Aging Room Quattro Vibrato Cigars - Box of 20

The cigar that put Aging Room on the map. A 95-point Dominican box-pressed Toro wrapped in a 2003 vintage Sumatra leaf that had been aging in storage for years before anyone found a use worthy of it. Twenty cigars, one of the best-scored Dominican-made smokes in the last two decades.

Rafael Nodal did not grow up planning to make cigars. He came to the United States from Cuba in 1980 as part of the Mariel boatlift, trained as a classical musician, and eventually found his way into the premium cigar industry through a path that included healthcare, online sales, and eventually the founding of Boutique Blends. Today the Aging Room brand is distributed by Altadis U.S.A., the company behind Montecristo and Romeo y Julieta, making Nodal one of the few independent brand founders operating at that level of distribution.

Every size name in the Aging Room lineup is a musical term. Vibrato, the size in this listing, refers to a technique where a note is made to pulsate with rapid, subtle changes in pitch. Nodal, who still approaches blending with a musician's sensitivity to structure and progression, named the line this way intentionally. The cigars are meant to develop through the smoke the way a composition develops through its movements.

The Quattro Vibrato is the original Dominican blend that earned Cigar Aficionado's #2 Cigar of the Year distinction in 2013, the highest score given to any non-Cuban cigar that year at 95 points. The wrapper is the story. It is an Indonesian Sumatra leaf from the 2003 harvest that spent years aging in a German manufacturer's warehouse before being sold to Nodal's team when economic pressures forced the sale. Nobody else knew what to do with it. Nodal and Jochy Blanco at Tabacalera La Palma in the Dominican Republic did. The result is a dark-tan, rustic-looking Sumatra leaf over Dominican binder and filler that punches well above its construction's apparent simplicity.

Real buyer descriptions stay consistent across reviews: coffee on the draw, sweet cedar through the body, earthy depth running underneath, and a spiced finish. The box press on the 6 x 54 Toro gives the construction a clean, firm feel with a well-made draw from a cold pull. This is a medium to full-bodied cigar that delivers without demanding attention from a seasoned smoker and still giving newcomers to the brand enough complexity to understand why it earned the score it did.

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Flavor progression:

1. First third: coffee and cedar upfront, the Sumatra wrapper contributing a natural sweetness and earthiness that establishes the profile
2. Second third: cedar remains prominent, earthy tones deepen, pepper and spice building underneath
3. Final third: the spice and cedar merge into a clean, toasty finish with the coffee notes rounding everything out

Construction:

1. Box-pressed Toro, firm and well-packed with no soft spots
2. Sumatra wrapper shows natural rustic veining, dark tan with a slight oil sheen
3. Cold draw is consistent across the box
4. Burn rate is even at proper lighting, requires minimal touch-ups

Key Features

1. Brand: Aging Room (Boutique Blends / Altadis U.S.A.)
2. Blender: Rafael Nodal
3. Factory: Tabacalera La Palma (Jochy Blanco), Dominican Republic
4. Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
5. Wrapper: Indonesian Sumatra (2003 vintage aged leaf)
6. Binder: Dominican Republic
7. Filler: Dominican Republic
8. Vitola: Vibrato (Toro)
9. Size: 6 inches x 54 ring gauge
10. Construction: Box-pressed, handmade
11. Strength: Medium to Full
12. Flavor Profile: Coffee, sweet cedar, earthy tones, spice on finish
13. Rating: 95 points (Cigar Aficionado)
14. Accolade: #2 Cigar of the Year 2013, Cigar Aficionado (highest-rated non-Cuban)
15. Box Count: 20 cigars
16. Price per Cigar: approximately $10.00