Today, we are reviewing the Saga Ambar in the Robusto size from De Los Reyes Cigars. The Ambar is the first installment in the Gems Series under the Saga brand. “Ambar,” which means “amber” in Spanish, refers to a gemstone found in the Dominican Republic. This stone is made up of fossilized tree resin and can exhibit shades of orange, gold, and brown, depending on how the light hits it.
The Saga Ambar debuted at InterTabac 2025 in Dortmund, Germany. Earlier this year, at the 2026 Premium Cigar Association (PCA) Trade Show, the Ambar was launched for the United States market.
Saga is a brand owned and produced by the Reyes family in the Dominican Republic. The Reyes family launched the Saga brand in 2015, and one of the first brands was a Dominican puro known as the Saga Golden Age. The Reyes family has nearly 170 years of experience in all aspects of cigar making. They built their reputation as tobacco growers and tobacco brokers in the Dominican Republic.
Without further ado, let’s turn our attention to the Ambar Robusto and see what this cigar brings to the table:
SPECIFICATIONS
Blend and Origin
The Ambar is a Dominican puro made with all-Dominican tobaccos. De Los Reyes cigars is known to produce several Dominican puros. Lines that we have seen with a Dominican wrapper over all-Dominican tobaccos include Saga Golden Age and the Don Julio releases. The tobaccos are from the Reyes family farms.
- Wrapper: Dominican
- Binder: Dominican
- Filler: Dominican
- Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
- Factory: De Los Reyes S.A.
Vitolas Available
Ambar comes in three sizes – each comes in a 20-count box:
- Corona: 5 3/4 x 48
- Robusto: 5 x 50
- Toro: 6 x 54
Appearance (*)
The Dominican wrapper of the Ambar Robusto is medium brown with a slight rosado tint. There wasn’t much oil on this wrapper. On closer inspection, there was slight mottling. There were some visible veins. In addition, there were some visible wrapper seams, but some seams were more prominently visible than others.
PERFORMANCE
Pre-Light Draw (*)
Before lighting up the Ambar Robusto, a straight cut was used to remove the cap. Once the cap was clipped off, it was time to commence with the pre-light draw ritual. The cold draw delivered notes of sweet natural tobacco, dusty earth, and cinnamon. Overall, I found this to be an excellent pre-light draw experience. At this point, it was time to remove the footer band of the Ambar Robusto, toast up the cigar, and prepare for the smoking phase.
Tasting Notes
The Ambar Robusto continued where the pre-light draw left off, as there were more notes of sweet natural tobacco, earth, and cinnamon. In addition, there were notes of red licorice and touches of cedar. As the Ambar Robusto moved through the first third, the natural tobacco and licorice notes took over as the primary notes. There was a great amount of sweetness during the first third. Meanwhile, the earth, cinnamon, and cedar were secondary. The retrohale also had additional cedar, along with touches of pepper.
During the second third of the Ambar Robusto, the natural tobacco and licorice remained primary. Both notes had less sweetness, with a slight amount of bitters emerging. Meanwhile, the earth, cinnamon, and cedar remained secondary. Shortly before the midway point, some of the black pepper emerged on the tongue in the background. Pepper also increased slightly on the retrohale.
There wasn’t much of a change during the final third. The natural tobacco and licorice remained primary, with a good balance of sweetness and bitters. In the background, the earth, cinnamon, cedar, and pepper remained secondary. This is the way the Ambar Robusto came to a close. The resulting nub was soft to the touch and cool in temperature.
Burn
Overall, the burn of the Ambar Robusto was prone to a slight amount of meandering from time to time. The good news is the touchups mitigated the meandering, but I still felt more touchups were needed than I prefer. The resulting ash was light to medium gray. This wasn’t an overly firm ash, but it wasn’t a loose or flaky ash either. Meanwhile, the burn rate and burn temperature maintained ideal levels.
Draw
Overall, the Ambar Robusto had a touch of resistance. This was just enough to give this cigar an ideal draw in my book. At the same time, the Ambar Robusto was a low-maintenance cigar to derive flavor from.
Strength and Body
The Ambar Robusto opened with medium-strength, medium-bodied flavors. During the smoking experience, the strength and body increased in intensity along the way. The body increased at a quicker rate than the strength. By the second half, the Ambar Robusto was delivering medium to full-bodied notes. While there was more strength in the second half than the first half, the strength didn’t increase enough to move out of the medium range of the spectrum.
In terms of the Ambar Robusto’s strength versus body, the body maintained a slight edge throughout the smoking experience.
BANDING AND PACKAGING NOTES (*)
When it comes to packaging, De Los Reyes is one of the most underrated companies out there. While the box is unfinished wood, there is so much more once you open it.
For starters, a bold “Ambar” vista sits on the inside lid. I found it really stands out in a humidor.
Saga always does a nice job of telling the story of their cigar. A shelf talker inside the box briefly explains the story.
Perhaps the most interesting thing is that each row has a series of different colored bands. The bands are also arranged like a color spectrum. My guess is that this will be a staple of the Gems Series. Each band also has the open stencil-style Saga logo
Finally, each cigar is enclosed in a cedar sleeve. A secondary band also indicates the Ambar is part of the Gems Series.
OVERALL ASSESSMENT
Final Thoughts
I’ve said this many times. De Los Reyes is growing some of the best tobacco in the Dominican Republic, and they are putting together some of the best blends. One thing I can honestly say is that no two De Los Reyes blends are even close to smoking alike. This is a really good cigar. I’d probably steer this more toward the experienced cigar enthusiast, but it’s not a cigar I would discourage a novice from enjoying. For me, this is a cigar I would buy multiples of and smoke again. Coming in at 90 points, it earns a Cigar Coop Standard of Excellence designation. I look forward to smoking this cigar, along with the other sizes.
Summary
- Key Flavors: Natural Tobacco, Licorice, Earth, Dusty Earth, Cinnamon, Cedar, Pepper
- Burn: Very Good
- Draw: Excellent
- Complexity: Medium Plus
- Strength: Medium
- Body: Medium (1st Half), Medium to Full (2nd Half)
- Finish: Very Good
Rating
Value: Buy Multiples
Score: 90
Cigar Coop Standard of Excellence
REFERENCES
Photo Credits: Cigar Coop
(*) Indicates this is not factored into the score or value rating
