Joya de Nicaragua Numero Uno l’Ambassadeur: An ambassador’s gift

On a sunny evening back in late July, I had the pleasure of joining a virtual tasting of the Joya de Nicaragua Numero Uno l’Ambassadeur cigar. This was a joint event between Robert Graham and the Women’s International Cigar Club founder, Sarah Saunders. Having heard Sarah talking enthusiastically about both the cigar and the event there was no way that I was going to miss this event.

As is often the case with cigar tasting events there was also a drink to pair with the smoke. Unlike other events that I have joined in the past, the pairing to go with the Joya de Nicaragua Numero Uno l’Ambassadeur was a pre-mixed cocktail – the Rhubarb Cosmopolitan. As I have a good home cocktail bar, I decided to go for just the cigar and mix my own version of the cocktail.

Once settled out in the garden, cocktail and cigar to hand, I listened to the hosts talk about the history of the cigar – it was originally a diplomatic gift from the Nicaraguan ambassadors on official visits. The cigar was beautiful to look at. The Nicaraguan wrapper was beautifully smooth and the colour of milky tea. There was a slight crack at the foot, but this didn’t ruin the cigar for me. The cold draw was very easy, but I didn’t get a lot in the way of flavours from it.

Lighting up, the first flavours that I picked up was a rich vanilla cream. I also noticed a subtle undertone of ginger as well which added a real warmth to the smoke. Having taken a few draws on the Joya de Nicaragua, I took a sip of the cocktail that I had mixed. Whilst the cocktail itself was delicious, I found that it rather overpowered the gentle taste of the cigar. Though it didn’t diminish my enjoyment of the cigar, I did have to remember to leave a little while between cocktail sips and taking my next draw.

The smoke felt light in my mouth and tasted of sweet warm toast and as I released it, seductive ribbons danced on the breeze. The burn was absolutely perfect and each time I laid a new mid-grey ash ball in my ashtray, I admired the lovely cherry that was left showing the perfect construction and long filler. For the entire length of the cigar, the draw was beautifully easy and gave me a good amount of smoke.

Having finished my cocktail, I brewed myself a cup of tea to drink with the remainder of the Numero Uno cigar. I personally found that this pairing worked a lot better, although were I not sat on my own, I would probably have popped the cork on a bottle of bubbly which I think would have made for an even better pairing. During the middle portion of the cigar, the flavour started to develop a little and lightly-done toast joined the mix. I also noticed that there was a creamy almond aroma on the retrohale.

As I smoked my way down to the nub of the cigar, the taste didn’t really change much. Because of this I could easily have found this a rather bland and uninteresting cigar, but rather the tastes that had been introduced one at a time up to this point started to dance around each other. This kept me interested in the Joya de Nicaragua whilst not distracting me from the fascinating story behind the creation of the Women’s International Cigar Club (WiCC).

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Joya de Nicaragua Numero Uno l’Ambassadeur Cigar Details