The connoisseur’s choice, the Partagas Legend Toro Leyenda cigar, is a testament to an already impressive heritage. Created for those who enjoy a more robust smoke, the Leyenda lives up to its name in appearance and taste. It features a hand-selected wrapper of Connecticut Broadleaf with a shade of Colorado Maduro darkening toward the foot and a distinct blend of Nicaraguan tobacco and Dominican Piloto Cubano fillers. Aromatically rich and full-flavored, this distinctly complex cigar honors 150 years of expert craftsmanship.
Appearance of Partagas Legend Toro Leyenda
This Toro cigar’s large 6.25″ x 54 size provides an exceptional, long-lasting smoke. It is very dark, and it’s pretty to look at with its contrast of the all-white brand with those small lettering. Its edges are very sharp, and you can really feel them as they are nicely sharp box-pressed. A very dark chocolate mottled wrapper that is not overly oily and not heavy at all. It has minimal veins and tight invisible seams with a very large double cap and a rich cocoa pepper smell to it.
Smoking Experience
The aroma was very pleasant, and it caught the humidor scent but all right, let’s go ahead and get it cut up and start toasting. This Partagas cigar isn’t too sharply box-pressed at the cap, and I suggest that you cut it normally. If it was any sharper, I would do a punch. No problem after the cut, and I’m getting a perfect draw.
Superslick oily smooth cocoa, and it’s got dampness along with it. It has a very musty-aged tobacco taste, and I didn’t expect that from a medium to full-bodied cigar. It has the smoothness of the very best out there and has that slick texture to it. This cigar is not that heavy. If it were made from the younger tobacco, it would have that typical Nicaraguan punch for sure, but this is kind of mixing the Nicaraguan flavors with Dominican smoothness. It’s getting interesting with a great start in the first third. I’ll let it heat up and see how it develops as the draw is a little loose. Normally that’s not a bad thing, but when the ring gauge starts to creep up like this one, it affects things like how hot it gets. When you do a normal slow draw, it doesn’t heat up enough to give full smoke, so you’ll do a short double puff, and it’s fixed. The flavors are showing up; it’s very smooth, creamy-textured, and with a little bit of a cream flavor coming in. It’s mixing with the cocoa, and I’m not going to call it sweet since it’s not like milk chocolate. It’s very neutral, and it has that little bit of a texture coming on like pepper but absolutely no spice and no bite, but it gives a tingle. It has lovely white ash, and the burn isn’t razor-sharp, but it’s not needing any attention, so we’ll continue to see what happens in the second third.
In the second third, the performance is very well, and the draw is still loose. The good thing is that the smoke output is getting a little bit better even without the double puff, so that’s good. Often, that happens as it burns down since you’ve got less air to try and draw through. The flavors I’m getting are the same as the cocoa, and it’s still absolutely dominant. Also, a very light earth is coming in, which is not that deep, and it’s not going down into my throat. There’s a tiny touch of leather which is now nice, along with that dark black pepper flavor. I’m getting some slight sweet flavors, but the cocoa and light earth it’s on the sweeter side as opposed to a dark pepper or deep earth. It’s a pretty middle-of-the-road as far as that goes, with a bit of sweetness and no bitterness. It’s exceptionally smooth, and it’s still keeping a nice texture to it. So far, it’s good, and I’ll let it finish out and see what kind of changes we get in the last third.
Last third, the flavors are still good, as I’m getting the dark chocolate and that coffee flavor. Light leather is coming along with that orange peel cedar type of flavor. As I’m nearing the end, I’m tasting a tiny amount of caramel and the dark chocolate note, but again, pepper is the best thing about this cigar.
Overall Review
The Partagas Legend Toro Leyenda is a triumph of size and quality, made with nothing but choice tobacco, aged to perfection. With its deep and earthy flavors, this smooth medium to full-bodied cigar is perfect with its dark pepper flavor. As pepper taste dominates, it is complemented with some light, creamy softness added by its leaf. After an excellent slow-release, an even burn and light draw contributes to the great smoking experience.
