2-21-10 This evening we are smoking the Ambos Mundos #2 and as we smoked the Ambos Mundos #1 last week we are combining our reviews. The name is Spanish for "Both Worlds" and the cigars are from the creator of the Tatuaje brand of cigars Pete Johnson. Now I have not had a Tatuaje cigar yet but I have yet to hear anyone say anything but good things about them. Like the Tatuaje brand these are blended by Jose Pepin Garcia.
One of these comes with a Nicaraguan Habano wrapper AB #1) and the other is wrapped in an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper (AB#2) - hence the two worlds reference. These cigars are apparently made with the same tobacco that the Tatuaje are just not as high of grade tobacco is used. It should be noted that these cigars earned scores of 90 and 91 in Cigar Aficionado with the Ambos Mundos #2 being ranked #18 in Cigar Aficionados Top 25 cigars of 2009. Both cigars also made Cigar Aficinado's Best Bargain Cigars of 2009.
Neither of these are particularly attractive cigars. They only come in two sizes Robusto and Toro and we were smoking the Robusto size. Both cigars had very prominent veins visible in the wrapper - this may be because of the lower grade tobacco used. They are endowed with small and plain labels. I remember when I picked these up at Centro Cigars in Lawrence thinking that compared to the other cigars available in the humidor these were sort of plain and cheap looking. Now it should be noted that I paid about $5 a stick for these retail and most other cigars at Centro were at least double that price so I was not complaining. After all, we are going to smoke them not stare at them.
The construction on both cigars was good. They were fairly compactly packed but not to tight. They were slightly spongy toward the back half of the cigar. The draw on the AB#2 we both felt was a little loose. The AB #1 on the other hand had a great draw with just the right amount of resistance.
The first half of the AB #2 burned really well with a tight ash and only a slight waviness to its burn line. But in the second half it developed some significant burns issues needing to be both touched up and re-lit. The AB#1 burned better. It also had a tight burn line early on that got somewhat more wavy in the second half. It had much less significant burn issues than the AB #2.
The Ambos Mundos #1 was a medium to full bodied smoke with an initial peperriness and spice that although it mellowed continued on the finish. We thought it was pretty good and gave it a 3. It was not one of our favorites but we would smoke it again. We paired it with an Avery Brewing Company Imperial Stout - The Czar. The beer was rich and flavorful with vanilla and carmel notes - very nice.
The Ambos Mundos #2 had much more spice and pepper that did not mellow. It was not overwhelming, but it also did not smooth out much. It was fairly consistent in it's medium body presentation. It was good, but not great, we gave it a 3 as well. We paired this with a Boulevard Irish Ale - which was very crisp and clean and had an abundance of hops. We finished the cigar with the MaCallan Fine Oak single malt scotch, which was very nice.
In the end we liked the Ambos Mundos #1 slightly more than the number two. We would smoke either of them again but we could easily think of other cigars we would reach for first. Although their $5 price point is pretty reasonable we generally order our cigars online and for that price we could get a Rocky Patel Decade or a CAO Soprano both of which are much better cigars.
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