As much as we might wish they did, not all Cuban cigar moments last over an hour. There are many times where time to smoke is short, leaving us searching for a stick that will deliver all the flavour we crave but will not fill the rest of our afternoon. Fortunately, many of the great Cuban marcas offer such treats. Partagas is one of them, offering their trademark full-bodied blend in a variety of small, quick vitolas.
The Partagas Shorts is a mere 42 ring gauge by 4 3/8 inches and can be savoured in a mere 20 minutes. They have been hand-rolled in Havana for over 60 years, representing excellent value for money and a fine way to sample such a prestigious house for those who may be new to the world of cigars, as well as those short on time. Like their cousins the Partagas Habaneros, they are a fantastic accompaniment to a lunchtime coffee.
The classic Partagas band on the Partagas Shorts
Construction: 8/10
- A dark colorado wrapper was let down by a rough grain, but the fill was even along the whole cigar.
Draw: 10/10
- The draw of this particular cigar was perfect. Plentiful volume of smoke with each puff.
Combustion: 8/10
- The cigar very briefly threatened to tunnel as it entered the middle third, but soon righted itself and returned to a fairly straight burn line.
Ash falling from the end of the cigar was fairly densely packed
Ash: 4/5
- A rather dark grey but fairly solid. The ash on fell off roughly with each centimetre smoked, and remained packed together when it fell.
Smoke: 5/5
- Plentiful, silvery-blue in colour and aromatic. Very pleasing to the eye and nose.
Flavour: 22/25
- For such a small cigar, there was a decent breadth of flavour packed in. The notes I detected were not particularly varied, nor were they surprising, but they were abundant and delicious. I chose a strong black coffee to drink with this smoke and the spice and earth delivered by the cigar stood up well alongside it.
Overall: 30/35
- This cigar is certainly not the most glamorous Habano on the market, but it certainly performed well and helped pass a brief period mid-afternoon. The flavour profile was nothing spectacular, but it was very pleasing. Especially when considered against the price, this is a fine cigar to choose as a go-to.
A mere 20 minutes had passed from beginning to end of this cigar
Final Score: 87/100
- The Partagas Shorts is a cigar which may, like many others, escape the attention of aficionados as so many of us chase larger formats and exclusive releases. This is a shame, because it is actually a smoke that performs very well. Immediately upon lighting the cigar I was treated to rich, full body and black pepper spice which tingled at the back of my palette. This spice continued into the final third, growing in intensity and being tempered by a very mild dark chocolate undertone. This chocolate flavour faded out almost as soon as it had faded in, however, and was replaced by even more spice, accompanied by a rich earthiness to round off a quick but pleasant experience.