Asylum 13 Corojo Robusto Review

2026-07-06  Five-Pack · 3/4 My Money

Verdict: Five-Pack (3/4)... a mild-to-medium creamy-bread smoke that flipped my "Asylum is a gimmick brand" assumption. My first Asylum ever, and it surprised me the whole way. Near-flawless construction, a self-correcting burn with zero touch-ups, and an ash that survived a 2-foot drop in one piece. Two knocks keep it a five-pack for me: the draw ran too tight start to finish, and the final third took a bitter, over-roasted-nutty dip. Solid cigar.

The Setup

• Cigar: Asylum 13 Corojo, Robusto (5 x 50)
• Blend: Honduran puro... Honduran Corojo wrapper (grown on the Eiroa family farm in the Jamastran Valley), Honduran binder, Honduran filler
• Factory: Tabacos Rancho Jamastran (Jamastran Valley, Honduras)... Christian Eiroa's factory. Asylum is Eiroa's CLE line with Tom Lazuka
• Street price: about $9.80-$10 retail... I paid a bit over that, bought it as a single from a B&M in New York
• Source: my own money, nobody sent me this... my first Asylum
• Storage: out of my humidor that morning, then into a travel case with a 65% Boveda pack for about 8 hours before I lit it
• When/where: 8:30 at night out in the yard... 76°, real feel 77, 74% humidity
• Food beforehand: Mexican chile colorado about an hour and a half earlier... water only, paired with water
• First cigar of the day

Cold Draw and Light Up

Looks like a triple cap, a little unstuck on one side, but I didn't figure it'd be a problem. The foot had a full covering but the very tip had a little cracking, so it didn't quite protect the whole way... looked ok, not stellar, not terrible. Wrapper's clean, a little veiny, not toothy at all, creamy-clean.

Cold draw was super tight, so I clipped a little more... and the cap cracked and the wrapper came off a bit. No glue on me, so we'll see how this goes. Draw's super tight, just a touch of sweetness, that's all I got.

First light: heavy bread, light sweetness, no pepper, no spice even on a full retrohale, and that sweetness lingers a good while after. Looking forward to this one.

First Third

Burn started a little wonky near the end of the first third, but I rotated the slower-burning side to the bottom and it fixed itself 100%, no touch-up. The ash has been really nice, stacking like dimes, tight all the way around.

Flavor's super smooth and creamy, with a light spice coming in right at the end of the first third... creamy bread, tobacco, sweetness. Pretty solid, very mild, nothing harsh. Really good smoke, enjoying it. Wish the cap hadn't cracked, or that I had glue to tack the sticking-up piece down, but otherwise very enjoyable.

The draw's opened up a little but it's still tight.

Second Third

Flavor's still holding, super mild... a light sweetness and a bread note, and the bread's the main one. It spices up a tiny bit but you can retrohale basically the whole thing comfortably. I'm about a half-puff retro guy but I like some spice, and this is mild enough you can retro almost the entire way without watery eyes. Super enjoyable, basically no bitterness.

First Asylum I've ever had. I stayed away because I figured they were a gimmick brand, with the April Fools stuff and the 8x80, 9x90, 13x134 novelty sizes... but this is not a gimmick, at least so far. Not sure it'd be a go-to for me, but a very pleasant mild cigar I'm enjoying tremendously.

That first ash I let ride on purpose, just to see how long it'd hang on. It finally let go about halfway through the second third... fell a good 2 feet to the ground and stayed together in one piece, and it left a nice point on the end. The second ash started right back up just as tight, and it held on from there through the rest of the second third and the whole final third, no ashing it again, no touch-ups. Still great flavor.

Near the end of the third: liking this way more than I expected. Still holding that bread note (unusual this far), light sweetness, and the spice ramped up a bit... noticeable, not high. Get the amount of spice I want when I retro about half of it.

Final Third

Band came off perfectly clean, no binding, no sticking, no pulling, wrapper perfectly clean underneath. The bread note's gone now; the spice is still there but hasn't ramped any more; tobacco sweetness lingers; and a touch of bitter has entered the finish. Ash stayed compact and stacking. Still super enjoyable.

Smoke production's adequate, a little thinner than I like but creamy. No touch-ups a single time. The burn got a little wavy midway through the final third but I wouldn't touch it.

Nearing the end, maybe a half inch left: the bitterness ramped up. Even on a single puff there's a decent amount of it, plus a hint of nuttiness for the first time, settling into an over-roasted nuttiness... not harsh, just over-roasted, and it lingers. A definite dip, but not astronomical.

Weird finish: normally when bitterness shows up it just keeps building, but this one didn't build, it actually receded. Did a double puff and the spice ramped (blew a little too much out my nose for what my tolerance likes, not horribly), and I got good nuttiness and tobacco sweetness off it. Kept surprising me. Single versus double puff at the very end was random... sometimes a single puff came back bitter, sometimes it was sweet cream and nuts with almost no bitterness; sometimes the double was bitter, sometimes more spice with a little sweetness.

Construction

• Wrapper: clean, a little veiny, not toothy, creamy. The triple cap was a touch unstuck on one side, and it cracked when I clipped it (the wrapper let go a bit at the cap, and I had no glue on me).
• Foot: mostly covered, with a little cracking right at the very tip.
• Draw: too tight for me the whole way. Opened up a little once I got going, but never where I want it. My one real knock.
• Burn: self-correcting the entire time. Every time it went a little wonky I just rotated the slow side to the bottom and it fixed itself. Zero touch-ups, start to finish.
• Ash: the star. Tight dimes the whole way. The first ash I let ride on purpose, and about halfway through the second third it let go, fell a good 2 feet to the ground, and stayed in one piece... I picked it off the grass and set it in the tray without it falling apart. The second ash was just as solid and held on through the rest of the second third and the entire final third, no ashing, no touch-ups.
• Smoke output: adequate, a little thin for me, but creamy.

Bottom Line

This one flipped me. I'd stayed away from Asylum because I pegged them a gimmick brand, the April Fools stuff and the 8x80 / 9x90 / 13x134 novelty sizes. This Corojo is not a gimmick. It's a genuinely pleasant, mild-to-medium creamy-bread smoke, and the construction shows off: a self-correcting burn, zero touch-ups, and an ash that survived a 2-foot drop intact. It stayed mild-to-medium, medium strength at most by the end.

Two knocks. The draw ran too tight for me the whole way, opening only a little once I got going. And the final third took a bitter, over-roasted-nutty dip... though even that surprised me by receding instead of building the way bitterness usually does.

Would I smoke it again? Five-Pack. For me it's not a full box, and only because I don't smoke a lot of mild-to-mediums. But if mild-to-medium is in your wheelhouse, this is probably a box buy for you. I'll keep a five-pack in the humidor for when I want a mild-to-medium... I bet it'd be awesome first thing in the morning, even on an empty stomach, without any nic sickness. It's opened my eyes on Asylum, so I'm going to go grab more.

Best for: a mild-to-medium morning smoke with your first cup of coffee, or anytime you want something smooth and creamy that won't push you around... just be ready for a snug draw.

My rating scale, one question only... would I spend my own money on this again? 4 Box Buy (box on hand, always) / 3 Five-Pack (yes, a few live in the humidor) / 2 Hand-Me-One (wouldn't buy it, wouldn't turn one down) / 1 Not Even Free (I'd rather smoke nothing).

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