Here we go again folks! I’m doing a terrible job of staying on budget. I normally don’t smoke so many double digit priced stogies. I honestly don’t know what has gotten in to me. I’m definitely enjoying myself and I will enjoy it while it lasts. As soon as that credit card bill comes in and my wife takes a peek…I’m in deep trouble.

This time around I bring you the Cohiba Extra Vigoroso. As the label on the cellophane wrapper quickly pointed out, this Cohiba is from the Dominican Republic and is in no way affiliated with a Cuban seed cigar of similar name. This is the XV660 and weighs in at a nice 6 x 60 and features a sun grown Sumatra wrapper from Ecuador with a Connecticut binder and a very robust blend of Nicaraguan Ligero and Piloto Cubano filler. Similar to the Cohiba Black, the Extra Vigoroso line was created to give a different, more robust experience than the Red Dot. Like I said earlier, double digit price tag of $12.60 for the XV660.

These XV660’s have been aging in my humidor for about six weeks. My sloppy images don’t do this stogie justice. The dark shade of the Sumatra wrapper is irresistible. While I love the 6 x 60 size, its a bit top heavy since this is a trumpet shaped stogie. The irresistible wrapper of the XV660 is very well constructed. A few thin and minor veins can been seen and firm through out with no obvious soft spots.

Before anyone asks, no success this time around with a nice cut with this shape stogie. With a not so smooth cut and toasting of the foot underway I was expecting something a bit more spicy when placing the stogie in my mouth. With a name like Extra Vigoroso thats safe to assume right? While I definitely got a little spice upfront it wasn’t what I was expecting.

After the initial spice you’re greeted with a thick woodsy flavor. It was this point that my stogie started to put off a wonderful leather aroma and the smoke start to flow from both ends of this baby like I’ve never seen a stogie do. I gotta say, I’m pretty disappointed so far. For something labeled as Extra Vigoroso the woodsy with a slight spiciness for a flavor profile is anything but. While the wrapper of the XV660 stayed in perfect tact and I enjoyed the very slow almost snail like burn rate, the filler was very flaky and for me who mostly smokes with no shirt on, was a bit unpleasant when the ash fell on me.

Thats it…what else can I say? You win some and you lose some. This stogie is a loss in my opinion. Cohiba DR missed the boat. A deceiving flavor profile outweighs the solid construction, slow burn and visual appeal. For $12.60 I find it hard to justify this stogie as just eye candy in the humidor.