Nica Rustica Shade Short Robusto

From a visual perspective, all three Nica Rustica Shade Short Robustos are very similar: light cinnamon brown wrappers that have a small amount of tooth, with at least one major vein that looks like a stitched-up wound. The cigars vary in firmness, with the first cigar being the most spongy and the second cigar close to rock hard, but only the first cigar has a couple of soft spots just above the main band and one halfway between the main band and the foot band. The dominant aromas coming from the wrappers vary wildly—the first has mint leaf, the second is full of creamy woodiness, and the last one features a strong hay note—but all three cigars also feature notes of pencil lead, sweet barnyard, earthiness and a touch of floral sweetness. There is substantially more cedar woodiness emanating from the feet of all three cigars, along with notes of sourdough bread, leather tack, earth, creamy nuttiness and a generic vegetal note. After straight cuts, the cold draws are surprisingly demure, with more creamy cedar leading leather tack, coffee beans, charred meat, barnyard, cocoa nibs, pita bread and light vanilla sweetness.

Espresso bitterness and gritty earth lead the three cigars off, but somewhat surprisingly, there is virtually no spice or pepper present at this point. Within about 10 puffs, the main flavors of roasted cashews and gritty earth take over the profiles of all three cigars, although the cashew note is more creamy and more dominant on the first cigar than the other two. Secondary flavors of toasted bread, cedar, dry hay, nutmeg, coffee beans, leather and light citrus peel flit in and out, and while there is zero spice present on any of the cigars, my first and last cigars feature a distinct bitter espresso not on the finish. The retrohales for the first and last cigars feature a subtle note of white pepper and a bready, graham cracker-like sweetness, while the second cigar exhibits a more pronounced vanilla bean sweetness. Flavor is medium-full, the body is mild-plus and the strength hits a point halfway between mild and medium by the end of the first third. The construction is fantastic for all three cigars, with excellent draws, straight burn lines and plenty of thick smoke.

During the second third, the roasted cashews continue to be one of the main flavors, but the gritty earth note from the first third moves to the background, replaced by dry hay flavor. Secondary notes of sweet barnyard, creamy leather tack, wheat bread, pencil lead, coffee beans and light lemongrass flit in and out, while the amount of bready graham cracker sweetness and white pepper on the retrohales remains at about the same level as the first third. Bitter espresso also remains noticeable on the finish of all three cigars, although it is most aggressive on the last cigar. Flavor increases to full and the body increases to just below the medium mark, where it is joined by the strength. Thankfully, there is no change in the construction, which means plenty of thick smoke, great draw resistance and zero issues with the burn lines.

A combination of creamy hay and coffee beans takes over the top spots in the profile, followed by secondary flavors of leather tack, chalk, dry tea leaves, wheat bread, charred meat, generic nuttiness and light lemongrass. There is still some bitter espresso present on the finish of all three cigars, but the note is less obvious than first two-thirds. The graham cracker sweetness is still obvious on retrohale, but the amount of white pepper has diminished noticeably, and there is still no spice to be found anywhere. Flavor remains at full, the body remains at a point just below medium, and the strength increases to land at a solid medium. Once again, there are no issues at all with the construction on all three cigars.

Final Notes

• The artwork used on the packaging of the new line was inspired by El Brujito, an image of a shaman that was found on a rock dating back to pre-Columbian times. Shamans were the first known users of tobacco in Estelí and the image of El Brujito can be found in various places around the city if you know where to look.
• I cannot say enough about the construction on these cigars: the burn was razor sharp from beginning to end, the draws gave me excellent resistance, and there was never a lack of thick smoke. Just a joy to smoke in that regard.
• The mint leaf scent was extremely noticeable on the wrapper of the first cigar, but unfortunately, that flavor never appeared in the actual profile of any of the three cigars.

• When I removed the main band on my first cigar, a fairly large chunk of the wrapper was removed with it. Thankfully, the excellent burn line was completely unaffected by the damage.
• Drew Estate advertises on halfwheel.
• The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.

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.