Cohiba Club, Rupert Mackintosh takes a look at this diminutive cigar.
Cigars need not be confined to ‘event’ occasions like birthdays, graduations and Christmas. Size and strength may well constrict the number of options you have available, but it need not limit your discerning standards of taste and construction.
Let’s paint a picture. It’s a beautiful Sunday morning, you are half way through the weekend paper, your cuppachino is going down well, and it would be lovely to get a bit of that distinctive Cuban earthy taste on the pallet.
Alternatively, you’ve just lifted a whopping great Fallow in to the back of the car, have a couple of minutes to spare before light fades completely, and would like to enjoy the panorama of the countryside before heading home.
While here are indeed a number of credible options for ‘mini smokes’ from a number of brands, there is also the consideration of cost. If you happen to sit on your stick (which does happen), not only have you lost the once chance of a puff when in the field but also have crushed a good £10 or so of smoke. Not a very dignified way for a cigar that began its journey half way around the world as a bundle of leaves lazing on a hillside in Cuba!
Introducing the Cohiba Club cigars, made with 100% Cuban cigar tobacco, just like their bigger brothers. These are machine made cigars, mind you, which in this case works well. They are relatively cheap and disposable (so any accidents need not result in losing the whole box, or, even if you crush the whole box, you won’t weep at the loss).
Club is one of the smaller sizes of cigars – ‘mini’ also exists, along with a few brand variations. Generally speaking, these are bigger than a cigarette (mini size) and smaller than a Hamlet (pureto size), so think of them as a chunky cigarette. This is actually a nice surprise when you hold them, as they do feel like a supercharged ciggie.
Construction is actually better in real life than some of the photographs would suggest. Sure, there are lips and cracks to the outer wrapper, but because they are so modular and small, you would struggle to really damage these. To be clear, I have never had a problem with one coming apart or the wrapper peeling off (wish I could say the same for larger cigars though).
