 44 (petit corona)
Price: $7

Pre-light

The Trinidad Reyes sports a silky medium brown wrapper with a tidy mini-pigtail cap, It is a charming little cigar.

Thankfully, the draw is nice and open, this is a relief considering the two edge sword of having a small ring gauge, and being a Cuban, which have a recent reputation of low quality control and overly tight rolls.

Flavors and Smoke

Shortly after toasting and lighting, I notice the aroma wafting from my Trinidad is pleasant, and it has an impressive amount of smoke flowing from each puff.

The beginning flavor profile consists of hazelnut, espresso, and coconut as the main nuances, with no significant amount of spice. The retro-hale is incredibly smooth.

The Trinidad as a whole is quite creamy and light tasting, thus far it is a very pleasant cigar.

After puffing to about the ⅓ mark, anise (black licorice) makes an appearance. I was expecting this at anytime, almost all Cuban tobacco provides me with this unique nuance at some point in each cigar. As the anise arrives, all of the flavors darken into more of a toasty and less light profile. This is quite the sudden transition yet also just as tasty.

In the last 3rd of the Trinidad, the flavor profile darkens quite a bit more, transitioning into more of a pure unsweetened espresso, and now with black pepper. The retrohale now becomes spicy. This is not my favorite change, but it provides excitement for being a complex smoke.

Reaching the end, the hazelnut returns to make the plain dark profile a little better, although the nuttiness is also very deep roasted. The coconut may have mostly faded, yet it still has some presence.

Final thoughts

I enjoyed the Trinidad Reyes, the small size was perfect for a quick smoke paired with coffee on this fine weekend afternoon. Construction wise, I have no complaints. Draw, burn-line, and smoke output were all either spot on or satisfying enough. 

Although not my favorite profile at the end, the Trinidad Reyes provides something for everyone. The beginning so smooth and creamy with great nuances, the end very dark and spicy. These sudden transitions are pretty cool and even during the parts that were not my favorite, I didn’t notice any overbearing or disgusting flavor note. The Trinidad Reyes is definitely worth a try, it is one of Cuba’s finest corona size cigars.  

My emoji rating for The Cuban Trinidad Reyes: 😀
(🤢😖☹️😕😐🙂😀😋🤗😍)

Smoke time: 40 minutes
Cigar paired with: Vanilla Latte
Price opinion:  👍🏻
Recommend/buy again? Indeed