Aladino 85 Aniversario Reserva Robusto

During the 2025 PCA Convention & Trade Show, JRE Tobacco Co. showed off a new line that was originally planned as a release to celebrate the 80th birthday of company founder Julio Eiroa. However, Eiroa did not feel that the blend was ready when it was initially being developed, and it took until now before he was satisfied with the result.

The appropriately named Aladino 85 Aniversario Reserva is made entirely of pinareño-seed tobacco. The seed was brought from Cuba to Honduras by Tino Agurdin in 1960. Over time, farmers like the Eiroas chose to use the corojo seed over pinareño because corojo is less susceptible to disease and produces larger yields. The cigars are being made at the Eiroa family’s Fábrica de Puros Aladino at Las Lomas Jamastran.

When it comes to the packaging, Eiroa chose yellow, his favorite color, as the main color on the boxes. The boxes are also adorned with the depiction of a 1952 Buick, a car owned by Julio that has been used in a multitude of the company’s social media posts.

JRE Tobacco Co. debuted the Aladino 85 Aniversario Reserva in two vitolas, both packaged in 20-count boxes:

• Aladino 85 Aniversario Reserva Robusto (5 x 50) — $17.50 (Box of 20, $350)
• Aladino 85 Aniversario Reserva Toro (6 x 52) — $20 (Box of 20, $400)

While the Aladino 85 Aniversario Reserva is listed as a regular production release, retailers can only order up to four boxes of each vitola per month. Boxes of both vitolas started shipping to retailers in May.

• Cigar Reviewed: Aladino 85 Aniversario Reserva Robusto
• Country of Origin: Honduras
• Factory: Fábrica de Puros Aladino at Las Lomas Jamastran
• Wrapper: Honduras (Pinareño)
• Binder: Honduras (Pinareño)
• Filler: Honduras (Pinareño)
• Length: 5 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 50
• Shape: Round
• MSRP: $17.50 (Box of 20, $350)
• Release Date: May 2025
• Number of Cigars Released: Regular Production
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

From a visual perspective, the three Aladino 85 Aniversario Reserva Robustos are quite appealing, with gorgeous milk chocolate brown wrappers that despite a lack of any obvious oil are silky smooth to the touch. There are numerous veins on each cigar, but none protrude enough to be distracting, and all three cigars are extremely firm when squeezed. Nutmeg leads the aromas emanating from the wrappers, followed by herbs, sweet barnyard, lemon zest, dank earth and light sweet and sour candy. The feet are very similar and are led by a combination of apple peel and cinnamon that reminds me of Alpine spiced apple cider, along with leather tack, spicy wood, generic nuttiness, cedar and a light floral note. After straight cuts, I can already pick up spice on my lips along with some apple juice sweetness, more cinnamon, cedar, white bread, anise, almonds and light vanilla.

Flavors of black licorice and earth start the cigars off, along with a significant amount of spice that is present on both my lips and my tongue. A new combination of floral and cedar takes over the top spots in the profile, but always with an ever-present undercurrent of spice that does not seem to be dissipating any time soon. Secondary flavors include starchy white rice, creamy cashews, sawdust, gritty earth, sourdough bread and cinnamon, while a small amount of mineral salinity shows up on my lips from time to time. The retrohale includes plenty of spice and some generic sweetness, but the latter note is not strong enough to place yet. Flavor is full, the body hits a solid medium, and the strength ends the first third just over medium. When it comes to construction, there are no issues at all other than a slightly wavy burn line on my second cigar.

Coming into the second third, the floral note at the top of the profile is replaced by a cashew note, which joins the cedar that is still present. The amount of spice on my tongue and lips has remained fairly constant compared to the first third, but once again, it remains shy of what it would take to negatively impact the rest of the flavors. Secondary flavors of cinnamon, dried tea leaves, plain oatmeal, coffee beans, powdery cocoa nibs and a touch of floral flit in and out, while an interesting citrus peel note becomes evident on the finish of my first and last cigars after the halfway point. Although the amount of pepper on the retrohale is about the same as what was noted in the first third, the sweetness has shifted and become more distinct, a creamy, chocolaty sweetness that reminds me of Kinder Eggs. Flavor remains at full, the body remains at a solid medium and the strength has not budged from its place at a hair over the medium mark. Unfortunately, my second and third cigars each need minor burn corrections to stay on track, but all other aspects of the construction continue to be excellent.

During the final third, the main flavors change again, this time to a combination of lemongrass and leather. The amount of spice on my tongue and lips has changed very little for the entire cigar, and it does not seem like it is going to start now. Additional flavors of cloves, salted nuts, dry hay, gritty earth, cinnamon and a touch of varnish show up at various points, and all three cigars feature a sweet floral note on the finish, with the second cigar being the strongest. The combination of black pepper and Kinder Egg sweetness continues to dominate the retrohale of the first and second cigars but the third cigar now features a rich raisin sweetness that comes out of nowhere. Flavor ends at full, the body ends at a solid medium and the strength hits medium-plus. Construction-wise, all three cigars are back to having excellent burn lines—the third cigar was flawless in that regard—to go along with copious amounts of smoke and near-perfect draw resistance.

Final Notes

• Eiroa celebrated his 85th birthday in 2023. As is prone to happen in this industry, sometimes the anniversary cigars don’t come out in the corresponding years.
• Interestingly, a small amount of pinareño-seed tobacco was used in the Asylum Sensorium line that was released in 2023, a cigar I also reviewed. Asylum is a brand co-owned by Julio’s son Christian, but not part of JRE Tobacco Co.
• In a press release about the Asylum Sensorium, Christian Eiroa said this about the pinareño-seed tobacco:

We used some first-generation Piñareno seed from Cuba, my father grew in Jamastran. He has had this seed for decades, but had not grown it since 1979, when blue mold swept through Honduras in 1977. Any attempts to grow it in Honduras have yielded continuous losses of 25 – 40% on the field, due to its susceptibility to everything. Piñareno is truly the tastiest tobacco I have ever tasted, and I feel it is worth the sacrifice.

• There is plenty of spice in this blend, but it is never overwhelming and ends up being more of a complement to the flavors rather than a detriment to the profile.
• When I was growing up, having spent three years of my childhood in Heidelberg, Germany, I became very familiar with the flavor of Kinder Eggs.
• The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.

• These cigars are listed as 5 x 50. Above are the measurements we took when we measured them.
• Final smoking time averaged out to one hour and 29 minutes for the three cigars.
• If you would like to purchase any of the Aladino 85 Aniversario Reserva Robusto cigars, site sponsor Atlantic Cigar Co. sells them on its website.

Correction (Aug. 9, 2025) — This review originally a stated that it was a Redux review and that the car owned my Julio was a 1961 Buick. Both corrections have been made. 

Brooks Whittington

I have worn many hats in my life up to this point: I started out as a photojournalist for the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, then transitioned to photographing weddings—both internationally and in the U.S.—for more than a decade. After realizing that there was a need for a cigar website containing better photographs and more in-depth information about each release, I founded my first cigar blog, SmokingStogie, in 2008. SmokingStogie quickly became one of the more influential cigar blogs on the internet, known for reviewing preproduction, prerelease, rare, extremely hard-to-find and expensive cigars, and it was one of the predecessors to halfwheel, which I co-founded.