A pleasant surprise, Good things come in small packages

I'm not sure why it took me so long to review this wonderful cigar, but it is high time I DID review it and what a pleasant surprise this was to smoke...

As we all know by now (I hope) Cohiba Dominicana has undergone so really amazing changes.. The Dominican Cohibas rolled with the tradicionale Band are truly garbage. I've seen them on the shelves at less than 2 dollars a stick! To think these used to sell for 10-12 bucks a piece just on the label???!!! Cohiba Dominicana (like most of the Cuban/Domincan counterparts) certainly used to lean on the Cuban sibling to help sales... However Cohiba chose to make a very respectable and responsible change when they introduced the red-dot label and thus attempted to get away from the Cuban reputation and has tried to rely on its own good merit to build a reputation...

Stop for a moment and consider that... A company actually TRIES to side-step its own long-standing history (obviously made legendary throughout cigar history by Fidel and so many others) Cohiba has actually contradicated its own inherent Brand-Recognition and Trademark to try and rebuild a completely seperate reputation of quality and good flavor -- I say good for you Cohiba. Ironically it wasn't long after this change that the world seems to have woken up to the fact that 1) Cuban Puros have slid convincingly into the "lackluster" side of poor cigar quality and 2) Cohiba in particular has its own horrible problem of counterfeits PLAGUING the American cigar marketplace (the BLACK market that is, in light of the embargo)... It doesn' take a genius to figure out that introducing a new label and a new product was a good idea!!! Cohiba has written its own ticket to a fresh start - happily it is a good one!

The crystal corona is a traditional corona 5" by 42 ring gauge, presented in its own glass tube. Of my devoted readership, many of you are probably scratching your heads, because a) I don't really like narrow ring cigars and b) I could usually care less about tubos - whether they're crystal or aluminum!!!. In any event, Cohiba is on to something very darn good here, because even with a small 42 ring, this cigar has some substance to it (though I'll admit I'd love to fatten it up a bit!!!)...Enough of history, on to the cigar!

The Crystal Corona boasts an excellent construction - highly reminsiscent of the older Cohibas (yeah, Dominican believe it or not) which were essentially rolled by out of work Cuban rollers who did everything the same and just as good, except they did not use a triple cap. Because of this excellent roll, draw is nearly perfect and the burn is even and relaxed - no canoeing and no rush - A nice even patient burn. The ash is nearly white and very sturdy, also indicative of an excellent roll AND of good aging and fermenting...

Speaking of fermentation, the flavor is quite pleasant yet with a nice little push. The corona expands on a leathery foundation (typical of the Cameroon wrapper) with touches of black pepper, nutmeg and coffee and a slightly yeasty finish. Overall the cigar is surpringly vivid yet pleasant - at very worst I'd simply say Id like to smoke it as a 46 ring gauge! Initially I was given 5 crystal coronas and a small desktop humidor by my fiancee as a stocknig stuffer - a nice gift. Ironically I wasn't too crazy about smoking the cigars! I was more excited about the nice new Diamond Crown humidor... However I felt compelled to smoke the first cigar jsut because Agnes had spent so much money and really tried to pick a nice cigar to give me... As soon as I lit up I was pleasantly surprised. I immediately ordered another box of 20, and used the desktop humidor as an exclusive "Cohiba Box" and to this day, all of my Cohiba Domincan cigars happily reside.

Truly I expected nothing of this cigar, but happily I got way more than I bargained for! I'm positive that with a bit more girth one would discover more hidden flavor in this blend, however this is not to say that it was montone or boring - it could just use a slight kick of complexity -- I guess the flavors compliment each other so well, it is like a cigar milkshake - ir better still a glass of V8. V8 tastes great - lots of vegetables, however when you drink it, it kind of goes down in one shot with all flavors at one time. If you were to take all the vegetable ingredients that go into V8 and chop them finely, but NOT puree them, you'd get alot more complexity by simply experiencing the different flavors in different waves...

Whatever, to make a long story short, this is a gerat little cigar and deserves your time. My only suggestion is to shop around - DO NOT pay 12-15 dollars per cigar as some retailers charge- these should go for between 7-8 per stick and at this price, they're expensive, but a worthwhile treat. Happy smoking, always.