La Aroma de Cuba Robusto 5 1/4″ * 54

Short and wide-shouldered, the Robusto is one of the most popular formats in the original La Aroma de Cuba lineup.

The blend uses a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan long-filler, hand-rolled at My Father Cigars in Estelí, Nicaragua. The current recipe was reblended by Don Pepin Garcia in 2009, building on the line that first launched under Ashton in 2002. The Robusto measures 5 1/4 by 54 and ships in boxes of 25.

The profile usually opens with cocoa, cedar, and earth, with leather and a molasses-like sweetness from the Broadleaf wrapper running through the middle before a black-pepper finish. Body holds in the medium-to-full range. Rated 93 by Cigar Aficionado. The 54 ring gauge keeps the wrapper-to-filler ratio close to balanced, letting the Broadleaf sweetness and the Nicaraguan spice trade space across the burn. The shorter length suits a tighter window than the toro or churchill formats in the line.

Pairings: bourbon, espresso, or porter.