Chateau Diadem Monkey Business Gran Robusto (Single)

• Length: 127mm
• Gauge: 55
• Flavour: Light - Medium
• Wrapper: Dominican
• Binder: Dominican
• Filler: Dominican medium-length filler
• Hand Rolled Cigars
• Humidor Advised

Château Diadem Monkey Business Gran Robusto

The name Monkey Business might suggest Château Diadem isn't taking this terribly seriously. The construction of the cigar suggests otherwise.

Made at Château Diadem's factory in Santiago de los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic, Monkey Business was created as a more affordable way into the company's cigars. The clever bit is how they've achieved it. Rather than economising by reaching for cheaper tobacco, Château Diadem uses the premium tobacco offcuts produced while making its other cigars.

In cigar-making terms this is known as a Cuban Sandwich. The shorter and medium-length pieces of tobacco are gathered into the filler bunch, held together with whole leaf and then finished with a binder and Habano 2000 wrapper. It makes good use of tobacco that would otherwise be left on the cutting table and keeps the price considerably below Château Diadem's long-filler ranges.

Importantly, it is still entirely handmade.

This Gran Robusto measures 5 inches by a chunky 55 ring gauge, making it the broadest of the traditional Robusto-style Monkey Business formats. That extra girth gives the blend plenty of room to breathe and makes for a cool, leisurely smoke of roughly 50–60 minutes.

Strength sits comfortably around medium, and the flavour is classic Dominican territory: cedar and wood, gentle earth and warm spice, joined by roasted nut flavours and a restrained natural sweetness. It remains fairly even in strength as it progresses rather than building towards something fierce in the final third.

The cigar itself is refreshingly rustic. The example pictured has a natural-looking brown wrapper with visible veins and seams rather than the immaculate cosmetics of a considerably dearer cigar. Monkey Business isn't pretending to be that cigar in the first place.

And therein lies the appeal. Château Diadem has taken the trimmings from the expensive stuff, put them back to work and rolled the result by hand.

Waste less tobacco, charge less money and call the whole thing Monkey Business.

There are worse business plans.