Last September, Ministry of Cigars attended the Meet & Greet 2018, hosted by Tabakado in Eindhoven. One of the cigar manufacturers there was Nirka Reyes Estrella from De Los Reyes. To be honest, we had smoked cigars from that factory before and they never impressed until a few years ago, when we discovered the Puros de Hostos Commendador cigars, a private label made by De Los Reyes. And with Debonaire and Indian Motorcycle, De Los Reyes performed again.

Nirka Reyes is the sixth generation of the Reyes family to join the family business. There is a lot of history and to highlight the family’s history, they created the brand Saga. In 2016, a series of limited editions started, the Saga Short Tales and in 2018 the sixth installment was released, the Tomo VI. Distributor Gajane Benelux just picked up De Los Reyes as part of their portfolio, too late for us to try the previous five Short Tales, but today we review the Short Story Tomo VI.

Name: Saga Short Tales Tomo VI
Country: Dominican Republic
Factory: De Los Reyes
Size: 5.5 x 58
Vitola: Gordo
Wrapper: Mexican San Andres
Binder: Dominican San Vincente
Filler: Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, North American
Price: € 9,20 (USA)
Cutter: Xikar X2
Lighter: single flame
S
moke conditions: indoors with ventilator
Smoke time: 
two hours thirty minutes
Sponsored by Gajane Benelux

At Ministry of Cigars we prefer smaller ring cigars, this is a 5 ˝ x58 although it doesn’t look that big. We measured it with the Herics Cigar Tape but the sizes are correct. The wrapper is dark and oily, with a big, mean looking vein. The golden ring with the brown dots and name reminded me of the Sobremesa by Steve Saka. There’s a second ring, green, with golden letters saying Short Tales. The construction feels good and the cigar has a strong horse stable aroma.

The cold draw has hints of dark chocolate and pepper. After lighting a strong coffee shows up with some pepper and caramel. Leather shows up and after a centimeter, some spices show up too. After an inch, the leather remains, now with pepper and an earthy flavor. There’s still a bittersweet dark chocolate flavor lingering around. After a third, there is hay with nuts. Some woody flavor joins in, like oak. The final third is leathery with pepper and herbs. The walnut is gaining strength, and near the end, the pepper is on the rise.

The ash is dark and firm.
The draw is great. The smoke is medium thick and full. This cigar is full flavored, medium-full bodied. The smoke time is an hour and thirty minutes.

Strength: medium-full
Flavoured: full

For the final score with a scientific diagram, a video and pictures, go to: https://ministryofcigars.com/saga-short-tales-tomo-vi/
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