Following the success of the H. Upmann by AJ Fernandez, Altadis USA released the H. Upmann Grupo de Maestros Connecticut at IPCPR 2018. Created by the Grupo de Maestros, a group of blenders at Tabacalera de Garcia lead by master blender Rafael Nodal, the H. Upmann Grupo de Maestros Connecticut features a proprietary tobacco called Pilotico varietal created by the Mendez family in the Dominican Republic. The H. Upmann Grupo de Maestros Connecticut is medium bodied Connecticut and features an eye catching maduro cap. The cigar is available in 4 different sizes:
- Robusto: 5 x 52 ($8.35);
- Toro: 6 x 50 ($8.60);
- Belicoso: 6 1/8 x 52 ($8.80)
- Churchill: 6 3/4 x 48 ($8.95)
The H. Upmann Grupo de Maestros Connecticut is a tribute to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the H. Upmann brand.
- Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut
- Binder: Dominican
- Filler: Dominican and Nicaraguan
- Vitola: Toro
- Size: 6 x 50
- MSRP: $8.60/single, 20 ct box $178.80
Cigars provided by Altadis USA
Pre-Light
The H. Upmann Grupo de Maestros Connecticut Toro has a gorgeous smooth, khaki colored wrapper with a distinctive dark brown maduro cap that really gives it a pop. The cap is really thick and takes a couple of snips with my Xikar MTX to get it clear. The draw is a perfect milkshake draw with notes of hay, cedar and peanuts.
First Half
The H. Upmann Grupo de Maestros Connecticut Toro with notes of hay, peanuts, cedar, white pepper and a hint of vanilla cream. I get a lot of the white pepper on the retrohale. After the first inch or so, I do get an underlying hint of citrus on the palate. The cigar is medium bodied and smoking perfectly with large amounts of smoke.
Second Half
The second half isn’t has flavorful as the first half as some of the notes have faded away. The hay note is gone and the vanilla cream note has faded a lot. The last half is more bitter, but not so much as it’s off putting. I get the white pepper, cedar, peanuts, although fainter. The last half also has a muted black coffee note that I believe is where I’m getting the bitterness. The cigar is still medium bodied with a great burn.
Conclusions
The H. Upmann Grupo de Maestros Connecticut Toro is another quality Connecticut wrapper cigar in an already crowded field. With its medium body, it a newer style Connecticut that would appeal to today’s cigar smoker more than the traditional woody, dry, very mild Connecticuts of old. The flavors would quite good and the cigar smoked well. Kiddos to Altadis and Grupo de Maestros for getting another H. Upmann release right. Their rebranding of this line is going smashingly and I look forward to see what they come up with next.
