BACKGROUND: I first featured the Cuban Stock Extra Belicoso in Episode 219 of the Stogie Fresh 5 podcast on Sunday, May 2, 2010. These cigars have now been resting for 1 year, 2.4 months in my cabinet humidor singles drawer. Last week, I pulled out my last 2 samples for this second and final podcast review.

The Cuban Stock Cigar Company was established in 1995. Prior to that, the company name was: Crown David Inc., but the name change was a natural transition for the company, which enjoyed good product recognition for its flagship cigar, Cuban Stock.

The name Cuban Stock name seemed a natural choice since they were employing many Cuban cigar-making traditions. From the tobacco growing and aging techniques, to the rolling and packaging methods, the name Cuban Stock seemed to fit the company well.

Their first cigar was the "Cuban Stock Classic, which was followed by the Cuban Stock Royal Selection and the Cuban Stock Reserve. At the 2009 trade show in New Orleans the company launched two new cigars. One of those is today's review cigar, the Cuban Stock Extra.

The Extra is made with 100% Dominican tobaccos that have been aged for 6 years and a good portion of that aging has taken place in wine barrels. The Cuban Stock Extra comes in 5 sizes. Today's featured cigar is the 6.25-inch by 52 ring Belicoso.

TASTING NOTES: The cigar starts with cedar notes and a pepper spice on the finish. There are undertones of medium-roast coffee and a slightly sweet, woody retrohale. There is also more pepper spice in the retrohale, but not as prominent as a year ago.

As with other cigars in this batch, the cigar swelled up at the foot and split the wrapper. This is an all too common feature with the cigars from this batch. A combination of a fragile wrapper leaf and the tobacco swelling as it warms up results in an expanding stick that causes the wrapper to split and the cigar burns unevenly.

This has been a feature of all 6 cigars I've smoked from this batch. In my opinion, this characteristic can be attributed to either the fact that the tobaccos were not fermented long enough prior to aging or that the finished cigars were not aged long enough post-production. In any case, the cigars have not performed well.

The burn line was scalloped and the dense gray ash was fairly consistent, though it cast an unevenly toasted ash for a portion of the cigar.

Last year the cigar showed some bitterness in the flavor, but that has seemed to dissipate and was barely noticeable in this stick. My guess is that this cigar still needs further fermentation, though the tobacco was aged sufficiently. The tobacco has 6 years of age on the leaf, so it could be that the fermentation was not even across all the tobacco or that the construction was not perfect.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Overall, this is a good tasting cigar with spotty performance. If other batches of cigars are showing the same type of construction issues, I would have some difficulty recommending this cigar without reservation. However, the flavor profile has improved considerably and the cigar shows a good ability to age. This is one you will have to try for yourself to see if it is one that performs well for you. I think the flavor profile will appeal to a lot of folks and for that alone, it may be worth a purchase.

~Doc