Casa Magna Colorado

Casa Maga Colorado

• Strength: 5 / 5
• Size: 4.7 x 42
• Origin: Nicaragua
• Price (local): $6.00
• Wrapper: Ligero
• Flavor Text:

A 93-rated gem!

Casa Magna Colorado is the brainchild of two of the cigar industry's most revered manufacturers, Manuel Quesada and Nestor Plascencia. This Nicaraguan Puro is full-bodied and moderately priced. Comprised of Ligero and Viso fillers from several different regions of Nicaragua and a beautiful Cuban-seed Ligero Colorado wrapper, the Casa Magna is hand-rolled in Plascencia's Nicaraguan Factory. The result is a smooth, rich, full-bodied cigar with undertones of coffee and sweet spices. A well-made slow-burner at a great price.

Cigar Aficionado rated Casa Magna the #1 cigar of 2008 with an outstanding 93-point rating. Additionally, it's still going strong, earning the #10 spot for 2011.

I found some of these on the bargain bin section of my local shop, and I remembered them being a very good smoke that I first tried many years ago when they were highly touted within the cigar community, winning Cigar of the Year in 2008 and earning the #10 spot on the same list in 2011. These had been sitting at the shop for quite awhile, and while they had aged nicely, they were just a touch stale, but not enough to make the experience enjoyable. Leaving my experience with this cigar, I felt like it was a pretty solid overall smoke that would have been a bit better if it was just a bit fresher.

The Casa Magna Colorado has a brilliant, dark Ligero wrapper that brings a ton of spice with it from the very first draw. It's a really spicy and concentrated little cigar, and at the size I chose (the Petit Corona 4.7 x 42) I was able to get a great idea of the flavor of this one. Cutting it was a little tough, but lighting it an drawing on it was a breeze, and it offered me just the perfect amount of smoke that I wanted. It is notably a very full-body cigar, and for what it is trying to do, it does it very well. The Colorado wrapper always brings with it a little bit of cocoa and black pepper, and the notes of the wrapper translate beautifully with the very spicy blend of Nicaraguan tobacco chosen for the Casa Magna.

The cheap cost of this cigar is what puts it over the edge for me. Typically, the stronger the cigar, the steeper the price. This cigar is very, very cheap even in my tax-strapped area of the country (New York.) For 6-7 dollars, it's very hard to get a slow-burning, full-body cigar all the time. It's almost an impossible ask, but a Casa Magna will scratch any itch you have to smoke a nice, full-body cigar that really brings with it a lot of those classic, full-body notes and flavors that you'd come to expect from a cigar on the 5/5 strength spectrum. It's a wonderful size, and it "feels" like a great cigar with that smaller ring gauge and excellent draw. The Casa Magna is a wonderful smoke for anyone who is looking for a really nice, budget full-body cigar, and while it's a brand that hasn't been too relevant in awhile, it's a great, cost-conscious choice that has a wonderfully, strong punch to it. I'll be ordering some for my home humidor, and you ought to try them if you see them inside your local humidor.

Happy smoking! CB