Luchador El Gringo Frog Splash – a Big Hit in the Water

General Cigar’s Leccia introduced an extension of the Luchador line at the 2015 IPCPR called El Gringo. Luchador, loosely translated, is a wrestler and the four vitolas in the El Gringo line are named after wrestling moves. The El Gringo line is designed to be a full-flavored cigar and the center of the label has the shape of a traditional mask worn by Mexican wrestlers. General gave me a sample called the “Frog Splash”.

 

The Frog Splash wrestling move occurs when the dominant wrestler stands on the top ropes at a turnbuckle, jumps high, opens like a frog jump and splashes (lands) on the losing opponent. Do not attempt this move at home, it is for professionals, not even on your wedding anniversary! Included in this review is a picture of the writer (no mask) with a luchador supplied by General.

 

The Frog Splash is a thick, stubby, 4.5 X 70 box pressed cigar with Nicaraguan Habano binder around a blend of 3 ligeros – from Esteli, Jalapa and Pennsylvania. The wrapper is a Nicaraguan oscuro, although I found it to be lightest shade oscuro I have ever seen.
The Frog’s large ring gauge is intimidating, perhaps too large to cut, but my punch worked just fine and box pressed shapes are easy to hold between two fingers. The Frog’s draw was extremely easy with way above average smoke volume. The burn was uneven, causing a few touch-ups and the ash was acceptable. The dominant flavor was cocoa butter with black pepper which lasted throughout. Spice and chili surfaced later with some sweetness in the background. There was a constant nutty aftertaste.

It took an hour and a half to smoke this medium bodied cigar and I enjoyed it to the end. The SRP is $8.25, about right for the enjoyment delivered. I rate the Frog Splash cigar a 3.5 out of 5. The wrestling move has to be seen to be rated.