West Tampa White Toro on the test bench. Rick Rodriguez and his team have created a great new cigar brand. I like the photos of the brand launch, the boxes, the formats and the cigar ring. And the flavour? Here is my test report. Yes, but who is Rick Rodriquez? He was the master blender at CAO. The automatic text correction initially turned CAO into CIA. Don't worry, the cigar contains no transmitters.

Tasting notes from the West Tampa White Toro

The analysis with the Cigars.Zone testing tool. through. Explanations of the You can find ZiZo R+ smoking technology here.

External impression before lighting

Format: Toro (ring 52 / length 152 mm)

Price: Status March 2023 / CHF 13.50 / box of 20 CHF 270.00/ EUR 10.50 / box of 20 EUR 210.00

Recommended acclimatisation in the humidor in cellophane: 10 days

The colour and the cover sheet: Colour: Medium brown / The cover sheet looks good

The construction and the cold draught: Almost no flavour, very little sweetness

General impression after lighting in the first 5 minutes

Lighting and draw resistance: Lighting takes a little longer than usual

The burn, the strength and the flavour: The burn is a little slanted in the first 5 minutes and needs the flame to correct itself. The flavour is pleasant, slightly peppery and woody. Perhaps even a little earthy.

Impression during the smoke

Aftertaste and aroma (scent of the smoke = room note)

First half: pleasantly persistent / flavour: rich (pleasantly fragrant)

Second half: pleasantly persistent / flavour: slightly burnt

Flavour on the tongue

First half: Wood, some earth, nutty, slightly sweetish, pleasant.

Second half: Wood, a little more earth, more nutty, slightly sweetish, a little leather, pleasant.

Retronasal

First half: peppery and somehow „fresh“. So, something „fresh“, like a light breeze from the sea?

Second half: more pepper, wood, earth

ZiZo R+ Technology

First half: Lots of cocoa (dark chocolate), roasted almonds, coffee beans

Second half: Lots of cocoa and lots of coffee beans

Course of enjoyment and conclusion

Pleasure course: First half linear and little development. BUT: From the second half, a nice increase with aromatic nuances.

Conclusion:

West Tampa is a great new cigar brand. Rick Rodriguez and his team have created something great here. Below in the resources on the topic you will find the presentation of the brand as well as the tasting reports on the White and Black lines.

The aforementioned crooked firing hardly occurs in the first half. The flame must correct it.

The flavour is characterised by lots of wood, cocoa, light sweetness, nuts and a little earth. The strength is 3/5 and the Toro gave me an enjoyable smoke of over 1.5 hours.

I think the Anilla (cigar ring) is great. What is your experience with this cigar? I look forward to your comment (you must be registered and logged in to do so).

A cigar test is subjective. The flavour of a cigar is influenced by personal taste preferences, taste memories, the mood of the day, what you have eaten or drunk beforehand. Even the lighting in the room influences the flavour experience. The flavour nuances described here therefore do not necessarily correspond to your own impressions.

Resources on the topic

West Tampa presentation of the brand and tasting reports at Zigarren.Zone

Find West Tampa White Toro on Google

Download Cigars.Zone PDF Tasting Tool

Helpful cigar tips: From „retronasal“, „R+ technique“ and „umami“ to the difference in cigar storage between Non Cuba and Cuba

West Tampa White Toro test report