Some cigars ease you in. The CroMagnon does not.
That’s not a complaint — it’s the whole point. Skip Martin and Michael Rosales built this blend in 2011 out of a backyard in Estelí, Nicaragua, with six employees and zero interest in becoming the next big box brand. They named the company after their own initials — Ro for Rosales, Ma for Martin — and named their first cigar after the prehistoric humans who looked exactly like us but lived in a world that wanted to kill them. The metaphor wasn’t subtle, and it didn’t need to be.
A Brand Built on Restraint
RoMa Craft Tobac is one of the few premium manufacturers that voluntarily caps its own production. They’ve held the line at 1.2 million cigars per year, distributed through roughly 300 hand-picked retail partners. No grocery store endcaps. No airport kiosks. If you’re finding CroMagnon, someone at your shop cares enough to stock it.
Skip Martin lives and blends in Estelí at the Nica Sueño factory, where he oversees 12 rolling pairs. The philosophy hasn’t changed since day one: Tobacco, Talent, Time. That’s the whole brand platform, and when you light one up, you understand why they’ve never needed to say more than that.
The 2024 Reblend: PA Broadleaf Takes the Helm
Here’s the honest truth about the current CroMagnon: it’s not the same cigar it was in 2011. That’s not a knock — it’s evolution born out of necessity.
Connecticut Broadleaf, the wrapper that defined the original CroMagnon, became increasingly difficult to source consistently. Rather than compromise the blend with inferior leaf or overpay for diminishing supply, Martin made the call to pivot to Pennsylvania Broadleaf Maduro. The band shifted from grey to white text to signal the change. Most serious smokers noticed; most took it in stride.
- Wrapper: US Pennsylvania Broadleaf Maduro
- Binder: Sumatra Hybrid
- Filler: Nicaraguan Criollo 98 from Jalapa and Pueblo Nuevo, plus Dominican Ligeros from La Canela and Santuario
The result is a cigar that’s been widely described as more balanced and refined than its predecessor — without losing the raw power that made the original famous.
The Smoke
The EMH (Early Modern Human) is the vitola most reviewers gravitate toward — a 5 x 56 robusto extra that gives you enough ring gauge to carry the blend’s full complexity without running too long. At around $11 a stick, it sits in the conversation for best value-to-performance ratio in the full-strength category.
The PA blend opens with dark earth and leather — the kind of foundation that lets you know immediately this isn’t a Sunday morning cigar. Espresso and black pepper show up early in the retrohale. As the blend develops, chocolate and cocoa work their way forward: darker, drier notes that complement rather than sweeten. Cedar and toasted oak provide structure in the second third, and a subtle anise note ties everything together toward the finish.
Construction has been consistently praised across the board — tight draw, even burn, dense smoke output. This is what happens when a factory runs 12 rolling pairs and turns away retailer requests that would require cutting corners.
Who It’s For
The CroMagnon PA is not a beginner’s cigar, and it’s not trying to be. It’s for the smoker who wants something with actual weight — not aggressive for aggression’s sake, but unapologetically full.
Pair it with a peaty Scotch or a barrel-aged stout. Smoke it on a cool evening when you have 90 minutes and nowhere to be. Don’t rush it.
If you’ve been on the fence about diving into the RoMa Craft catalog, the CroMagnon EMH is the right entry point. It tells you everything you need to know about what Skip Martin is building down in Estelí.
The Verdict
The CroMagnon PA isn’t trying to replace the original — it’s picking up the torch and carrying it forward. The wrapper change was a pivot born from pragmatism, but the result is a blend that stands on its own merits: complex, full-bodied, and built with the same obsessive restraint that has defined RoMa Craft Tobac since 2011. This is a serious cigar from a serious brand, and at $11 a stick, it overdelivers.