H. Upmann Connossieur No. 1 Prelight
H. Upmann is one of the oldest, and one of my personal favorite Cuban marcas. It was founded by H. Upmann, a German banker and cigar Connoisseur who moved to Cuba to get into the cigar business in 1844. The Connossieur 1 is the first of the “Connossieur” series, and was originally released at some point before 1960. The cigars were actually sold without a band up until 2005. The Connie 1 is in the Hermoso no 4 vitola 5″ x 48, the same vitola as the El Rey Del Mundo Choix Supreme, Romeo Y Julieta Exhibicion No. 4, Vegas Robaina Famosos, and the Saint Luis Rey Regios, which is to say we’re in excellent company. The Connie 1 has wrapper, binder, and filler leaves all from the Vuelta Abajo zone, in the Pinar del RÃo region of Cuba.
This specific example has a flawless looking wrapper. A punch cut reveals a perfect draw. This cigar was dry boxed for ~16 hours before smoking. The cold draw was showing a bit of barnyard and cinnamon, but not much else. Also worth noting, the wrapper was one of the toothiest I’ve seen coming out of Cuba, but it was only noticeable after lighting.
H. Upmann Connossieur No. 1 First Third
The first note I pick up on after lighting is a big wave of corn flakes on the palette and on the retrohale. I almost always associate H Upmann with cereal flavors, so this makes a lot of sense. The notes on the palate are toasted wheat, white pepper, baking spice, and graham cracker. The retrohale is creamy coffee, corn flakes, and a bit of cocoa in the background. Slightly wavy burn line, but not impacting performance at all. The ash is incredibly toothy, little specs of white are scattered all over. The baking spice is very prominent here, it’s actually much stranger than in the other Upmann blends I’ve had. I’d sum up this first third as baking spice, corn flakes and cappuccino.
H. Upmann Connossieur No. 1 Second Third
Getting into the second third I’m starting to pick up on notes of oak and vanilla. The vanilla is joining in really nicely with the mix of baking spices. It’s surprising to me how actually spicy the baking spice flavors are here. They’re very pronounced and can be felt in the back of the throat, but in a way that makes a lot of sense in context of the blend. The notes on the palate here are strong baking spice, and corn flakes. The retro is showing cappuccino, vanilla and oak.
H. Upmann Connossieur No. 1 Final Third
Oak and vanilla are slowly ramping up to take the spot as the dominant tones. The palate is all creamy coffee and vanilla with some lingering corn flakes in the background. I’m finding oak, vanilla and baking spice which has gotten a few notches less spicy on the retrohale. Interestingly the overall flavor profile has actually gotten a bit sweeter here in the final third. Past the band the flavors are leaning more woody – cinnamon, oak and some lingering baking spices are the main flavors. This smoked all the way down to the nub with little to no harshness at all, but the flavors did begin to fall off at the final inch, which is to be expected.
H. Upmann Connossieur No. 1 Conclusions
What an amazing blend! I was hooked right from the beginning and it didn’t let go until my fingers were getting hot. Admittedly, I’m a huge fan of the H. Upmann flavor profile, so there may be a bit of a bias here. That being said, H. Upmann is a marca with a large portfolio, and I don’t love everything they make. I loved this one. The flavor profile was impeccable, construction was great, and the vitola is legendary for very good reason. I loved the edge that the actually spicy baking spice gave to the blend, and the corn flakes and coffee note was very enjoyable. This cigar was blended pre 1960, and you can tell. It’s not meant for mass appeal, but thankfully it was meant for me. I’m surprised I don’t hear about this one more often, and I’m almost hoping I don’t. I’ll be purchasing a box of these in the very near future.
This cigar came from a January ’23 box with an ERO factory code.
