90 Rated on Cigar Live - EO 601 Connecticut Black Label Robusto

[tekeeladude]

EO 601 Connecticut Black Label Robusto




Cigar Live Rating: 90

Click on the Reviewer's name to see full review.
Russ: 90
Bill: 92
John: 89
Chris: 87


Click here for more information about the EO 601 Black:

New scale for Cigar Live Expert Panel:
• 95-100 - Perfection
• 90- 94 - Exceptional/Superb
• 85-89 - Excellent
• 80-84 - Impressive
• 70-79 - Mediocre to Good
• below 70 - Dog Rocket Excellent

[JohnRider]

EO 601 Connecticut Black Label Robusto
May 27, 2008

EO 601 Connecticut Black Label Robusto (5 x 50)
Wrapper: Connecticut wrapper from Ecuador
Manufactured in the Tabacalera Cubana factory in the Estelí, Nicaragua.

A surprisingly elegant, smooth and creamy cigar with just the right blend of hearty flavor and cubanesque spice.


Appearance and Construction
The band is about 1 and ¼ inches wide printed in black and embossed with gold. EO appears in white lettering, 601 in gold, and a neat green leaf design above the 601 logo.

The wrapper is a light brown and very consistent in color and clear of any sun spots or blemishes. There are one or two medium prominent veins running the length of the cigar. The wrapper in general has a buttery smooth appearance, but it does have a few knobs and bumps. The triple cap is well formed. There are usually a couple of noticeable soft spots in each cigar, but in general the cigar seems to be well formed and well-rolled. The cut head of the cigar reveals two or three medium-sized stems – none of which effected pre-light draw negatively.

The cigar remained well-packed throughout the burn and had virtually no tears, splits, or wrapper problems of any kind across all five cigars sampled.

Nose
The wrapper aroma is mild with just a little hint of sweetness. The pre-light draw is perfect. The flavor from this pre-light draw is mild, slightly sweet with a definite medium-dark molasses flavor.

Burn and Aroma
The cigar begins with a massive plume of smoke and fervent wood tones married to a sometimes robust measure of cubanesque spice that tickles your nose when you retro hale – very much in the tradition of what we have all come to expect from Don Pepin Garcia.

This is an easy-drawing cigar that effortlessly produces huge billows of smoke. It has to be in the top ten smokiest cigars I have ever experienced. A+.

The burn tends to be jagged and meandering with this cigar. Although it has never gone completely wild, it staggers around a bit. The mascara line varied from stick to stick. Sometimes it was thin and even, other sticks had a broad and uneven line. This cigar tolerates being set down for a minute or so, but it will go out on you if you ignore it very long. The cigar produces little or no smoke while resting. The light gray ash was more often than not leaning towards the flaky end of the spectrum without much holding power. As such it would probably routinely fail the car test.

The cigar seems to burn cool and at a moderate pace. I was able to get about 75 minutes out of it at my usual pace. Across all five samples, there were some occasional relights and touchups. Overall, I was quite satisfied with the burn. Combustion was definitely not sluggish!

Flavor and Strength
The flavor emphasizes cedar and oak wood tones with a bit of underlying hay and a certain earthy essence to it. The smoke is creamy and rich. This cigar is a pleasure to retro hale.

Don’t let that Connecticut wrapper fool you, this is not a lightweight flavor cigar by any means. This cigar is soundly in the medium category, and might even give the impression of being stronger to folks not used to this type of spiciness. I found the spicy character to be very enjoyable and not overpowering – but then again, I like a spicy and lively cigar on occasion. I did not notice any nicotine effects, but I tend to set my cigar down between puffs.

The flavor is delicious, savory, well-balanced, and pleasant - not harsh or biting – but at the same time I would not call it necessarily deep or mellow either. Lively is a word that keeps coming to mind.

Finish
I found the cigar to be a medium body with a lengthy spicy finish – with a cool almost menthol-like aftertaste. I found the cigar to be quite enjoyable all by itself. It did not “dry me out” or necessarily drive me to wash it down with a beverage. The smoke in the room was light, woody and aromatic.

