Every cigar factory eventually throws itself a birthday party. Joya de Nicaragua has earned more candles than anyone else in the country, it has been rolling cigars in Estelí since 1968, longer than any other premium factory in Nicaragua. The Cinco de Cinco is the party for year 55, and the name, five out of five, tells you exactly how confident they are about it.
The Joya de Nicaragua Cinco de Cinco Toro is a 6×52 soft-pressed toro, which means the shoulders are gently squared instead of fully round or sharply boxed. It wears a dark Mexican San Andrés wrapper the company calls ultra-vintage over a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan fillers, rolled at Fábrica de Tabacos Joya de Nicaragua in Estelí. It arrived in 2023 as the fourth release in the factory’s Obras Maestras series, Spanish for masterpieces, and it sells in glossy emerald-green boxes of 10 at about $20 a stick.
- Joya de Nicaragua Cinco de Cinco Toro, a 6×52 soft-pressed toro with a Mexican San Andrés wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan fillers. Rolled in Estelí at Nicaragua’s oldest premium factory, boxes of 10, about $20 a stick.
- Dark chocolate, charred oak, and espresso over black pepper spice, with sweet molasses and caramel arriving late. Medium-plus strength, medium-full body, unusually balanced for a San Andrés cigar.
- BLC Rating: 87/100. A 55th-anniversary cigar that smokes like the celebration it is, exceptional for the price and worth a five-pack for anyone who likes their cigars dark and composed.
FROM THE PORCH
This week started in Nashville at a buddy’s event. We wound up at the Single Malt Lounge running a night of our own, about 70 people came out, and somewhere in the middle of it I wandered into their humidor. Sitting there was a cigar I had read about but never held: the Cinco de Cinco. I smoked my first one right there. The second one impressed me enough that I bought a bunch to bring home.
Here is the thing, I do not write reviews at events or on holidays. A good cigar can turn bad and a bad one can taste like a champion depending on the night around it, so I wait for somewhere consistent. My deck is consistent. Dallas is consistent, he loves coming out here with me. So this was the first one enjoyed outside the event, on the deck, with the toughest judge I know lying beside me. Dallas approved. My notes are below.
BEHIND THE BLEND
Joya de Nicaragua is a family story with two names on it. Dr. Alejandro Martínez Cuenca, a Harvard-trained economist and former Nicaraguan trade minister, rescued the battered factory in the early 1990s and rebuilt it into a family-owned symbol of Nicaraguan cigar heritage, and his son Juan Ignacio Martínez has run it as executive president since 2013. No single blender takes credit for the Cinco de Cinco, that is deliberate: the factory says its maestros mined the hundreds of recipes guests created at its private blending sessions over the years and distilled them into this one liga, the Spanish word for blend. The family provided the house, the visitors provided the ideas.
BLC BLEND BREAKDOWN
BLEND SPECS
THE VITOLA LINEUP
| VITOLA | SIZE | FORMAT |
|---|---|---|
| Corona Extra | 6¼ × 46 | Soft-pressed |
| Toro, reviewed | 6 × 52 | Soft-pressed |
| Robusto Gordo | 5½ × 54 | Soft-pressed |
| Corona Doble | 7 × 54 | Soft-pressed |
Two more sizes exist if you hunt: a 5×50 Robusto rolled for international markets and a 6×60 sold only through TAA retailers. The Toro reviewed here ships in glossy emerald 10-count boxes, and it is the size that shows this blend’s balance best. Smaller rings sharpen the pepper, the big 60 softens everything. The Toro splits the difference and holds it.
THE COLD DRAW
The wrapper is dark chocolate-brown and nearly matte, and the soft press gives each side a gentle flat face that feels great in the hand. Seams are tight, veins are fine, and that emerald band with its rotated letters reads like nothing else in the humidor. The pre-light aroma off the foot runs cocoa, espresso, and a faint sweet barnyard. A straight cut opens a draw right in the pocket, firm enough to work against, open enough that it never fights you. Cold draw flavors are dark chocolate, raisin, and soft earth. Rich before it is ever lit.
BLC CIGAR PROFILE
Here is the shape of this cigar: it is dark without being heavy. San Andrés wrappers usually bring a mouthful of earth, this one skips it almost entirely and leads with dark chocolate and charred oak instead. The transitions are real, the balance never slips, and the strength stays a step behind the flavor the whole way through. That restraint is the most Joya de Nicaragua thing about it.
THE FIRST THIRD
The opening is black pepper and dark chocolate in roughly equal measure, with espresso running underneath and a toasty edge on the retrohale. It announces itself without shouting, the strength reads medium-plus from the first inch and stays honest about it. Smoke output is generous for a soft press, cool and dense, and the draw settles in exactly where the cold draw promised. A confident start, not an aggressive one.
THE SECOND THIRD
The middle is where the charred oak takes the lead. The pepper steps back, cocoa rounds the edges, and a baking-spice warmth builds in behind it, this is the stretch where the blend earns the anniversary band. Somewhere past the midpoint the first hint of molasses shows up on the finish, and once you notice it, you start waiting for it. The burn line stays sharp and the ash keeps holding. Nothing to fix, nothing to babysit.
THE FINAL THIRD
The final third brings everything back at once. The espresso and pepper step up again, the molasses sweetness turns from a hint into a proper counterweight, and the medium-plus strength finally lands with both feet. It never goes harsh, even nubbed. The finish runs long and dark, chocolate and char trading places on the palate after every draw. Total time was pushing an hour and forty-five, and the last inch was worth staying for.
OVERALL RATING
BLC OVERALL RATING
An 87, and an exceptional cigar for the price. This is a rich, composed, beautifully built anniversary smoke that skips the San Andrés mud and keeps its balance for the whole run. $20 is real money, this one gives you a story and a smoke that both hold their end of the deal. Buy it for the milestones, then keep a few for the Tuesdays that deserve better.
WHO GRABS THIS CIGAR
This is the cigar for the San Andrés fan who wants the dark without the dirt, and for anyone who likes a smoke with an actual story rolled into it. Fifty-five years of Nicaragua’s oldest premium factory, distilled into one soft-pressed toro, that is not marketing, that is the actual blend brief. It rewards a slow pace and a clear evening, give it the hour and forty-five it asks for.
Skip it if $20 only ever buys your everyday stick, this is not built for the lawnmower. Buy it if you want to taste what a legacy factory does when it is showing off for its own birthday. Some cigars are for passing the time. This one is for marking it.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Common questions about the Joya de Nicaragua Cinco de Cinco Toro 6×52.
