Cigar Review: H. Upmann Vintage Cameroon Belicoso

Hey everyone, the Cigar Czar here, today we will be discussing the H. Upmann Vintage Cameroon Belicoso. As we all know, H. Upmann is one of my favorite cigar brands and so this, for me, was to be a real treat! The Vintage Cameroon has a rare African wrapper from Cameroon over a Dominican binder and a Peruvian/Nicaraguan long filler blend. This puppy comes packaged quite elegantly in a Spanish ceder sheath bearing the 'Vintage Cameroon' title. Slip this off and you are welcomed to a wonderful and spicy bouquet.

The construction of this cigar was a bit tricky. I actually had to go through two of these, because having smoked about an 1/8 of an inch, the wrapper on the first one split from the lit end, quite extensively, to about halfway up the cigar. Grabbing the second one, it remained intact after lighting, but still had a very hard draw, indicating this batch was probably rolled a bit too tight. The draw did not become easier and more enjoyable until probably around the 2/3 mark. However, upon visual inspection the Cameroon wrapper had a beautiful even blond/brown color and was very smooth, nor did it reveal too much vein within its leaf. The ash on this cigar was a near perfect even white that clung for dear life, almost going halfway up this stick and the burn was unwaveringly even! Although not a big producer on smoke in the beginning, as the draw eased up the smoke became much more robust and aromatic.

Upon lighting, to be quite honest, it was really hard to discern much flavor in the beginning due to its very hard draw, if anything it had a pleasant charred wood flavor. Once about halfway through, I started pulling mild flavors of nut and earth. As it progressed to the 2/3 mark where the draw really eased up and I could get a good pull, a wonderful nutty flavor with a hint of anise came through and just a bit of earth in there as well. After removing the label and smoking more of this into the nub, the nutty flavor was joined by a bit of coffee with anise still stirred in and a sprinkling of pepper.

Overall the H. Upmann Vintage Cameroon Belicoso was good even after dealing with the split stick and the hard draw of the second one. The flavors were amazingly complex and fun and this cigar also lasted for close to an hour and a half. As far as the poor construction notes on draw and the split of the first cigar, I would not put too much stock in those issues as I have smoked these before without incident.