The Good Stuff: Royale with Cheese, you heard that right. Drew Estate always has quirky code names for all of their pre-production blends. Will this be the final name of the vitola? Probably not. But the master minds at Drew Estate never fail to surprise me. (EDIT: I was notified by Steve Saka that this is actually NOT the Royale with Cheese! See the comments below for his explaination.)It’s (from what I know) the same blend as the T52.  For more information on the T52 blend you can navigate to my review of the toro or my review of the flying pig. Same blend, just in gigantic form. I used to love the hell out of larger ring gauged cigars, but lately I will almost always go for the corona. I just think the smaller ring gauges kick out so much extra flavor. Will the monster size dull-out the massive flavors of the T52? Let’s find out.

Size: 6 x 60  -  Wrapper: Stalk Cut Habano  -  Binder/Filler: Nicaraguan/Honduran/Dominican – Brazilian Mata Fina

Prelight: Quickly touching on the prelight characteristics, they are completely identical to the T52’s, just WAY bigger. Super, super, super oily wrapper. Toothy, and a dark chocolate brown with tons of orange spots. One of two big veins running the length of the body,  but nothing too crazy. Nice rounded cap, and the standard Liga Privada T52 band. This cigar is heavy as hell, and carries a very firm, and thick wrapper with absolutely no soft spots at all.

The cigar smells like straight up cedar, a ton of spice, and some nice espresso notes. The foot smells almost identical, only with a much more pronounced aroma. The cap took a bit of convincing from my Liga Privada double-bladed cutter before clipping off. The cut was clean, it just took a bit of extra pressure. The cold draw matched the aromas I picked up earlier to a tee. The only difference was the cedar was much more pronounced and there was a butt-load of pepper in there.

First Smoke: This T52 6×60 took quite a bit to light up using my single flame butane torch. I almost forgot how much work it took to get bigass cigars lit. The cigar didn’t start off with nearly as much pepper as I expected. A lot smoother, with a ton of cedar, espresso, cocoa, and spice. The draw is REALLY open at the start of the first third. It gives out a nice, full mouth of smoke, but takes a few draws to get there.  After about a half inch though the foot was nice and ashy and the draw tightened up. And if you thought the normal T52 gave off a lot of stationary smoke, this T52 is like a wildfire.  The burn line was perfect and the tightly compacted light grey ash held on for and inch and a half before giving way.

Halfway There: As I thought, the T52 6×60 is a lot smoother, and more open than what I was used to in the other T52 vitolas. Not to say the flavor hasn’t been there, but it’s not as powerful as the other vitolas. The second third flavors match the first only a bit smoother, creamier, and not as strong. The cedar has really taken off though, mixed with a nice, creamed coffee with the spice in the background. The retrohale is good, tons of cedar, but very strong with spice and pepper. I am also already feeling a lot of nicotine from this cigar early in. It’s not for the faint of heart. Burn line is perfect, and draw has been wonderful since it tightened up in the first third.

Finish: The flavors really haven’t changed much into the final third of this Liga Privada T52 6×60. Mainly, the spice and pepper have completely disappeared, but the cedar and the coffee and creamy notes have ramped up as well as the strength of the cigar. This thing really has a bite and I really don’t recommend it if you aren’t one for strong cigars. The ash has been kind of flaky into the final third too, which is strange cause I really didn’t feel any soft spots, nor could I find any mis-construction. The ash seems to fall off at random times too, twice in my lap. But that’s what I get for always waiting for the last minute to tap my ash out. Towards the end there was no harshness at all. I was REALLY surprised with how smooth this cigar faired out from start to finish.

Overview: This is a beast of a cigar. It took me about two hours to take it down entirely. Ever heard the saying “you can never have too much of a good thing?”, this cigar goes to show that you can. At least, in my opinion. This cigar was just too much for me. The flavors where there, the smoothness let me finish it, and the creaminess resulted with no harshness at all. But still, this was just too much cigar for me. Anyone who loves the T52 and is looking for a larger vitola to fit those days when you are just looking for a little more “relaxation” time will find this cigar absolutely perfect. Maybe I’m just not one for the larger sizes?

