Aladino Connecticut 6 x 50

Source: Halfwheel

If you were trying to find a hole in the JRE Tobacco Co. portfolio it would be a Connecticut cigar.

Yes, the company does have the Tatascan Connecticut, but that has a sweet tip, which for better or worse disqualifies it from many cigar smokers’ repertoires. Earlier this year, JRE announced the Aladino Connecticut, which aims to fill that gap.

It uses an Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper over a Honduran binder and Honduran fillers from the Julio Eiroa’s farms. The cigar launched in four sizes with some retailers getting a small quantity of the new cigars in April before a formal debut at the 2019 IPCPR Convention & Trade Show about a month ago.

• Aladino Connecticut 5 1/4 x 46 — $6.80 (Boxes of 20, $136)
• Aladino Connecticut 5 x 50 — $7.80 (Boxes of 20, $156)
• Aladino Connecticut 6 x 50 — $8.80 (Boxes of 20, $176)
• Aladino Connecticut 7 x 52 — $9.80 (Boxes of 20, $196)

• Cigar Reviewed: Aladino Connecticut 6 x 50
• Country of Origin: Honduras
• Factory: Las Lomas Factory
• Wrapper: Ecuador (Connecticut)
• Binder: Honduras
• Filler: Honduras
• Length: 6 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 50
• Vitola: Toro
• MSRP: $8.80 (Boxes of 20, $176)
• Release Date: April 22, 2019
• Number of Cigars Released: Regular Production
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

The Aladino Connecticut’s color is towards the lighter end of the spectrum, not as yellow as some other Connecticut-wrapped cigars, but it’s pretty and very uniform. Aroma off the wrapper reminds me of a Cuban: medium-plus with some creaminess that mimics the smell of a vanilla milkshake and faint hints of pepper. The foot smells like a box of graham crackers along with lots of vanilla, Spanish cedar and some floral flavors. Vanilla once again plays a role in the cold draw, now joined by creaminess, some bread crackers and a familiar underlying floral flavor, collectively around medium-plus.

It begins with oatmeal cookies, toastiness, creaminess and a soggy white bread. All the flavors are pretty even in intensity, which makes it a bit more challenging to pick out the individual components. The Aladino Connecticut develops a core of creaminess with green apple and a bit of white pepper on the tongue. Retrohales have flavors that remind me of prepackaged udon noodles and earthiness. If there’s one thing worth complaining about, it’s the finish, as it’s just not very pleasant. There’s some earthiness, rough mineral flavors and occasionally some lemon—but it’s just a bit rough. Flavor is full, body is medium-full and strength is medium-plus.

While the creaminess gets a bit more intense thanks to an intertwined vanilla, it’s overtaken as the main flavor by pistachios. In addition, there’s toastiness, earthiness and white pepper. Retrohales provide a bit more earthiness along with some stone-ground mustard. Fortunately, the finish smooths out quite a bit with the vanilla and creaminess helping to balance out the earthiness. Flavor is full, body is medium-full and strength is medium-plus. Like the first third, construction is impeccable on each sample.

A generic bread flavor and saltiness take over as the main flavors in the final third of the Aladino Connecticut. Predictably, creaminess is still part of the cigar, joined by saltiness and leather as secondary flavors. Retrohales have a familiar mustard flavor along with orange peel, floral flavors and white bread. The finish has quite a bit of saltiness along with white pepper and earthiness. Flavor finishes full, body is medium-full and strength is medium-plus—i.e., all three remain where they were in the second third.

Final Notes

• There are a dozen sizes for the regular Aladino line. I’m curious to see how many of them make it over to the Aladino Connecticut.
• I’m a fan of the soft preview before the trade show, it’s something that JRE has done for the last few years.
• This cigar feels a bit larger than 50 ring gauge. I didn’t get around to measuring it, but I would say at least 52 ring gauge.
• As has been the case with just about every JRE Tobacco Co. product I’ve ever smoked, the construction was impeccable throughout each sample. I’ve probably smoked 50 or so JRE cigars over the years and I can’t recall one having anything other than superb construction.
• JRE Tobacco Co. advertises on halfwheel.
• Cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel. After we purchased those cigars, JRE Tobacco Co. sent some cigars, though those were not used for the review.
• Site sponsors Atlantic Cigar Co., Cigar Hustler and Corona Cigar Co. carry the Aladino Connecticut.