Onyx Reserve Mini Belicoso

Overall Score

1 review for Onyx Reserve Mini Belicoso

  1. Stephen

    Onyx Reserve Mini Belicoso

    Origin : HondurasOnyx Reserve
    Format : Mini Belicoso
    Size : 5 x 50
    Wrapper : Blackened Connecticut Broadleaf
    Binder : Nicaragua
    Filler : DR, Nicaragua and Peru
    Hand-Made
    Price : ~$4.25 each:; ~ $17 for 5 pack

    The Onyx Reserve Mini Belicoso is made in the Dominican Republic. It has a Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro wrapper, a Nicaraguan binder, and Dominican Piloto Cubano and Nicaraguan tobaccos. It gets its spiciness from Peruvian, Cuban-seed Ligero tobaccos.

    It has been resting in my humidor for a month. This is the second one I have smoked.

    Appearance : [rating:3.5/5]
    This is a dark, chocolaty wrapper. It is somewhat blotchy, alternating between a dark coffee and chocolate hue. It has a lot of veins, but is rolled well and is nice looking.

    Construction : [rating:3.5/5]
    This cigar appeared to be rolled well. It was not packed overly tight. It had a couple soft spots as I felt the wrapper, which made me nervous that I may have burn issues. I clipped the cap, and checked the pre-light draw. It was slightly tight, as most belicosos are, but not too tight. It took a little bit to get lit in the middle. I assume this is because of the ligero tobacco which does not burn well. It made a nice amount of smoke right off the bat. It had a good, but wavy burn. It did go out on me twice, but ironically it was not at the soft spots. The ash held on for about an inch before dropping off. The ash was white and pepper-looking with a flaky texture.

    Flavor : [rating:3.5/5]
    In my pre-light tasting I noted the smell of raisin, coffee, and a little chocolate. The initial taste was mild, somewhat sweet, with a hint of nut. There was a decent amount of spice on the retro-hale. It became much spicier on the second third of the cigar. The chocolate and coffee notes seemed to go away. It became very spicy on the retro-hale. In the final third the taste changed again and this time for the worse. It was a strange taste that I did not enjoy. I hoped it would improve, but it did not, so I put it down.

    Value : [rating:4/5]
    I paid $4.89 for two on special from my local B&M. I consider it a good buy at that price, but I would not pay full MSRP.

    Overall Rating : [rating:3.5/5]
    This cigar was just okay to me. When I bought these at the B&M last month, I smoked one right away. I seemed to enjoy that one a bit more. I remember another patron telling me how good it smelled and he picked a couple up, too. I did not enjoy this one nearly as much for some reason. In the beginning it seemed somewhat complex, but it became more one-dimensional and spicy. I was smoking it slightly fast, which I am sure increased the heat and spice of the cigar, but when I tried to let it rest I ran into the burn problems. If you find this cigar at a good price, you should give it a shot. I do not feel compelled to get it again, but your mileage may vary.

    [sz]onyx reserve[/sz]

    Helpful?
    0 0
    • JoshK

      Sometimes the price should make you nervious.

    • DJ

      But it looks so goood! Dark & oily… nice band.

    • Handypilot

      OK…it looks like I lied. I just checked some prices and it looks like they’re about $3 a stick. For some reason I thought I payed less for my box.

    • Paul Shing

      I have had one sitting in the humi since May. I glance at it every so often, but never pull the trigger. I am eager to give a try, just for something different. Thanks again, love the site!

    • Stephen P

      For $2 each for a box so $40? I would have to agree with you Handypilot. I still don’t think I would smoke it again though.

    • Handypilot

      I think this is a great every-day smoke. It was very highly rated a couple years ago by CI, and the first time I smoked one it had loads of flavor. In fact, prelight is like sticking your nose in a bag of Nestle Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips…real yummy! Also, it wasn’t until I smoked one and liked it so much that I found it was rated so highly.

      Having said that, they’re not consistant smokes, but for the price they’re very good IMHO. You can get a box of these online for about $2 a stick at most reputable tobacconists…very good price for a stick that was rated 94 a few years ago.

    • Jason T

      I’ve smoked 2 of these and those will be it for me. Both had a charcoal taste in the background that didn’t do it for me. I also experienced burn problems. One wouldn’t stay lit after half the cigar was smoked.

    • Stephen P

      Well I am glad to hear it wasn’t just me Rich.

    • Rich

      I had one in my humidor for about 8 months and finally decided to smoke it this past weekend. I was disappointed in the cigar. My experience was basically the same as yours. Sometimes I found the spice a little too much but that would come and go. I couldn’t say for sure that I picked up any notes of chocolate and the coffee was extremely faint. As with your smoke the final third took on a taste that I did not like. I took a few more puffs just to see if it would change, but didn’t. At that time I put it to rest. I wouldn’t but buy it again.

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Cigar Region Dominican Republic
Filler Nicaragua, Dominican, Peruvian
Wrapper Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro
Binder Nicaragua
Length 5
Ring Gauge 52
Vitola Mini Belicoso
Construction Hand Made