Cigar Review: G.A.R Rico Grande
Alright, so I know I’m a little behind the times as this is my first experience with the G.A.R. line-up. And for what I paid for these puppies, my first thought is that they better be worth it. There’s not much information out about these cigars yet, though according to the G.A.R. website “there’s more to come.” The G.A.R. is the brainchild of George A. Rico, hence the name of the cigar. It’s his initials… get it? An Ecuadorian corojo wrapper surrounds the Ecuadorian Connecticut binder and Nicaraguan filler. At 6×54, this isn’t a small torpedo: it’s stout. Let’s get to it.
Appearance: I’m not a fan of the cheap-looking band, but then a band doesn’t make the cigar does it? Though it does help with the overall experience. It’s kinda cool that it’s at the foot of the cigar, and it is easy to get off, so there’s that. I was impressed with the wrap though. It’s a nice tight wrap; seamless almost. The wrapper has no tooth and minimal veins. The cap on this torpedo was perfect.
Taste: It took a little bit to get this thing lit because of the amount of tobacco in this stick (see Construction), but once it was going it started out with a mild woody floral flavor with the tiniest hint of spice. This is supposed to be a full-bodied cigar, but it never really got there. It maintained some sweet floral notes and the woodiness, but the two I smoked just were off. Toward the end, the strength jumped to a medium body and some leather kicked in, but I could tell these weren’t reaching their full potential.
Aroma: This thing had almost a musty wood smell to it before I lit it. It wasn’t an extremely strong smell, but the mustiness was noticeable. As for the smoke, try and smell it if you dare. I was affronted with the strength when I wafted too much smoke towards my nose and ended up with watery eyes for my efforts. When I recovered and was able to gently direct some smoke my way, I found that it actually had a sweet scent to it; quite pleasant. Just don’t take too much at once.
Construction: Okay, this thing is a brick shithouse. Seriously. The draw was tight also which came as no surprise when I hefted this thing out of the humidor. It’s the heaviest cigar I’ve ever seen for its size. They definitely want to give you your money’s worth when it comes to the amount of tobacco they use, but it’s detrimental to the overall smoke. A cigar that has too much tobacco or is too tightly rolled, and in this case, both, just doesn’t smoke well.
Overall Impression: I smoke two sticks of a cigar for each review just to make sure I didn’t get a bad one. Well, in this case, I must have gotten two bad ones. Both were the same: too tight, too much tobacco, and not a good smoke. I feel that there’s some goodness below, though, because of the sweet floral flavors it exhibited. I just think there may be some inconsistencies in the rolling and quality processes at the factory. I won’t completely close the door on the G.A.R. just yet, but they do need to work on their quality. At $9 a stick for these, you should get quality when you pay for it.
Cigar Rating: 
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Thanks for the review Ricky. I also like cigars that have the bands on the end. I enjoy keeping the bands from the cigars that I smoke for a future undecided project with them.
Thanks Ryan, it’s a rough job having to smoke cigars for y’all to read about.
I keep thinking I should save my bands for some future project, but I know I’m lazy enough to never really come up with a project. What do you think you’ll do with yours?
Nice and accurate as always Ricky.. thats how I felt about this cigar too.. This and the short lived “LIVE” Cigar that George Rico made for Cigar Live (before it became puff.com) are both just very subpar.
Scott
I enjoyed the Robusto size more than the Torp for some reason—