Recommendations
Despite its lively spiciness, it has a soothing, relaxing and satisfying sense to it. Its easy draw and billows of smoke keep you merrily puffing away and watching the smoke waft about. I found the flavor to remain steady and pleasing all the way down to the last inch – building to a slight climax during that last inch of smokeable cigar. I nubbed each and every one of these cigars. I found myself definitely wanting to buy a few to keep on hand. It fills a niche for those times when you’re in the mood is for a solid medium-body, lively and spicy smoke. This is an excellent and very approachable introduction into the cubanesque style cigar without blowing you away with spice. Overall, I feel this is the best EO brand cigar I have sampled.

Pairing Recommendations
This was clearly a scotch cigar. I initially paired this cigar with Glenlivet 12 year-old single malt scotch and The Macallan 12. Both these pairings had the nice effect of emphasizing the spiciness of the cigar without covering up the more delicate subtlety of the cigar. Chivas Regal – a blended and less expensive scotch was also a good match.

The cigar also seemed to get along fine with Crown Royal – a very mild (and in my opinion a sometimes a bit bland) Canadian whisky.

Bourbon just seemed to be a little too sweet and strong and didn’t seem to benefit from the cigar. In particular, it clashed in a very negative way with a specific flavor characteristic in the Elijah Craig bourbon.

The pairing with white sipping rum was definitely better than bourbon, but my recommendation would be a mild highland style single malt scotch such as The Macallan 12 or the The Glenlivet 12.


John’s Ratings Summary

Characteristic Rating
Appearance and Construction 90
Nose 89
Burn/Aroma 88
Flavor/Strength 89
Finish 89
Overall 89


New scale for Cigar Live Expert Panel:
• 95-100 - Perfection
• 90- 94 - Exceptional/Superb
• 85-89 - Excellent
• 80-84 - Impressive
• 70-79 - Mediocre to Good
• below 70 - Dog Rocket Excellent

[tekeeladude]

Appearance and Construction
As with many Connecticut wrapped cigars, the wrapper on this one is really smooth with mostly small with a couple of medium sized veins and a slight oily sheen. It a little more caramel colored than what I normally consider a Connecticut wrapper to be. The cigar is wrapped really well and the cap is very smooth and neatly attached. A few of the cigars sampled seem somewhat soft and spongy, but only one of the cigars presented any problems – having a very loose draw. Otherwise, the other cigars seems to have a loose pre-light draw, but after lighting, this quickly corrected itself and the draw seemed nearly perfect. There is some bumpiness telescoping through the wrapper from below The cap cut very cleanly with my Palio cutter. Another positive note about this cigar – the band was attached with just the right amount of glue and was removed easily with no wrapper tears or glue left behind.

Nose
When you smell the foot of the cigar, you are presented with a nice sweet tobacco and sweet hay aroma. There was also a slight bit of barnyard present. The pre-light draw really got my attention with a heavy dose of black-pepper spice and sweetness. The spice from these first couple of pre-light puffs left my tongue and lips tingling. Since this is my first experience with the 601 Black, I’m beginning to wonder what I’ve gotten myself into. Definitely not your average, mild Connecticut cigar!

Burn and Aroma
The burn on this cigar is pretty impressive. The burn line is really defined with razor thin burn line. The burn is not always straight and occasionally wanders a little bit, but not once did I have to correct it with a relight – it would always take care of itself. I could easily set this cigar down for a couple of minutes without it going out. When puffing on this cigar, there is large amount of smoke produced, however, in between puffs, there is just a small trail of smoke produced. As mentioned above, the draw of most of the cigars was nearly perfect and this really seemed to contribute to the nice burn of this cigar.

Flavor and Strength
The flavors of this cigar starts out with a bang with all the spice. In addition to the spice there are notes of oak and leather. I will have to say retro-haling at this point can, and will play havoc on your nasal cavity! On average, within an inch or so, the spice fades leaving notes of oak, roasted nuts and a bit of leather. At this point, I pick up notes of dark roasted coffee on the retro-hale. I thoroughly enjoyed the flavors of this cigar and really enjoyed the flavor change. I would consider this a medium to medium-full cigar. Really puts Connecticut wrapped cigars in a whole new light for me.

Finish
I was left with a really clean finish with notes of nuts and wood.

Additional Comments
Overall, this was a terrific cigar with a wonderful taste profile and excellent burn properties. I will definitely be picking up more of these cigars and will be adding them to my regular lineup.



