When your cigar company is named after the Cayman Islands, it only makes sense to name a cigar after one of the islands’ most famous residents: the tortuga.
Tortuga is the Spanish word for turtle or tortoise, so it’s a generic term for the roughly five species of turtles who make the Cayman Islands their home. The animals are so plentiful that Christopher Columbus originally dubbed the Cayman Islands as Las Tortugas back in 1503.
Cayman’s Tortuga is a 6 x 58 perfecto that is distinguished by a very unique head that features a shaggy, bushy clump of tobacco. The blend uses two wrappers, a darker Mexican San Andrés leaf and a lighter Ecuadorian Connecticut-seed. The binder and fillers both come from Nicaragua, with Tabacalera Familia Disla S.A., in Estelí, Nicaragua, producing the cigars.
“Tortuga represents everything we love about cigar making, patience, heritage, and the pursuit of excellence,” said Haugh. “This release was designed to be something special for retailers and enthusiasts alike. It’s a cigar that rewards those who take the time to slow down and truly experience it.”
The Tortuga is priced at $24 per cigar and limited to just 250 boxes of 10 cigars.
- Cigar Reviewed: Cayman Cigar Co. Tortuga
- Country of Origin: Nicaragua
- Factory: Tabacalera Familia Disla S.A.
- Wrapper: Ecuador (Connecticut-seed) & Mexico (San Andrés)
- Binder: Nicaragua
- Filler: Nicaragua
- Length: 6 Inches
- Ring Gauge: 58
- Shape: Round
- MSRP: $24 (Box of 10, $240)
- Release Date: May 2026
- Number of Cigars Released: 250 Boxes of 10 Cigars (2,500 Total Cigars)
- Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3
There are cigars that have a lot going on visually, and then there is the Cayman Cigar Co. Tortuga. The head of the cigar is easily the most unique and distinctive attribute, but the three strips of lighter colored tobacco that are cut with a waviness to them can’t be overlooked either, as one covers the foot, one sits above the band, and the third above that, just below the head. Given the head of the cigar—and a warning from a colleague that sliding it out of the cellophane could damage it—I elect to cut the cellophane starting from the bottom. This keeps all of the decorative heads intact, though they will be getting cut off shortly. Incidentally, the first two cigars have a shape that drapes like a full tree, while the third is much more vertical. All of the cigars look very well-made, especially given the degree of difficulty. The wrap of tobacco around the foot of the first cigar seems a bit off from what was desired, whether it be a wavy cut to match the pieces higher up, or a straight edge for a clean look. The second and third are much better with a clean foot and a well-done, wavy top line. All three cigars are very firm, enough that I’d just call them outright hard, given how little give there is. None have much in the way of veins or oiliness, leading to a dry, textured feeling on my fingers. The small foot and the densely packed tobacco don’t offer much for me to smell, though I get a sweet fruit aroma that has me thinking of cherries at first. The third cigar is the lightest of the bunch, and takes the smell to that of strawberry bubble gum. I slide my scissors right underneath the bushy head and get a crisp cut and a decent-sized opening. Air flows decently well, given the shape and that it’s seemingly densely packed, though a bit of me is wondering how it will perform once burning. The draw carries a soft flavor that is a bit doughy while repeating the fruit sweetness.
The first puffs of the Cayman Cigar Co. Tortuga are a bit underwhelming, I believe mainly due to the small foot opening and the limited amount of smoke I get. Sometimes the introductory puffs of a perfecto like this just don’t offer the full spectrum of flavors; here, I get a bit of a powdery earth with a little bit of chalk. It’s not a bad flavor, but it’s reminiscent of tasting the flour and related ingredients that go into a cookie versus tasting the finished product. Even retrohales seem a bit underdeveloped; there’s a light white pepper masked by a flour sensation, clearly suggesting with each pass of the smoke through my nostrils that it has more to offer. As expected, once the burn line gets about half an inch in, the draw suddenly opens up, the smoke production increases, and I get a much more rounded flavor thanks to creaminess, table pepper, and a flavor that either registers as woodiness or a buttery cracker. Retrohales are better as well, as the increased smoke volume provides a fuller, more complete experience of the peppery tingle. That said, I’d still like a slightly more open draw in all three cigars, as they each have a bit of restriction. It’s the only technical issue I have thus far, as the burn line is even and smoke production is good. Flavor is a fairly subdued medium, body is medium-minus and strength is mild.
