Felipe Gregorio El Pelo De Oro Robusto (Box of 24 Cigars)

• Length: 127mm
• Ring Gauge: 50
• Flavour: Medium-Full
• Wrapper: Pelo de Oro - Costa Rica
• Binder: Vuelta Abajo 1941 - Costa Rica
• Filler: Pelo de Oro - Peru
• Seed: Ancestral Cuban Pelo de Oro
• Origin: Dominican Republic

Felipe Gregorio El Pelo de Oro Robusto – Box of 24 Pelo de Oro translates as “hair of gold”, although anybody who has attempted to grow the stuff might have chosen a rather less complimentary name. This old Cuban tobacco variety earned an enviable reputation for flavour, but never one for being cooperative. Its susceptibility to disease helped push it aside as growers adopted hardier varieties. Felipe Gregorio founder Philip G. Wynne, however, has never shown much interest in taking the easy route with tobacco.

Wynne has cultivated ancestral Cuban-seed Pelo de Oro in Costa Rica, and here he's built an entire cigar around the character of this unusual leaf.

The El Pelo de Oro Robusto measures 5 inches by 50 ring gauge and carries a pale, golden-brown Costa Rican Pelo de Oro wrapper. Beneath that sits a Vuelta Abajo 1941 binder, also grown in Costa Rica, surrounding Peruvian Pelo de Oro filler. Felipe Gregorio places the finished blend in the medium-to-full strength bracket. The stated tasting notes are every bit as individual as the tobacco: almond, sea salt and butterscotch. There's nuttiness and sweetness here, but that little savoury edge is what makes the description particularly intriguing.

And this is the way I'd want to buy them.

The box of 24 comes in a traditional wooden cigar box, with the cigars individually cellophane wrapped inside. There's remarkably little decoration for something containing such an unusual tobacco — the pale wrappers get a simple gold Pelo de Oro band and that's about your lot.

Buy one and you've got an interesting cigar. Buy the box and you've got 23 more opportunities to make sure you were right.