Casa Magna Colorado

Casa Magna Colorado is the brainchild of two of the cigar industry’s most revered manufacturers, Manuel Quesada and Nestor Plascencia. This Nicaraguan Puro is full-bodied and moderately priced. Comprised of Ligero and Viso fillers from several different regions of Nicaragua and a beautiful Cuban-seed Ligero Colorado wrapper, the Casa Magna is hand-rolled in Plascencia’s Nicaraguan Factory. The result is a smooth, rich, full-bodied cigar with undertones of coffee and sweet spices. A well-made slow-burner at a great price.

TOP 25 OF 2008 | CIGAR OF THE YEAR

Tasting Note: Manuel Quesada has been making cigars since 1974. His original cigars were mild bodied, most of them a blend of Dominican filler and binder tobaccos cloaked with light Connecticut-seed wrappers. His latest endeavors are bolder, more vibrant smokes. The Casa Magna is his greatest innovation. He joined forces with Nicaragua’s largest grower of cigar tobacco, Nestor Plasencia, and created this blend in Plasencia’s Segovia Cigar factory. The line of five cigars saw first light in the summer at an industry trade show and the entire brand was initially reviewed in the August 26 Cigar Insider. Standing above the other sizes was the robusto, a stubby cigar with a bold heart of Cuban-seed tobacco, all of it grown in two very different regions of Nicaragua: tobacco from Estelí (the area where most Nicaraguan cigars are produced) tends to be strong, while that grown in Jalapa, to the north, is typically more balanced and elegant. Together they combine to create a full-flavored cigar, full of rich coffee notes and balanced by a cedary sweetness with a hint of raisins. Best of all is the price: at only $5.25, this superb smoke is less expensive than all but one cigar on this list (No. 23, which is a nickel cheaper.) The word “Colorado” in the brand name refers to the dark, slightly reddish hue of the wrapper, and is a hint that Quesada will expand this line to more styles. It will be hard to improve upon this.

TOP 25 OF 2009 | RANK: 12

Tasting Note: How do you follow up on winning the Cigar of the Year? Make a bigger, more complex shaped version. Manuel Quesada, who created the Casa Magna Colorado Robusto with the Plasencia family in its Nicaraguan cigar factory, added this stunning Salomon size over the summer. While the cigar is nearly twice the price of the Robusto, which won accolades for being an amazing bargain, the Extraordinario is still a value cigar when you consider the price charged for most Salomones, which are very hard to make and require the work of only the most talented cigar rollers.

TOP 25 OF 2010 | RANK: 24

Tasting Note: The Casa Magna Colorado brand has been an absolute hit since the Casa Magna Colorado Robusto was named Cigar of the Year in 2008. The Nicaraguan puro—blended by Dominican cigarmaker Manuel Quesada and Nicaraguan cigarmakers and tobacco growers Nestor Plasencia and Nestor Plasencia, Jr.—had wonderful flavor and a price tag of $5.25. Casa Magna Colorados are still delicious smokes, and this Churchill size remains a relative bargain—priced higher than the robusto because of its larger size. The cigar is made with tobaccos from the three main growing areas of Nicaragua: Estelí, Condega and Jalapa and smacks of leather, cedar and earth.