Thursday, June 17, 2010

La Aroma de Cuba EE #55


Size: 5.75” X 50
Shape: #55
Origin: Nicaragua
Body: Medium - Full
Wrapper: Equadoran Sun Grown
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Smoke Clock:

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When it rains it pours. In this case, I am happy to refer to several gorgeous days in a row, sans rain. With such a slew of blue sky days, how could one not step outside and enjoy them with an excellent cigar in hand?

The cigar of the day was the La Aroma de Cuba Edicion Especial (EE) by Ashton. This cigar is smooth, veiny and colored a rich brown tone, smelling of leather, earth, and coffee surrounded by a subtle sweetness. Tasting this stick prelight provided me mostly with a sense of the strength of the blend with only light notes of raisin and leather detected.

Lighting this guy up, I got a nice combination of leather and spice with spice leading the way. This lead beautifully into the first quarter as the profile melted into salt and pepper, leather, cedar, and cashew notes.

The first quarter evolved slightly, providing some coffee notes before its time had passed. By the time the second quarter began, the profile had begun to taste smokey, like sitting around a campfire. Fortunately, these camp fire notes were not overwhelming but supporting and lead neatly into the next section of this stick.

Throughout the second quarter, the individual flavors detected in the first quarter melded together to create a very interesting and complex profile, supported by the camp fire quality of the smoke.

I lazily gazed at people as they passed by and began to notice that the pepper note had all but vanished from the palate. I tried rolling smoke through my nose and discovered that, despite its disappearance on the palate, spice had remained a major player through the nose. Once I got into the third quarter, the profile had stabilized with the camp fire note remaining a strong supporter of the blend.

I finally lay this stick to rest just as the camp fire note began to take its place in the front, but found myself completely satisfied none-the-less.

When it rains it pours. In this case, I refer to two great cigars from La Aroma de Cuba experienced one gorgeous day after the next. What an excellent start to the week!

Rating:
Presentation: 9/10 – The La Aroma de Cuba EE received an additional band recently. You can see it in the photo. This band is so new that Ashton doesn’t even display it on their website. It’s a beautiful addition to an already stellar design. The main difference on the main band is the addition of a second lady to the focal image. Two lovely Cuban ladies instead of one? I can live with that.

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