Russ's Ratings:
Appearance and Construction 88
Nose 91
Burn/Aroma 89
Flavor/Strength 91
Finish 90

Overall 90 (edited from 89.8)

[mrgatorman]

EO 601 Connecticut Black Label Robusto

Cigar Specifications

Created by José "Pepin" Garcia and manufactured at the Tabacalera Cubana factory in Estelí, Nicaragua, the brand was introduced in August of 2006. A medium to full-bodied smoke, the filler and binder are Nicaraguan tobacco and the wrapper is Ecuadoran-grown Connecticut-seed tobacco. The band has gold printing on a black background.

Appearance and Construction

This is a relatively nice looking smoke. It has a nice medium brown wrapper with just a little rustic look to it. The wrapper is perfect and was pretty consistent throughout the 5 cigars I smoked. There seemed to be veins that the wrapper covered but the wrapper itself is in excellent condition. All 5 cigars had a very soft feel to it. Very spongy but even with the sponginess to the smoke, the wrapper stayed perfect. It even had a triple cap placed atop the stick perfectly. There were no spots or tears on any of the 5 I had. There was no sheen, but it still was a very attractive stick nonetheless. The pre-light draw was very easy with no real resistance. I was looking forward to smoking these.

Nose

There was a definite scent of barnyard and tea bags. Instantly horses popped in my head as I smelled this baby. But I also got a hint of cocoa, tea and a very subtle sweet smell. The foot of the cigar was less aromatic but offered similar smells just less noticeable scents. The pre-light draws offered lots of cocoa, tea bags, sweetness and hints of barnyard and hay. The tea bag flavor on the pre-light draw was prevalent and interesting. The wrapper had a nice tang to it with an indication that this was going to stay with you for some time. Though the draw didn’t coat my tongue, it left a flavor in my mouth that was enjoyable. This had my expectations higher than originally thought.

Burn and Aroma

All 5 of these cigars burned perfectly. I smoked three in my car and two on my back porch. All 5 had excellent burns with even mascara lines and no tunneling. The cigars had a great aroma. The barnyard really took over but the tea bag flavors really tousled with it. I was very impressed with these sticks and found that the smoke was both smooth and enjoyable. The wrapper continued to impress with the flavors and aromas it was contributing. Where I normally hold my cigar in between puffs, I actually held it in my lips some. I really enjoyed the flavors I was getting from this wrapper. The cigar didn’t give off a ton of smoke but never went out. I didn’t have to relight it even once. Although I smoked three in my car, the ash continued to flake off in my lap. I had to continue to knock off the ash as I smoked this. I did, however enjoy the amount of smoke it produced. Not too much and not too little.

Flavor and Strength

Flavors pulled from the first third was barnyard, tea, sweetness, nuts, cocoa. The first third of the cigar offered some initial separation of flavors but they were defined. Initially I picked up some nuts, tea, and barnyard, but there was a definite cocoa hint to the stick. Very pleasant combination. The Barnyard stood out the most but the tea bags really played in the mix. The initial strength was medium light medium. But all the flavors blended very well as the burn progressed through the cigar toward the middle. As the burn made it to the middle of the cigar, the strength was a solid medium to a heavy medium. I started to feel it in the back of my throat. As it progressed to the nub, the smoke was very smooth and the strength was a decent medium strength. Although you could still pick up the original flavors, they were much more subtle then the beginning half of the cigar. The smoke was nice and creamy and continued to be at a good volume. Again not too much and not too little. The final third of the cigar burned a little hotter then prior, but it may have been because of my frequency of hits…The cigar stayed medium strength and was a decent smoke all the way through.

Finish

The finish was very pleasant. It left me with flavors of Tea and barnyard afterwards. The flavors stayed with me for a time after, but it wasn’t unpleasant. I was impressed with this guy.

Final Notes

Finally, I admit that I had lower expectations on this prior to these reviews. These were very well constructed decent smokes and continued to be consistent. The flavors were pretty consistent as was the construction. It took approximately 60 minutes for me to smoke these on average. I had not had these before but I will have them again. I think these are prices properly. Although there are not the type of stick you have multiple times a day, one a day is not too bad. Great sticks.