A really lovely creaminess carries the profile into its second third, as the Cayman Cigar Co. Tortuga accents that lead flavor with dry almonds, particularly the outer part. In the second and third cigars, I find myself wrestling with how much I should try and improve the draw; I won’t use a draw poker when it comes to reviews, but I’m not opposed to clipping off a bit more of the head, especially in the third cigar, in hopes of seeing just what the blend might offer. That said, I don’t want to risk the cigar unraveling. The second cigar really latches onto the almond flavor, drying my tongue with each puff and making it a near singular flavor save for a bit of pepper on the finish. The third cigar gravitates more towards creaminess, though it brings in the almond on the finish. There is some increase in flavor intensity at the end of this section, both by turning up the core flavors and by adding some black pepper. Flavor finishes at medium-plus, body is medium and strength is generally mild. The burn line and smoke production remain good, but the draw remains an issue. Additional cuts of the head can help, but it’s not consistent across the three cigars, as they just seem really densely packed and the issues could be further down.
The final third of the Cayman Cigar Co. Tortuga keeps the flavor about as lively as it has been, and the thicker ring gauge seems to be contributing more body and fullness to the smoke, both of which make it a more enjoyable experience. That said, the flavor hasn’t really been that lively or complex thus far, skewing mellow, especially compared to what seems to be the profile of most cigars I smoke, both personally and professionally. Midway through, there is a bit of a shift as the profile picks up just a touch of something that reminds me of earth, pretzel dough, and a bit of baked chocolate. It doesn’t quite nail any one of those three, but it does give the body of the smoke a bit more weight and chewiness. The home stretch sees the smoke turn dry, reminding me of a handful of almonds, while black pepper continues to have a say in the flavor and largely drives the retrohale. There are times I get a bit of dried culinary herbs in the profile as well, though they are both mild and sporadic. The burn line gets just the slightest bit uneven at the very end of the smoke; minor enough and late enough that I’m not tempted to touch it up. The draw continues to hold the cigar back, but the other technical aspects do very well. Flavor finishes medium-plus, body is medium and strength is medium-minus.
Final Notes
- If you smoke this cigar, I’d suggest cutting the head a bit farther down than you might otherwise do. I’m conservative when it comes to how much I generally cut off, and there was definitely a reward for either a second cut or just a more assertive initial cut.
- The bands seemed impossible to remove intact. The adhesive seems to soak in and even through, making it hard to unseparate them or slide them off.
- As far as nicotine, I didn’t get much from the Cayman Cigar Co. Tortuga. The final third has a hint or two of it, but it’s inconsistent.
- Tabacalera Familia Disla S.A. also produced The Doubloon and Broadside BXP for Cayman Cigar Co.
- Charlie Minato tried to cover the Cayman Cigar Co. booth at the 2026 PCA Convention & Trade Show, where this cigar debuted.
- Cayman Cigar Co. donates 100 percent of its profits to charity; you can read more about that and see the organizations it supports on the company’s website.
- If you’re interested in learning more about turtles in the Cayman Islands, I’d suggest starting with the Cayman Turtle Centre.
- The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
- The company lists these as a 6 x 58 perfecto. The numbers above are the measurements we found for the three cigars used for this review.
- Final smoking time was two hours and 30 minutes on average.
- Site sponsor Small Batch Cigar carries the Cayman Cigar Co. Tortuga.
86
Overall Score
To borrow a line from Charlie Minato’s coverage of Cayman Cigar Co. at PCA 2026, the Tortuga is “an eye-catching salomón barber pole with a decorative head, almost as if every option on the options list has been checked off.” That is certainly true from a visual perspective. However, once it comes to smoking the cigars, it’s a different story. While I appreciate consistency in a cigar, the consistently firm, almost tight draw is not appreciated. The cigars are smokable and perform well otherwise, but the labored draw does distract from the experience. As for the flavor, I certainly would not have pegged this as what’s described in the blend notes, and for too much of the cigar I found myself simply wanting a bit more, whether it be a diversity of flavors, depth of the flavor, or even the intensity. There are times when the Tortuga does offer some enjoyable moments, and I tried to reward those whenever possible, for instance, when the creaminess, pepper or almond notes really stood out. I’d love another chance with this cigar in a slightly smaller parejo format and with a better draw, just to see what’s possible, as I’d like to think that design and decoration took a bit too much precedence over flavor.
Cayman Cigar Co.
Cayman Cigar Co. Tortuga
Nicaragua
Perfecto
Tabacalera Familia Disla S.A.
