The Particulars

The Review

This review for the Oracle - Robusto (5 x 50) is based on the journal entry dated 2025-04-21

Appearance & Construction (0-3):  Good (3)

It’s a pretty decent-looking little stick. Chocolate brown, oily sheen, some mottling, light veins, tight seams, and a good, clean triple cap. Without getting on my soapbox about how cigars should never have more than 25% wrapper coverage from bands and labels (unless it’s a cedar sleeve), I do really like the design and the teal/silver color scheme. There’s a very firm section in the final third—it’s either overpacked or there’s a potential stem—and we’ll see if it affects the smoke.

Draw (0-3) & Burn (0-4):  Average (2) / Great (4)

The draw is tight but smokable. It’s right on the edge of needing the draw tool, but we’ll see if heat loosens it up or if that extra-firm section is creating an issue. Regardless, it’s smokable as-is. The burn starts off wavy but seems controlled, getting dead-even by the end of the first third. The ash is a light gray with a darker gray poking out from under it, and it stacks well. The leaf creates an extra-thick, medium-gray smoke, too.

Flavor Profile (0-5):  Poor (1)

On the first couple of puffs, I remember why I was so “meh” on this cigar before. It has all the trademarks of other budget Nicaraguan puros I’ve smoked that use lower-quality tobacco. Super leather-heavy, black coffee bitter, slightly astringent, and harsh. It’s not all bad; there’s a nice sweetness to it, along with pleasant earth, barnyard, and woody flavors, but the harsh and rougher notes definitely outweigh the good ones.

In the second third, the harsher flavors take a bit of a backseat and allow more wood, chocolate, and pepper spice to come forward. The sweetness continues and it’s now a pretty decent blend—nothing amazing, but not as off-putting to my palate. There are still a lot of coffee flavors in the mix too, but it’s a bitter coffee, like cheap instant crap. Disappointingly, the harshness comes back in the final third and again, it’s just meh… Fortunately, in the final third I hit that tight spot and the cigar mercifully went out, saving me from having to finish it. Not worth the relight.

Overall Experience (0-5):  Average (2)

This cigar is a study in contradictions for me. It looks good and burns great—all hallmarks of a quality cigar—but the blend is really disappointing. If you really like heavy leather and bitter coffee, or simply don’t taste them, this is a good blend for you. Or, you could just drown it out with a strong black coffee or whiskey. 😅 But leather is a killer for me, and I don’t even enjoy this one enough to call it a yardgar. So, this is my last time with the Oracle, and the final couple will get tossed into the donate bin. It’s a shame because this cigar could’ve been great if they had tweaked the blend. Instead, it feels like this was leftover tobacco that didn’t make the cut for other cigars, so it ended up in a budget smoke. 🤷🏼‍♂️

If you need a decent budget cigar that’s made Plasencia in your life, get the Cuba Libre One.

Review Base Rating (0-5):

3.00

Is it Burnable?

Outlook not so good (skip it)

Review Final Score (0-10):

4.67

Overall Score and Individual Journal Entries

While the review is based off one instance of journaling this cigar; there’s a number of reasons you can have different experiences smoking the same cigar multiple times. A blend can evolve with age (for better or worse), palates evolves, preferences change, and sometimes you just get a bad example!  This section captures the ratings from each journal entry and the related journal photo.  Below you’ll find an aggregate score based on every time the cigar has been journaled. Unless it was a gift or on-off smoke, this section will be updated every time I journal this cigar!

The Flavor Wheel

With every cigar I journal, I capture simple ratings of the basic flavor categories that I experience.  These are more generalized than what you would see in a review, but a distinct profile can still be built out.  When multiple instances of the same cigar have been journaled, the scores are averaged out in an attempt to build a reliable flavor profile based on my palate.

The values entered for the strength of each flavor range from 0 to 3.

• 0:   No flavor detected
• 1:   Mild flavor
• 2:   Medium flavor
• 3:   Strong flavor

Note: desktop / large screens will see a flavor wheel while mobile / small screens will see a bar chart.

With every cigar I journal, I capture simple ratings of the basic flavor categories that I experience.  These are more generalized than what you would see in a review, but a distinct profile can still be built out.  When multiple instances of the same cigar have been journaled, the scores are averaged out in an attempt to build a reliable flavor profile based on my palate.

The values entered for the strength of each flavor range from 0 to 3.

• 0:   No flavor detected
• 1:   Mild flavor
• 2:   Medium flavor
• 3:   Strong flavor

Note: desktop / large screens will see a flavor wheel while mobile / small screens will see a bar chart.