The secrets of a perfect pairing between rum and cigars: tips and pairing ideas.

29 July 2023 | Food & Rum Pairing
The secrets of a perfect pairing between rum and cigars: tips and pairing ideas.

Due to their common origins, rum and cigars have always been closely linked when it comes to combining pleasure and tasting. For many enthusiasts, it is obvious that these two elements go hand in hand. However, achieving the perfect match between rum and cigar is not as simple as it seems, even if it is within everyone's reach by respecting a few basic rules.

Indeed, certain pairings, such as a Cuban cigar with a mojito, may seem tempting, but they are only a purely emotional combination, reviving memories of a stay in Cuba that was always too short. For a successful taste experience, this is of little interest.

It is important to know that in general there are two ways to achieve a combination between a spirit drink and a cigar.

On the one hand, one of the options is to complement one product with the other using common aromatic notes such as cocoa, coffee or even more vegetal elements such as dry grass. An excellent example of this type of association would be to combine the Eminente Reserva 7 years old rum with a Cuban cigar from Partagas, like the famous D4. These two products present notes of roasted coffee, cocoa, even chocolate, as well as a slight spicy profile.

Serie D4 from Partagas
Serie D4 from Partagas

On the other hand, it is possible to sublimate both the rum and the cigar by playing on the contrasts, by associating a rather full-bodied cigar with a milder, even sweeter rum. However, this combination works less well the other way around, where a heavier rum would just overpower the flavor profile of a lighter cigar. For example, we could associate the Liga Privada No. 9 cigar from Drew Estate with a light and sweet rum like Carùpano 18 from Venezuela.

Liga Privada No. 9 from Drew Estate
Liga Privada No. 9 from Drew Estate

Another concept that works in many cases is that of combining two products from the same country, or even from the same terroir. For example, a rum from Nicaragua usually goes very well with a Nicaraguan cigar. To illustrate this, I suggest combining a module from the "Encore" series from E.P. Carrillo, such as the Majestic Robusto, with a few centilitres of 12-year-old Flor de Cana.

Encore from E.P. Carrillo
Encore from E.P. Carrillo

The most passionate among you can then embark on a more complex variation of this exercise by trying to associate each third of the cigar with a different product or spirit, in order to make the taste experience even richer.

To push the art of association even further, you can even consider decomposing a cocktail to sublimate each third of the cigar by preparing, for example, the famous "El Presidente", a cocktail based on rum and vermouth. Thus, we could taste the first third of the cigar with a centiliter of pure rum used to prepare our cocktail. We would accompany the second third with the cocktail itself, and since the last third of a cigar is often the most full-bodied, we would finish with a centiliter of vermouth to sweeten the end of our cigar.

In general, regardless of the method, the objective of an association is to provide pleasure and to live a taste experience. This can only be accomplished by finding a balance between the combined products. Sometimes this requires several tries and a dose of creativity, but it offers us an infinite number of possible combinations that will particularly delight the most epicurean among us.

In order to continue reading, we suggest you...

Discover our sweet and light rums

Written with ❤️ by

Benoit Bail Danel
Benoit Bail -Danel
Epicurean