Cigar Review: PIO VI Overture No. 52

Cue 1950s TV announcer: This review is brought to you courtesy of Tex Cigars. And cut! I have to say that sometimes it’s hard having a cigar blog.  I mean sponsors are tough.  They keep sending cigars and I have to keep reviewing them.  I know, I know… stop my pitty party, right?  Well, I have to thank Tex Cigars for sticking with me and providing sticks to smoke and share my thoughts with you.

Now, onto this PIO cigar.  I’ve received a few emails from the owner of PIO cigars, but I can’t ever seem to get in touch with him as my replies get bounced saying it’s a bad e-mail address, but I’ve been interested in seeing what PIO has going on.  Now, I can bring to you just a little insight to their cigars.  This is a boutique cigar made in Miami, FL and is named for Pope Pious VI.  It was introduced in 1996 and is part of their Overture Series 1996 line.  According to their website this is a very limited quantity and there are only 100 stores that are sold this cigar.  The wrapper and binder are Ecuadorian, and the filler is criollo from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.  That’s enough info and history, let’s get to smoking!!

Appearance: The sample I received was unbanded, but the PIO website shows it with a band.  It’s a 6×52 toro in size.  There’s no tooth to this cigar and few veins.  It has a triple cap that was well done on this parejo.The wrapper is mottled.  I say that sometimes about wrappers, and I’m not sure if you know what I mean, so I’ll give some photographic evidence of what I’m saying. See the light brown and dark brown areas?  It’s not an even coloring.  Forgive the bad cellphone pic, but you should get what I mean.

Taste: This thing started a little sweet and a lotta spicy.  The spice settled into some woodiness, but the sweetness stayed.  This cigar has a long finish and you’ll taste it even when you’re not smoking it.  There was a bit of tannin as you got toward the middle, but nothing to be concerned about.  This settled into a medium body pretty quickly and was very pleasant. It’s not complex, but it is pleasing.

Aroma: Nothing too special to this cigar’s aroma before being lit.  Just a light scent of tobacco.  The smoke held some sweetness, but again, nothing too special about it either.

Construction: At first feel, this is pretty solid stick.  Feeling for inconsistencies, I didn’t find any.  It had the proper amount of give to it for a properly humidified cigar but without being spongy.  This cigar irritated me a little with its very loose ash.  I couldn’t let it grow in the slightest lest I wear it.  The burn didn’t satisfy as well.  It got quite erratic at times and had to be fixed.  The wrapper even split pretty badly towards the end.

Overall Impression: I’m torn over this cigar.  I loved the flavor combination, but the construction just didn’t hit it for me.  At just over $6 a stick, I can’t say that I’d be happy about its performance.  I think PIO needs to work on their construction if they’re going to be a big competitor.  But again, it tasted very good.  I’m going to have to split this down the middle, and give it an average rating, because the taste is higher than average and the construction lower.

Cigar Rating:

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