Pairing: I paired this Liga Privada T52 with a with a beer I absolutely adore. New Belgium’s Lips of Faith Series Dunkel Weiss. Usually I don’t pair the only cigar I have with a beer with so much flavor, but I knew the blend was similar so I already knew that the T52 6x60would pair perfectly with this beer.  This Dunkel Weiss if a hell of a flavor-bomb. Really, be prepared for it. It’s not anything like a traditional Dunkel. This thing tastes like just a whole crap load of fruit, apples, berries, plum, tons of banana, mixed with a bunch of malt, caramel, and a VERY strong cinnamon aftertaste. Needless to say this was an absolutely wonderful pairing with the soft fruit notes, espresso, spice, and cedar picked up in this Liga Privada T52 6×60.

To this:

Follow this link to the guest review over at Toasted Foot. Great guys, with a great site.

I recently got a nice little package from our good friends over at www.toastedfoot.com. If you are unfamiliar with these boys I would strongly urge you to pay them a visit. Great people, with amazing reviews. I actually had the pleasure of doing a review swap with them a few weeks ago. In case you missed it you can find Toasted Foots guest review on Casas Fumando of Ashton’s San Cristobal here, and our reivew on Toasted foot of Drew Estate’s Liga Privada Flying Pig here. Anywho, in that package, amongst tons of other goodies I found a La Aurora Serie Aniversario 107. I have been dying to get my hands on this cigar. Needless to say, I wasted no time firing this one up. Keep in mind I only had one of these sticks and this review will be based solely on this one cigar.

I started to look for some information on this stick and quickly found multiple postings of this press release. I really don’t think I could go more into detail, so I am just going to stick the release in here and get on with it!

The Good Stuff:

MIAMI FL — Miami Cigar & Company, the exclusive distributor for La Aurora brands in the United States, announces the release of the La Aurora Serie 107 Anniversario to mark the company’s 107th year of operation in the Dominican Republic. As part of a year-long campaign to Rediscover La Aurora, 107 retailers across the U-S will be giving away 107 robustos on April 30th. The list of participating retailers can be found at http://rediscoverlaaurora.com.

Miami Cigar president Nestor Miranda says, “We have represented La Aurora for over 20 years and feel this is one of the best cigars they have made so far. We believe so much in the 107 that we are giving cigar smokers the chance to try it for free. All anyone has to do is buy a cigar, any cigar, at one of the participating retailers on April 30 and we’ll give you a free 107.” La Aurora vice president Guillermo Léon adds, “We realize that while our family has been making fine handcrafted cigars for more than a century, some cigar smokers still have not tried our products and others remember when we only made cigars in the mild range. La Aurora has been developing medium to full bodied cigars with full flavor and we want to let people know how we have changed. The Rediscover La Aurora is part of our outreach to those smokers.”

The 107, which uses a Sun Grown Ecuador wrapper over 6 year old fillers and binder from Dominican Republic and Nicaragua, will come in boxes of 21 with a suggested retail price between $6 to $8, plus any local taxes. There will be 3 sizes: Robusto (4.5×50); Toro (5.5×54); and a Belicoso (6.25 x 52). The 107 will only be available at brick and mortar tobacconists.

Prelight: The La Aurora Serie Aniversario 107 is a short, nubby little stick, topped off with a rounded little cap. The wrapper is medium to light brown with little spots and speckles of a darker brown leading up to a darker shade towards the head of the cigar. There are quite a few larger veins running through this 107 that I hope don’t interfere with my burn. As I said, I only have one stick so there won’t be any benefit of a doubt points handed out on this one. The cigar itself is really firm and the wrapper feels very fragile as most Ecuadorian wrappers in my experiences do. The construction is near perfect minus the fact that the cap could have used a bit more attention. It seems as though it was carelessly placed on the head of the cigar and not really nurtured the way it should have been. There are quite a few uneven points, and bumps pushing through the head. The band resembles a similar color palette and design from other La Aurora cigars. It’s even sporting the lions head we have seen pop-up as of late, and a gold ring running the length of the band that carries the words “Serie 107 Aniversario”.  The wrapper smells very sweet with hints of honey, graham cracker, and tobacco while the foot of the cigar gives off more of a oat type smell with a dash of spice. The cap cut off very clean and easily with my Palio double bladed cutter. The cold draw flavors produced from the La Aurora 107 carry more of an oat and grain character with again, just a hint of spice thrown in the mix.