Bill's Ratings:
Appearance and Construction 92
Nose 93
Burn/Aroma 92
Flavor/Strength 93
Finish 91

Overall Rating: 92

[Ceedee]

EO 601 Connecticut Black Label Robusto (5 x 50)
Wrapper: Ecuadorian CT Shade Wrapper

Appearance & Construction

The wrapper of the 601 Black Label, was a darker shade of CT Shade than I have seen before, even for an Ecuadorian CT leaf, as compared to an American CT shade leaf - the color being more of a Coffee color than creamy tan. I immediately noticed the triple-cap construction and each cigar sampled was well capped. The wrapper looked very skin-like, with only very small veining. There were no chips or splits in any part of the wrapper. In feeling the cigar, there was a nice "give" to the cigar, but no soft spots that I could tell on my samples. The wrapper was velvety-smooth to the touch and upon clipping the cap, the cigars cut cleanly and smoothly (thanks to my sharp Palio). The draw of the cigars were a solid "nice". One cigar was a bit "open" draw-wise, but the other 4 were on the mark.

I kept the cigars sampled at a temp range of 67-69º F and at a 64-66% RH level before I smoked them.

Nose

The nose of the cigar beheld an immediate hay sniff that had a bit of pepper in it. The first cigar I sniffed, made me sneeze - like I snorted some pepper, ha! More barnyard hints were readily apparent and this made me think of what many Habanos initially sniff like. I enjoyed "taking this cigar in" for a while each time I smoked it!


Burn & Aroma

Upon lighting the cigar each time there was an immediate burst of pepper and more of the hay I sensed when smelling the foot during pre-light. The aroma was what I would characterize as "classic" and "old world". This cigar really came in along the lines of a generic "Habano", whatever that means... I enjoyed the aroma and the crisp and clean burn line. All of the cigars sampled were almost razor-sharp and never tunneled or canoed. The ash stayed consistently for about 3/4 of an inch before it would fall. A nice even "cherry" kept the cigars burning well. The smoke was White (vs. Gray) and the ash was a medium Gray and not granular - confirming the superb construction.


Flavor & Strength

This cigar is spicy. That is the predominant flavor characteristic. I must say that in general, I am not a huge fan of "spice" without flavor. In the case of the 601 Black Label, the spice mellows after about an inch or so, but still remains throughout. For my tastes, I would say there was a bit too much spice, but flavors of leather and dry wood tended to offer a bit more complexity. There is no doubt that this cigar is meant for those lovers of the spice vs. those people looking for a mellow CT shade cigar. There really was not any harshness during the first 3/4 of the cigars, but I did have to put them down a bit early than I would have thought. I didn't "nub" any of them as I felt that the spice was turning more harsh with about 1.5" to 2" left. The flavor just really didn't hold my attention. Though not one-dimensional, I expected more leather and more hints of sweetness or something else to "grab" me. The strength I would put in on the high-side of MEDIUM. Not quite FULL, but not underpowered either.


Finish

The finish was dry and "tangy", but relatively short, which for a spicy cigar is a good thing. Lots of cedar and hay, which was not bad, but I guess I expected more complexity.

Final Notes

Overall, though I enjoyed this cigar and would recommend it to those looking for a different experience, this cigar was just not my thing. I was very impressed with the construction, burn and appearance of the cigar and I think that for what the cigar is billed to offer, it does not miss the mark. Again though, I was not overly excited to smoke it. I had higher expectations I guess as I am a BIG fan of some of the other 601 cigars (namely the Red Label). For someone looking for an after dinner smoke that will go with a nice Bourbon or Whiskey, this cigar will please you. However, don't pick this baby up and think that because it's got a Connecticut Shade wrapper that it's gonna be mellow. Far from it - this cigar is a little Pepperoncini! Thanks for reading along with me

Here's how I scored it:

Size - Robusto
No. of cigars reviewed - 5

Appearance Construction - 89
Nose - 88
Burn & Aroma - 90
Flavor & Strength - 85
Finish - 85
Overall Rating - 87

Cigar Live Rating Scale
1. 95-100 - Perfection
2. 90- 94 - Exceptional/Superb
3. 85-89 - Excellent
4. 80-84 - Impressive
5. 70-79 - Mediocre to Good
6. below 70 - Dog Rocket