Luis Martinez, a long-time resident of Tampa and Key West, is not accustomed to the biting cold of sub-70-Fahrenheit weather. As the frost recedes and Spring blooms forth once again, cigar enjoyers emerge like bears from hibernation and begin smoking cigars outside. For most cigar smokers, a Toro or Gordo is their go-to size of cigars. LM Cigars has curated a list of the top 5 6×60 Gordo cigars to try this spring. As always, LM Cigars offers the best cigar selection and value on the internet.
If you are not a seasoned cigar aficionado, Gordos are larger ring-gauge cigar sizes. Typically, cigars come in a thickness or caliber which cigar manufacturers measure using sixty-fourths of an inch. The thicker a cigar’s ring-gauge, the more a cigar enjoyer is to extend his smoking experience and enjoy the full body of a cigar’s filler leaves. Many cigar aficionados gravitate towards larger ring-gauge Nicaraguan handmade cigars because of the value and quality of the smoking experience.
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#5 La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor Valentino
La Aroma de Cuba is a no brainer on any cigar countdown because of the quality of its construction and its consistency as a brand, earning numerous awards since its unveiling in the early 2000’s. Most cigar aficionados already know this beloved brand but perhaps have not enjoyed the lovely blend in a larger vitola. Speaking from experience, this is a cigar which possesses the right amount of spice to give an enjoyable smoking experience but not overwhelm those with a smooth or medium-bodied palate orientation.
The La Aroma de Cuba Mi Amor Valentino is handmade by some of the finest cigarmakers for Ashton at Tabacalera Cubana in Esteli, Nicaragua. This 6×60 cigar is a textbook Gordo, possessing tremendous flavor and value in a package which will prevent those with larger hands from looking ridiculous. The flavor is a rich cocoa-forward earth paired with leather, peanuts, and floral notes thanks to the cigar’s blend of Mexican San Andreas wrapper on top of Nicaraguan binder and filler.
#4 Rocky Patel Disciple Sixty
Another Nicaraguan 6×60 sure to rock your world is the Rocky Patel Disciple Sixty. This cigar also possesses Mexican San Andreas tobacco, but before the editors are accused of bias towards one of the richest and most decadent tobaccos in the world: this Mexican tobacco is not as thoroughly fermented. As a result, this cigar possesses a strength when smoked reminiscent of pepper and wood more so than earth and cocoa. Disciple is one of Rocky Patel’s greatest blends, a testament to his longevity in the industry despite trials and tribulations.
Handmade at Tabacalera Tavicusa in Esteli, Nicaragua, the Mexican tobacco used as wrapper is skillfully married with Nicaraguan binder and filler to create a profile with additional tasting notes of leather and hay. Given the sheer volume of Nicaraguan handmade cigars, there are concerns over quality and consistency. This cigar puts those fears to rest by demonstrating the highest form of New World cigar blending.
#3 Brick House Maduro Mighty Mighty
Unsurprising to anyone who appreciates larger ring-gauge cigars, Brick House made this list. Brick House has been king of the hill as far as the Nicaraguan value long-filler market is concerned for about 15 years. Clocking in at 6.25×60, this brand is literally Mighty Mighty, a reference to the 1977 hit single by the Commodores. This gives a slightly longer smoking experience than the typical 6-inch 6×60 cigars on this list. The brand’s manufacturer, J.C. Newman Cigar Co., attributes the extension to their desire to create a social atmosphere amongst cigar enjoyers. Simply put: longer smoke, more friends.
The Maduro blend is especially flavorful with a sweet and spicy Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper, giving the cigar tasting notes of campfire char and barnyard hay. Paired with the sensational aged Nicaraguan binder and long-filler utilized by J.C. Newman Cigar Co., the cigar aficionado is left amazed and asking for more. On paper, this cigar is a medium to full-bodied smoke. In actuality, the earthy notes tone down the spice and make it palatable for those not accustomed to full-bodied sticks.
#2 Padron 7000 Natural
Just to upset the feng shui, here is another 6.25×60 cigar to make the top 6×60 list. The notion, however, that it is Padron, one of the finest cigar manufacturers in the history of the world, should assuage your anxieties. As with the other cigars on this list, the Padron 7000 Natural is a Nicaraguan value long-filler cigar. The Padron “thousand-series” is the regular production line offered by the company at a retail cost of less than $20 a cigar. These are famously shipped and sold “unaged,” granting the cigars a unique and robust flavor.
This cigar is a true Nicaraguan puro, made of the finest sungrown tobaccos from the myriad Padron family farms. The tasting notes jump all over the place with this one from Baker’s Spices a la Nutmeg and Cinnamon to dark fruit (e.g., Prunes or Raisins) to hay and pepper. It is a rich cigar but not overwhelmingly, unpleasantly decadent or strong. Another Padron idiosyncrasy, the company does not use spacers and packs each box with 26 cigars instead of 25.
#1 West Tampa Tobacco Co. Boliche Blvd.
The ultimate spot on this list falls to Rick Rodriguez who has enchanted the cigar smoking world once again with his elegance and skill as a cigar blender for West Tampa Tobacco Co. Named in honor of one of the largest Cuban and Latino communities in Florida, Boliche Blvd. is a limited edition 6×60 Gordo cigar. Columbus Drive, otherwise known as Boliche Blvd., is famous the world over for the large number of Cuban restaurants at its intersections and the celebrities, typically baseball players, who grew up eating the Cuban food served there. That being said, Boliche Blvd. cigars are one of the most flavorful baseball bats you can smoke.
An undisclosed blend, the Boliche Blvd. possesses earth and dark fruit on the cold draw. The lighting and smoking experience marries these flavors with leather, hay, and wood. This is a medium to full-bodied cigar. Handmade at Garmendia Cigar Co. in Esteli, Nicaragua, this cigar trumps all other Nicaraguan 6×60 handmade cigars by a noticeable metric. Despite coming in sizeable boxes of 50, stylized after the Florida cigar boxes and tobacco crates of yesteryear, these cigars are a limited run and only 500 boxes total were made for the world.