First Smoke: The La Aurora Serie Aniversario 107 lit up with extreme ease under my triple flame butane torch. The first flavors I was able to pick up was just a little bit of up from pepper followed by grain, tobacco, nutmeg, pine, and hay. There was also this awkward bitter taste that only lasted through the first few draws and then diminished. The draw produced by the La Aurora 107 was spot on. The draw was very large, effortless, and produced a mass amount of really thick grey smoke. There isn’t a whole lot of stationary smoke coming off this cigar, but what is produced smells of wood, and straight tobacco. Probably not the most public-friendly smelling cigar. The retro hale is very smooth, and helped me pick up a bit more of the pine and woodsy notes. The burn line is a lot thicker than I expected, but it is burning relatively even leaving behind a dark grey, semi flaky ash. The ash was a bit loose and surprisingly only held on for just short of an inch before giving way.

Halfway There: Now the La Aurora Serie Aniversario 107 is really starting to shine. I was fearful that the oat and grain would be the bland, prominent flavors produced by this stick. Instead, into the second third the woodsy, cedar, honey, sweet tobacco flavors just take off. I’m not sure if it was the apricot infused India Pale Ale beer I paired this cigar with or not, but I am getting a slight hint of lime off the aftertaste. The retro hale is extremely enjoyable at this point. Outside of the great flavor profile, the 107 did however start to see some burn issues. One portion of the cigar, about 1/3 of the ring was left trailing way behind the rest of the burn line. I touched it up shortly after the first ash fell and it has been rocking solid ever since. The burnline is still pretty wide, and I don’t expect that to really thin out much through the rest of the experience. At this time I feel absolutely no nicotine from this cigar.

Finish: I was scared that I was smoking this cigar too fast and that I would build up quite a harsh end to such a smooth cigar, however that was not the case at all. The final third of the La Aurora Serie Aniversario 107 finished incredibly smooth, and flavorful. This cigar did smoke pretty fast, about an hour total even after I slowed down halfway through. The cedar/woodsy flavor was still in the driver seat, backed by the sweet tobacco and honey notes I grew to love. The burnline was still pretty wide with the occasional wave, but it didn’t require any further touch ups what so ever. There were no signs at all of nicotine from this stick. Very mild, very smooth, and very enjoyable.

Overview:  The La Aurora 107 is a cigar best taken slow. Kick back, take your time, and enjoy this stick. If you speed through it with excitement you are bound to miss out on a great, complex flavor mash-up. The 107 for me, was mild/medium from start to finish. Although the very last of the final third ramped up slightly, I don’t think the body of this cigar ever went above medium. For the relatively low price of this stick I would honestly recommend anyone who catches them in store to pick a few up, heck even a box will do. The all around smoothness of this cigar is great for a breakfast or lunch break, and appeals to not only the novice cigar smoker, but complex flavors will keep even the greatest aficionado entertained.

Pairing: I decided to pair my La Aurora 107 with some of Dogfish Head’s Aprihop Apricot infused India Pale Ale. It was surprisingly a great pairing as the sweet fruit, and bitter, hoppy beer helped me pick up even some of the deepest flavor notes within the cigar. I would recommend pairing this cigar with a light ale, an IPA, a red ale, water, or tea. Anything too dark may actually overpower the smoothness of the 107.

On a side note: If you haven’t yet, don’t forget to check out the contest Casas Fumando’s Daniel is putting on. He has some GREAT smokes up for grabs. Trust me, you won’t be dissapointed.