Casa Royale Robusto (Crown)

Tonight I decided to reward myself after working a 9 day work week. A couple days ago I picked up some of the new Casa Royale smokes. These are made by Jose "Pepin" Garcia exclusively for Holt's. Being the Pepin whore that I am, what a perfect time to spark one of these up. This particular one is the "Crown" which is the robusto size (5x50).

When I first removed the cello and took a whiff I immediately smelled a sweet, almost chocolate aroma. It reminded me a lot of the San Cristobal, also a Pepin creation, which I love very much. The construction is flawless in usual Pepin style. The Esteli sungrown wrapper had some tooth... was medium brown color and not too veiny. Nice and oily. Believe it or not the Holt's description compares the wrapper to that of the Tatuaje Black label cigars. Of course like everything else Pepin makes these have the cuban style triple cap. Also worth noting is that these cigars have a very colorful band much like the San Cristobals. This is truly a beautiful cigar to look at and smell!

After clipping, the pre-light draw was easy... and also had notes of chocolate sweetness. Not overbearing by any means but just enough to get your saliva flowing

It torched real easy. The draw was perfect, lots of smoke but not harsh. The first few draws went from sweet to spicy and earthy. So far... this smoke reminds me a lot of the San Cristobal. The ash was a light gray to white and the burn the whole way down the stick was even.

About the midway point the flavor was much less spicy and more earth... cedar... very mellow. Holt's claims a hint of lemon and vanilla but I'm afraid my novice palette wasn't able to pick up on any of this. I smoked it down just past the band and the last part of it tasted still earthy and woody. The sweetness and spice was totally gone. It was a nice smoke and I enjoyed how I was able to get different flavors from different parts of the cigar.

Overall I think this was a good smoke. I think I was expecting a bit more "wow" but I did really enjoy this one. I think revisiting it a few months down the road after some resting time will really bring out more flavors and I look forward to it! Maybe since this is a newer smoke it will just take some time for it to reach its potential.

I do recommend picking some up. The price point is great too, you can get a fiver for $27.

Unfortunately I deleted some of the pics I took by accident, so these are what's left. I was smoking in my office which isn't the best place for good pics anyway.

Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Strength: Medium to Full
Wrapper: Esteli Sungrown
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan

Great review! Been looking for these at my local.

How did it compare to the other stuff that Pepin makes?

They are exclusive to Holt's so you won't be seeing these at your local store. Overall, I found them a bit milder then a lot of Pepin blends but not a bad stick for the money.

Tapewormboy said:

Great review! Been looking for these at my local.

How did it compare to the other stuff that Pepin makes?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the review. I've been eyeing these as well.

Hint of Lemon? Interesting.

Thanks for the review. I've been planning to buy some of these the next time I order from Holts (probably a box of Old Henry or Holts Connoisseur; I'm not yet sure which).

Edit: spelling

Yeah, these looked interesting to me as well. I love San Cristobal's but I am not a fan of Tat/Pepin usually. May eventually have to pick up a fiver.

Tapewormboy said:

Great review! Been looking for these at my local.

How did it compare to the other stuff that Pepin makes?

Click to expand...

I would say I enjoy the black label cuban classic much more than these, and the tatuaje red/brown I enjoy even more than the cuban classics. They don't pack as much flavor as the CC or the Tats. I think they're on par with the San Cristobals he makes for Ashton but if I had to rate one higher I'd go with the San Cristobal.

With that said I definitely did enjoy this cigar though and they're new so maybe all that's needed is some time to rest. I was searching old posts on this site a while ago and was surprised to see people posting about how the Tatuaje Havana VI's were bland.. not much flavor... etc. Then about 9 months down the road the same people posted about how much some resting time really brought out the flavors. Now they're considered I think by a lot of people here to be very good, complex, tasty smokes. (regardless of anyone's personal opinions of their creator....... and all that)

So I'm looking forward to resting these until after the summer or longer and see how they taste then.

These are definitely on my list along with the San Cristobal for my next Holt's order. I really love the Pepin stuff. With the exception of a few of the Tatuaje vitolas I get so much flavor with very little nicotine hit. They seem to hit just the right spot for my tastes.

Nice review.