Hot, humid, and rainy as all hell, summertime cigar smoking in southern Japan has recently given me cause to turn toward mellower smokes half of the time.

Looking to strike a mild vein of gold once again, I fired up the Gran Habano "Connecticut #1" on the second floor of the local brewery the other day. An incredibly affordable cigar, with a larger-than-life presence. 

This was no coincidence either. For I had sampled this exact same smoke just a mere few weeks back and was determined to share my findings with the world...

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Unlit Impressions

From a vitola perspective, the "Gran Robusto" is a hefty stick on every account. It's well-filled, heavy in the hand, and large in stature at 6 inches long with that 54 ring-gauge.

Triple-capped and well-constructed, this cigar's Ecuador-grown Connecticut wrapper features very faint veins and an even softer texture. Zero soft spots or overly tight areas to be felt here.

The foot smells of roasted peanuts and sweet sun-grown Nicaraguan tobacco, with a little bit of honey and honeysuckle thrown into the mix down the barrel. Cold pulls are a bit dry, but deliver much of the same flavors, but with more emphasis on the earthy, nutty side of the spectrum.

Initial Smoke

Toasty, bready, and loaded with peanut flavors, the start to this cigar is as mellow as it comes. There's a tinge of tart orange peel in there too, along with a dash of sweetness, but not much more beyond a hint. 

1st Half

As things heat up, the columns of smoke produced turn toward a sweet, tart, and somewhat floral flavor. 

The salted peanut taste, and leathery, earthy start to the stick is still there, but that's just a backing for the wrapper's big debut. This portion of the first third offers a pleasantly tangy touch, along with a kiss of salt to boot.

2nd Half

With savory, sweet & sour sauce flavors on their way out, a new taste emerges, and it is one that is destined to delight. 

To this day I still have yet to encounter a cigar that provides the same depth of honeysuckle flavor and aroma as this Connecticut shade cigar from Gran Habano. It only pops up in the center of the stick, and is merely there for a brief 15 minutes or so, but hot damn is it delish.

There's a bit of chewy, spiced earthiness here to support all of this floral fun as well, along with some grassy notes that are both fresh and refreshing. It is also here that those nutty, slightly salty tastes from the first third of the cigar begin to taper back in.

Parting Puffs 

The tale-end of this stick is a mashed medley of dry roasted walnuts, peanut powder, and Nicaraguan sun-grown medium strength (and body) tobacco kick. 

There are still touches of honeysuckle and citrus to be tasted at times, but they are fleeting and few. Still, not a bad way to close out an unsung shade-grown cigar superstar.

Ash / Burn / Smoke / Draw

Even after punching the second cigar (I cut the cap on the first one I test-smoked), smoke production proved to be borderline over-the-top for my taste. This is purely personal preference mind you, so if you dig clouds of tobacco exhaust this vitola is a great one to reach for in your Klaro humidor.

And despite a hefty touch-up at the 50-yard-line, followed by a significant spike in heat toward the start to the last third, I didn't detect any major performance issues on this secondary stick. Interestingly, the first cigar I smoked had the same temporary overheating issue right after the halfway mark.

Dropped ash was a constant concern with both sticks, as nearly 80% of the flakey stuff either landed on the floor of the brewery or on my freshly-pressed linen suit.

Final Thoughts

I appreciated the vast majority of what the "Connecticut #1" from Gran Habano had to offer. Not just up front, but both times I sat down to smoke the blend. 

It's a vibrant, if somewhat messy smoking experience that offers extremely  memorable floral notes, and an intoxicating aroma. 

Maybe it's all that citrus, grass, honeysuckle, and nuttiness that emboldens what would typically be considered just another mild value smoke.

Oh, I didn't mention that a 5-pack of these puppies runs just a fuzz over $30 on the Klaro website? Well listen up, because it's going to be hard to beat this larger vitola in both cost performance and flavor.

Cigar Stats