Right around the time that Mike wrapped up his Augusto Reyes Series, which incuded the Nativo, Maduro, Criollo, Gran Cru, and Epicure, I received a Direct Message on Twitter. Augusto Reyes asked if I would be interested in reviewing a new product in the Augusto Reyes Urban.

I accepted the offer and received a package, containing five cigars, a few days later. The Urban is made up of a Nicaraguan Wrapper, Dominican Binder, and Filler listed as 3 Nicaraguan and 1 Dominican Seco. While I was eager to get started on the review, I wanted to hold off for a couple of days to allow the cigars to acclimate after traveling through a heat wave. After about two weeks rest in my humidor, I began smoking my samples.

Appearance and Construction

Before I could even lay my eyes on the wrapper of the Urban by Auguto Reyes, the band grabbed my attention. I stood staring at it and initially wasn’t sure what I thought of it. I mean, kind of like looking at graffiti as I wait for a slow moving freight train to finish crossing a roadway, but this band didn’t have the artistic flare of a vandal that poured his heart and soul onto the side of a railroad car.

Peeling my eyes away from the band, I began to inspect the wrapper of my cigar. Having a bit of a pet peeve for a ragged seam, I was pleased with the clean line spiraling down the length of the stick. Veins were small, but plentiful, and did not add a lumpy texture. When pinched, the cigar felt firmly packed with tobacco and did not show signs of under-filled spots.

After clipping the neatly applied cap, I found the pre light draw to be free. Personally, I love a loose draw but could see others wanting to use a punch in an effort to restrict airflow. The flavor on the cold draw had a vegetable taste while the aroma on the wrapper and exposed foot reminded me of fresh mulch.

The lighting process was quick and easy. In no time at all the foot of my Urban was evenly lit and producing lots of thick smoke. In the sample smoked in the video I experienced a slight problem with small holes in the filler. The three samples smoked before the video did not have this problem and produced a dense, flavorful, smoke from start to finish.

Flavor and Body

After lighting this cigar, I took the very first puff and passed it through my sinus. The result was like being round-house kicked in the face by some sort of spice martial artist. As horrible as that sounds, I enjoyed it considerably. Every puff after contained less and less spiciness and wound up being very easy through the nose.

From start to finish the body remained firmly seated in the medium range. The finish, on the other hand, started off rather dry. I wasn’t crazy about it, but I wasn’t running for a bottle of water either (or my coffee for the cigar smoked in the video). As I reached the second third, the finish turned creamy and was pleasant.

The flavors of my Augusto Reyes Urban were mostly wood and nuts with a random spicy pop across the palate. The spiciness was contained to the palate and diminished as the cigar grew shorter. Even though the flavor profile seems one dimensional on the surface, it changed levels nicely, which kept things interesting.

Final Thoughts

Up until the band, I think the Augusto Reyes Urban is a very solid cigar. The flavors have a nice richness about them with a nice occasional spicy pop. After the band, however, I found every one of my samples to be sour. Once the sour taste entered the picture, it only got stronger as the cigar burned short.

As I mentioned in the video, I neglected to ask about the MSRP or how these cigars will be distributed. If I had to guess, I would say that in a small B&M environment, this cigar would be a good buy between $5.00 and $7.00. If this cigar is injected into the massive offerings of Cigars International, I think $4.00 would be a fair asking price.

If you happen to stumble onto an Augusto Reyes Urban in your travels, locally or online, I would suggest giving it a try. I would imagine some age would lessen the sourness during the late stages of the cigar, but there is only one way to find out, which is to smoke it.