Cigar Review – El Triunfador No. 1

As you may or may not know the World Health Organization named today, May 31, World No Tobacco Day. In honor of World No Tobacco Day, I decided to smoke a stogie for review! Today I was fortunate enough to light up an El Triunfador No. 1.

I’ve only smoked one other Pete Johnson cigar—the Tatuaje Havana VI Angeles—and I loved it, so I’ve been looking forward to trying an El Triunfador for a while. Upon receiving the stick for review, I carefully checked it over—nice, oily, finely-veined wrapper, solid construction, and a perfect triple cap that didn’t unravel at all, despite my clipping it with a cheap cutter. The pre-light draw was a little firm but still allowed for tons of cocoa and earth character to come through.

This slim stogie lit almost instantly with my trusty Xikar Element and immediately coated my palate with cocoa, red pepper, and a little bit of creaminess on the finish. This lasted for an inch or so, at which point I started getting some slightly tart cherry sweetness. Meanwhile, the red pepper built a bit, though it never got past medium-bodied.

The pepper stayed level until the halfway point of the cigar, when it mellowed just enough for a buttery note to come into play. All the while, the cocoa and cherries remained present, giving this cigar a nice, smooth dessert feel. Despite the slim ring gauge, the draw was still phenomenal at this point.

As the stogie burned down to the final third, the pepper mellowed, the cocoa faded somewhat, and all that was left at this point was a pleasant bready base with some residual cherry sweetness. These two flavors lasted until I reached the end of the smoke.

Post-smoke, one of the things that stuck with me about this cigar was the construction—it was phenomenal. The ash held on for an inch and a half at a time, the draw stayed perfect throughout the entire smoke, and the cigar didn’t go out once. The burn required absolutely no correction, which was a really nice change-up from some of the fatter stogies I’ve smoked lately.

One other thing I noticed about this cigar, however, is that it burned somewhat quickly—some might love this and some might not, though I personally didn’t mind. Also, I found the variety of flavors really nice. I’d call the El Triunfador No. 1 a perfect A.D.D. cigar—it transformed constantly and the flavors never, ever got boring. If and when you smoke some of these, try to give them your undivided attention—this is anything but a background smoke.


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