It has been a while since I’ve sat down with the intention of reviewing a cigar. These days I spend most of my time being a father to three young girls while trying to grow a brand new business. That isn’t to say that I’m retired from Stogie Review – most of my time on the site comes in the form of running updates and managing the back-end of things.

Last week I was given the opportunity to dip my toe back into the waters of cigar reviewing. I was at the Gilbertsville Cigar Factory – hanging out and working on my laptop, when Chris sat a handful of cigars next to me. He told me that they were Cornelius and Anothy Cigars and he has been hearing good things from other shops. The problem was he just couldn’t get into them and he wanted my opinion.

I thanked Chris for the cigars and made a point to start smoking them so that I could get back to him with my thoughts. The cigar I chose to smoke first was the Cornelius, which is made in the El Titan de Bronze Factory in Miami.

My first experience with cigars from El Titan De Bronze was back when Willy Hererra was Master Blender for the factory. The cigars back then were excellent and I recommended them to a lot of people as “A great cigar from a factory you probably haven’t heard of!”

Since Willy has moved on to Drew Estate, I can’t say that I’ve had anything from El Titan De Bronze since. I was excited to smoke the Cornelius and see if it brought back memories of that fantastic El Titan De Bronze Redemption from years past.

From Cornelius & Anthony:

CORNELIUS

Country of Origin: USA
Factory: El Titan De Bronze
Wrapper: Ecuador
Binder: Ecuador
Filler: Nicaragua and Dominican Republic

The Cornelius is our premiere release and is a tribute to Cornelius Bailey, Steven Bailey’s great-great-grandfather. Cornelius was the first of 5 generations of the Bailey family to run the family’s tobacco company. Each box displays an illustration of Cornelius Bailey on the lid.

Produced at the El Titan de Bronze factory in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami, Cornelius is made under the supervision of owner Sandra Cobas. Cornelius is available in 3 sizes and presented in boxes of 20.

Cornelius is completely hand rolled, Cuban style, with a triple cap. Each roller’s name is stamped proudly on the bottom of every box they roll. The Cornelius blend has a layered complexity with notes of both sweetness and spice. This medium-bodied cigar has a refined balance that culminates with a buttery smooth finish. This masterfully crafted cigar is nothing short of magnificent, and the ideal addition to any connoisseur’s humidor.

The Cornelius vitola that I smoked was the 5.00 x 52 Robusto. The presentation of the cigar was beautiful. The caramel colored Ecuadorian wrapper had no cosmetic flaws and the veining was thin and delicate.

There was a mild woody aroma at the foot and sweetness in the cold draw. The cigar lit easily and burned without issue from start to finish. I can’t recall having to spend any time touching up the burn line or re-lighting the cigar. The smoke volume was good, maybe a little light at times and otherwise smoked like you would expect from any quality cigar.

Flavor was where the Cornelius Cigar began to lose me. It wasn’t that it was a bad flavor – that wasn’t the case at all. It was just, well…. not memorable. In between the wood and pepper notes, there wasn’t anything that popped and made me think this is a cigar I need to smoke more of! The finish was a little on the dry side for my taste and there was an occasional hint of harshness on the retrohale.

To sum it up, the Cornelius by Cornelius and Anthony was a quality smoke with a decent flavor profile that left me feeling indifferent. I have several others in the Cornelius and Anothony lineup to smoke – I’m looking forward to seeing what they have in store for me.