IMO Cigar Review: Diablo Picante
May 18, 2006
The latter part of April I visited my local ABC Fine Wine & Spirits store and picked up an intriguingly named cigar called a Diablo Picante. I thought to myself this sounds like a little hot tamale. It has since been resting in my humidor for the right time to smoke it. Now is that time.
The Diablo Picante is 5″ in length and a mere 40 size ring gauge. General Cigar introduced this petit corona in 2004 during the week of Halloween. The wrapper, from Ecuador, is a dark brown, Colorado Maduro, color. They use a Connecticut binder with either a Dominican Republic or Nicaraguan filler for this firecracker.
The Diablo Picante has a devilish black cigar ring trimmed in gold with Diablo inscribed in a wicked red raised script.
The smoke volume was amazing for such a small stick. I wondered if someone had worked some kind of magic over this fine cigar before it left the company to produce such a large amount of thick, abundant smoke. I would classify this stick in my must haves for any smoke ring contests in the future.
Besides the ample smoke volume the Diablo Picante maintained a solid base of ash from start to finish. The ashes were white to medium gray and only after a solid tap dropped off into the ashtray. In addition, the cigar never needed a touch up and never went out during this leisurely smoke of 30 minutes.
The initial light up of the Diablo Picante stung my palate with a strong biting spice that I hoped was where it got its name from but once lit it mellowed out. The spice lasted only several drags and changed into a strong earthy flavor. The earthiness was stronger than I have previously experienced in a cigar and lasted to the halfway point of the cigar. The Diablo Picante mellowed out even further leaving me with a floral aftertaste that continued until the nub.
The Diablo Picante is much like the devil, its namesake, insomuch as it has its deceitful ways, leading you to believe its name is its game. But it is not to be. I enjoyed smoking this tasteful little cigar and will continue to do so in the future, because I now know what to expect and will not be disappointed with what is delivered from this great little smoke. At $3.43 a stick I would recommend it to anyone needing a descent cigar to smoke in a 30 minute time span.
6 Responses to “IMO Cigar Review: Diablo Picante”
If you like these you should stock up now, because it looks like General Cigar has discontinued this brand.
Now that is just my luck. I’ll make a trip to pick up some of these this weekend. Thanks for info, cigarfan.
Richard,
Great review, as always. I linked to it in a review I just posted at Cigar Envy of the Diablo Caliente, but trackbacks are still not working for me to your blog for some reason.
General did indeed discontinue the brand. I have some more info about the marketing mishaps that led to it going up tomorrow.
I know we should judge a book (or a cigar) by its cover, but its hard for me to pickup a cigar called Diablo…it reminds me of the computer game.
But with all the good reviews its been getting, I’m gonna have to try it out.
I meant to say we “shouldn’t” judge.
Hi bored,
That’s for sure about cigars. Better get the Diablo while you can, General Cigar has discontinued them. I picked up the last 8 (local store) for a discount price of $2.00 a stick before my surgery. Try it out and post back here what you think of it.
richard