San Cristobal Quintessence Churchill
There are five different lines in the San Cristobal series, all with different wrappers and flavor profiles, but the one that stood out this year was the San Cristobal Quintessence Churchill. The Quintessence is made with a fifth-priming wrapper from Ecuador, meaning that the leaf grows fairly high on the plant. In terms of strength, it’s more powerful than the San Cristobal Revelation line, but not quite as strong as core San Cristobal cigars. Quintessence was blended to register as medium-to-full and does so splendidly with the Churchill.
All San Cristobals are made in Nicaragua by My Father Cigars for Ashton Distributors, owned by the Levin family. The brand started in 2007 when Ashton diversified and released its first Nicaraguan cigar. Since then, Ashton has been bringing different versions of San Cristobal to the market every few years. While plenty of cigars are made with Ecuador Havana wrapper and Nicaraguan tobacco, few are as successful, dynamic or interesting as the San Cristobal Quintessence Churchill. Much of the credit goes to the Garcia family of My Father Cigars and their profound understanding of Nicaraguan tobacco.
Everything came together quite harmoniously with the large Churchill. It’s rich, nutty and complex conveying an earthy foundation of coffee bean character, a mid-palate of baking spices and a charming, cappuccino finish.