The Diesel brand has always been a big seller, especially at Cigar International, where it was exclusively sold for many years until recently. The cigar line is now available through cigar shops with expanded offerings. The newest edition is the Esteli Puro, blended by AJ Fernandez using his own tobacco from the Esteli region of Nicaragua. The Esteli region in Nicaragua is known for the strength of the tobacco grown there. AJ Fernandez used tobaccos grown at his La Lilia farm for the wrapper, the binder is from his San Jose farm, and the filler is from various farms around the Esteli region, including the San Lotano farm.

• Wrapper: Esteli Habano
• Binder: Esteli Habano
• Filler: Various Habano tobaccos grown around Esteli
• Vitola: Robusto Extra
• Size: 5 1/2 x 54
• MSRP: $8.99
• Box Size: 20

Pre-Light

The Diesel Esteli Puro has a beautiful rustic-looking, deep brown, leathery-looking wrapper. The wrapper is very smooth, almost velvety to the touch with a nicely applied cap. The draw is perfect with just the right amount of tension. I get notes of leather, earth, and a slight spice on the cold draw.

First Half

As you would expect from anything from AJ Fernandez, the Diesel Esteli Puro is a spice bomb. Right from the start, the cigar unleashes a heavy dose of black pepper and chili flake flavors. The pepper flavors are accompanied by notes of cedar, earth, leather, cinnamon, orange zest, and milk chocolate. As the cigar nears, the midpoint, I get a bit of nuttiness as well as a slightly amped milk chocolate note, almost reminds me of Nutella, if that makes any sense. I have to be careful retrohaling this cigar with all this spice as it burns my sinus some. Still, I get a ton of flavor retrohaling this cigar, but a little slower and less smoke than usual, with notes of cedar, pepper, milk chocolate. The Diesel Esteli Puro is producing a good volume of smoke with a medium-full body.

Last Half

The last half of the Diesel Esteli Puro has many of the same flavors of the first half, but with a few of the notes become more prominent. I still get notes of cedar, earth, leather, cinnamon, and pepper, but the nutty, chocolatey note which reminds me of Nutella is more prominant in the last half. I also get hints of espresso in the last half as well, which goes well with the savory, sweet notes. The body of the cigar has bumped up to full bodied and the cigar is still producing a good amount of smoke.

Conclusion

The Diesel Esteli Puro is a unique cigar that brings Diesel back to its roots. I don’t know of any cigars using only tobaccos from one region, one country, yes, but not one region. It’s a pretty cool thing to try out and I’d love to see more of it, actually. The Diesel Esteli Puro goes back to the days of the Unholy Cocktail, where it all began, and the cigars were known for their powerful flavor profile and strength. The Diesel Esteli Puro has that full body with the rough and tumble flavor profile that Diesel lovers first fell in love with, showcasing notes of leather, earth, cedar, spices, nuts, and chocolatey notes. Strong cigars for the sake of strength over flavor are a turn off for me, but the Diesel Esteli Puro blends that power with a rich flavor profile throughout. Is it a finesse cigar? Definitely not. It’s a cigar more rustic in nature and I appreciate that. It’s something I wouldn’t normally like, but, I have to say, I do enjoy these quite a bit. Enough so that I picked up a box of them.

Final Score: 90