Villa Zamorano Churchill Review: Big Cigar, Small Price

I have had a couple of cigars from the Villa Zamorano brand and they have been a bit of a mixed bag so far. I was very impressed by the El Gordo and found the Expreso reasonable. The latest one I smoked was the Villa Zamorano Churchill. This is a budget priced cigar that looks rather impressive to smoke, but sad to say I found it tasted rather disappointing.

Out of my humidor, the Villa Zamorano Churchill felt nicely firm and the claro wrapper smelt light and sweet. The cold draw tasted like a field full of spring flowers. It lit beautifully and the burn started well, but it did try to canoe as I smoked my way through the cigar. Given that I’m a notoriously slow smoker – the Villa Zamorano Expreso lasted me a good 90 minutes, for example – I felt this one smoked very quickly for a Churchill.

The first draws were full of fresh, sweet cedar. As I smoked through the first third, this became supported by a light flavour of fur. Towards the middle a gentle fruitiness tried to creep into the mix but as quickly as it started to appear, it was replaced by freshly cut grass. It was at this point that the cigar started to develop a slight bitterness. When this happens, a good blow-though and purge usually sorts it and I can get back to savouring the rich and complex flavours of the cigar.

Alas, this was not the case with the Villa Zamorano Churchill. Heading into the final third of the cigar the bitterness stuck around and no amount of purging or resting helped. Alongside this bitterness an ugly green taste developed and when the time came to remove the band I’m afraid I had to let this soldier die in my ashtray quicker than I normally would. This is highly unusual for me as I have a growing collection of cigar nubbers. I do have to wonder whether this is a cigar that would benefit from more time in the humidor.

The biggest plus point for this cigar was the delightful quantity of smoke (and the excitement of using my new lighter) but overall I was expecting a lot more than I ultimately got from this stick.

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Villa Zamorano Churchill Cigar Details