Corleone
Rispetto
No, even if the name of the brand obviously
brought back memories with Marlon Brando & Al Pacino, I'm not going to talk
about The Godfather but rather Revolution with the slogan: I am a free being.
But let me give you a little history. As early
as 1870, Italian immigration brought members of the Cosa Nostra to the major
American cities.
Meanwhile,
in Corleone, we are far from Toto Riina, but the Cosa is gaining in stature and
is becoming an essential branch of the mafia.
In 1920,
the prohibition period begins in the United States and lasts until 1933. This
period was accompanied by the massive arrival of Italian mafiosi, mainly
Sicilians, because in Italy, B. Mussolini took power and decided to hunt down
the Sicilian mafia.
This period
will see the ranks of the Italian-American mafia families swell considerably
with the arrival of Sicilian mobsters but also because to escape a precarious
lifestyle, some immigrants choose to join the American mafia. I know you are
thinking directly of the famous story between Eliot Ness and his incorruptibles
and Scarface (Al Capone) but I won't go there; Al was from the Neapolitan
branch and for the genesis of this cigar I have to stay with Sicily.
So
prohibition saw the opening of an incredible number of speakeasies and other
alcohol trafficking, which implied much greater profits and the creation of
better organized groups; and on the other hand, it gave birth to criminal
careers with prominent roles.
In 1930, the
ineffectiveness of the law against the Italian-American mafia, led by the Cosa
Nostra (the Corleone family), weighed heavily in the balance of the Association
Against the Prohibition Amendment (AAPA) as well as the limitation of
individual liberties. This will push the new president Franklin Delano
Roosevelt to finally repeal the Volstead Act which until then justified and
defined the prohibition; and to authorize the manufacture, transport, sale,
import and export of alcoholic beverages. This will be executed in April 1933.
Somehow, it
is safe to say that the village of Corleone has actively and indirectly collaborated
in lifting the bans.
But you
will tell me, what does all this have to do with cigars?
In the
words of the creator (who has family in Corleone): This small Sicilian village becomes again the symbol of
anti-prohibition and freedom of the people through the brand of cigars
Corleone. And
what could be more symbolic than the cigar as a symbol of freedom, because it
remains an icon of Cuban liberation and dictatorship. It entered the collective mind through the door of the revolutionary and
liberating movement. Smoking a Corleone is a political gesture and a way of
proclaiming: I am a free being.
I like this
vision: I am free! Stop bugging me with your anti-smoking restrictions! I am
not a cigarette smoker (and I have nothing against them): smoking a cigar is my
moment of pleasure alone or with friends, my moment where I enter my bubble and
where I am well, a little out of time.
But back to the cigar, I have a nice light brown wrapper, not as light as a Connecticut but more like a milk coffee.
It is
decorated with a ring with black, white & red colors. On the top, we can
read cor eone in white, the L is red and crosses the whole ring. A bit like a
finger raised in sign of revolution or gun depending on the orientation of the
ring. Thierry Bonne, the designer, says it himself: the letter L stands up like a raised finger. An assumed
representation of the expression of freedom in a world more and more subjected
to dictates.
On each
side of it, we find the representation of fingerprints based on pre-Columbian
signs.
To the touch the cape is silky, with a
beautiful elasticity and a perfect oily aspect.
One last moment of contemplation, then I make
a straight cut.
Raw, I feel like a resistance in the passage
of air; my first reflex is to tell myself that this cigar is very tight and
that I'll have to pull a lot to get the desired smoke flow.
The foot ignites perfectly, and the smoke flow
is quite important. You
will also have understood that given my enthusiasm, my first impression was
wrong and no, the cigar is not too tight; on the other hand, it is well filled.
But the draw is correct, neither too hard nor too easy.
The first
puff hits my mouth and I'm under the black pepper fire, thankfully I was told
this was a medium cigar, followed right behind by an old fashioned tanned
leather that leaves the animal smell well.
After the
first centimeter, the pepper decreases while remaining black; it is less
present. The leather takes center stage to give us a show worthy of the
greatest Capo di tutti capi before
going underground by associating with coffee, to give us a soft and pleasant
unctuousness, closely monitored by The
Godfather the Black Pepper. This variation leads to the fall of the power
that descends to medium.
I'm around
5 cm when my tasting gives me a blatant but stealthy sensation of a balsamic
syrup with also the appearance of nuts. The coffee moves to strong while the
leather remains in the forefront. I end up with a medium-strong cigar.
This
tasting experience will not change until the end of my tasting.
The tastings were done on 2 specimens, including a Cupela, which does not require an article since there are no major changes. They have: 15.5 cm for a cepo of 52 and 11.3 for a cepo of 50 (Cupela).
Wrapper :
Ecuador
Binder : Ecuador
Filler: Dominican Republic, Peru & Nicaragua
In conclusion: here is a cigar which is rolled
in Nicaragua and which brought me a beautiful satisfaction. It is accessible to
all amateurs, whether they are beginners or not.
A cigar that does not have a very wide range
of flavors but focuses on a balance throughout the tasting. They are made with minimum 4 years
old tobacco. Cherry on the cake: the construction is right and perfect, it is a
work rudely well done.
Now, for the Belgian aficionados, you will still have to be a little patient to find it in the good civets. But if like me you are impatient to smoke it again or to discover it, I advise you to go to one of the four Belgian Davidoff shops to find the Rispetto, as well as four other modules.
Price at the time of writing: 14 euros.
I look forward to your feedback or comments
under this article.