- Jan 12, 2022
- 3 min read

Diesel Sunday Gravy review by Don José

Hey team, Don José here back with another review.

Today we have the

Sunday gravy 5x56

by Diesel

If this is your first time here, my reviews rate each cigar on 10 factors and each factor gets a rating out of 10 giving me an overall out of 100. The 10 factors are: Construction, Draw, Burn, Flavour, 1/3 overall, 2/3 overall, 3/3 overall, Journey (how well it flows), Complexity & Value for money.

Freshly landed in New Zealand, the Pecorino is the second release in the Diesel seasonal release cigar line Sunday Gravy. This limited-edition robusto features a Mexican San Andres maduro wrapper, African Cameroon binder and an Habano filler from Esteli, Nicaragua.

The blend for the Pecorino was developed by master cigar blender AJ Fernandez and Justin Andrews, Diesel’s Senior Brand Manager. The cigars are crafted at AJ’s Tabacalera Fernandez factory in Nicaragua. The Diesel Sunday Gravy is a quarterly release line that was inspired by the big pot, slow cooking methods grandma used when making the “Sunday Gravy” or “Sunday Sauce.”

Justin Andrews said, “AJ and I had a lot of fun blending Diesel Sunday Gravy Pecorino. And as often happens over Sunday sauce, we brought our opinions to the table. ‘Pecorino’ represents what he and I both believe is the best of our palates: AJ’s nod to a bold smoke is there on the Nicaraguan ligero filler and my style is represented through the complexity and balance of the Mexican San Andres wrapper.

Details:

Brand: Diesel
Size: 5x56
Wrapper: Mexican San Andres
Binder: African Cameroon
Filler: Habano

The combo of San Andres and Cameroon is a solid mix in my opinion, that mixed with the fact that it's AJ blended and rolled at Tabacalera Fernandez factory in Nicaragua gives me good reason to presume I'm in for a treat here.

let's get into the review.

First thoughts

Man that wrapper is dark! I'd say pushing double maduro but not according to them. It's not overly oily but is super toothy, small fine teeth tho, almost like a wet & Dry sandpaper finish.

Construction

Nearly a perfect construction, stick is very dense on the touch and has some good weight to it, there is a slightly visible wrapper lift on the join but it isn't split and doesn't leak and smoke.

Burn & Draw Great burn and exceptional draw, plenty of thick smoke and no re-lites.

Flavour & Complexity Some awesome flavours coming through; pepper, wood, earth & leather all mixed with a nice underlying creaminess. If I'm picking holes, It's a little light on complexity and I think that that might be due to the shared blend, getting a balance for two tastes is tricky especially when mixing contrasting leaves like this, so it feels like complexity took a bit of a back seat. That said, it's not boring by any stretch and with the boldness and epic flavours on hand... well it wasn't a big issue for me.

Strength Mid-full leaning towards full, around 80% mostly.

Enjoyment / Journey This stick has a great little progression, the mix of the bold and spicy from the San Andres blending with the creaminess of the Cameroon really works. This is a damn enjoyable smoke.

Overall Awesome new offering by Diesel and a well priced stick, AJ can't really do wrong it would seem and this cigar is well worth having a few of in the humidor.

It's a stronger cigar than many of my recent review sticks so watch out if you prefer a more mild smoke.