The name Guantanamera should be pretty easy for most people to recognize. It came from the title of a famous song by the Cuban composer, Joseito Fernandez in 1928. This was a hugely popular song around the world and very much became a representation of Cuba, especially during it’s push in the 1960’s. As for age of the brand, this is a fairly young cigar label as it was only introduced to the world in 2002. They were apparently available in Cuba for awhile before that, but no where else.

Location wise, the Guantanmera cigars get their tobacco from Vuelta Arriba, the second most important tobacco-growing region in Cuba. Every vitola in the line-up is referred to as “mecanizado” which simply means that they are machine made. This is where interest dies off to most aficionados. The fact that these are not hand-made makes them a sort of voodoo. But this also helps the Cuban market by offering a very low priced cigar that is still considered to be “Cuban” and it has actually been a pretty big success.

The obvious market here is people who just want to have a Cuban cigar but don’t want to spend a ton of money to try one. Also, they are touted as being very mild which also makes them appealing to newer cigar smokers. Now I do have a concern with the particular ones that I received. They were given to me as a gift and I’m not 100% sure of their authenticity. The band and packaging is definitely different from the ones I’ve seen in stores. But after some web searching, it seems a lot of European stores have the same pictures. It is possible the band is different or it’s changed recently but trying to find news about these seems pretty rare. Either way, lets see how it goes. And if anyone has had/seen this particular band/tube, I’d love to know if it was real or not.

Cigar: Guantanamera Cristales
Drink: Coffee
Vitola: Cristales (5.9 x 41)
Wrapper: Cuban?
Binder: Cuban?
Filler: Cuban?
Price: About $2 in Cuba
Burn Time: Just over an hour

Construction:
• This is a pretty rough looking cigar, lots of medium veins along with plenty of bumps and folds in the wrapper
• There is a perfect amount of spring to the cigar when you squeeze it
• The cap is actually pre-cut but it looks like it had a single layer cap on it
• The foot seems to have some gaps in the filler, not too tightly packed in there
• You would think they would draw test a pre-cut cigar but I guess not, I’m getting a pretty tight draw on this one and may need to cut if it doesn’t open up
• The draw seemed to open up on it’s own so I didn’t need to cut the cigar at all

Burn:
• Toasting the cigar was very quick and easy, no problems here at all
• Right off the bat you could see some really wacky burning going on, it was spiking up the wrapper like icicles
• Despite the sort of icicle spiking, the burn has actually been coming along fairly nicely, it keeps correcting itself without my help
• Through the first half I’ve had some good luck with no burn issues at all
• The rest of the cigar burned with no major problems at all

Smoke & Ash:
• The smoke coming off the Guantanamera Cristales is very very light and I’m needing to take a few draws to get a decent quantity here
• There is a light resting smoke from the cigar when I lay it in the ashtray, very woodsy aroma to it
• So far the ash is fairly clean, a bit messy but no flaking
• For the most part, the color of the ash has been a consistent dark grey
• I tapped off the ash just short of an inch, it’s a bit windy out here so I didn’t want it to end up on my laptop
• The smoke volume picked up a bit after the halfway mark
• Ash continued to be just short of an inch with a little bit flaking here and there

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper has a touch of a woodsy aroma but I’m getting mostly a barnyard type of small
• The foot brings more of the barnyard aroma out, very much like hay
• On pre-light draw, I’m getting a mix of wood and some tarty sort of flavors
• The first few draws are giving me mostly woodsy flavors and a bit of a charred note, hoping that goes away
• You can immediately tell this is a mild cigar, it’s got very little punch to it
• Even on the retrohale I’m picking up no bite, but the smooth woodsy finish is nice
• Thankfully the charred flavor subsided but I haven’t really gotten much more than a light woodsy flavor through the whole first half
• Getting a bit more body as I pass the first half but we’re still only knocking at the door of the medium range
• I’m picking up a tad bit of white pepper and spices now, not too strong but enough to at least change the flavor a bit
• The spice kept on through the last bit but the woodsy flavors are still primary and getting pretty boring at this point
• The ending finished off pretty bland, the some woodsy flavors. Not bad, just got boring to me

Final Thoughts:
Now I’ll be honest, I came into this cigar with very low expectations. I know this isn’t a fancy or highly regarded cigar but I had to give it a try. To my surprise, it wasn’t terrible as I would have expected. Having said that, it wasn’t great either. What I did get from this is a mild and very one-dimensional cigar. For anyone that has had a few good cigars in their day they will find this terribly boring, But I can completely see the appeal of these cigars for the very occasional smoker. It’s very mild and has a soft profile that won’t scare away new smokers. It’s like the entry level/amateur cuban. And considering it is machine made, it actually burned quite well. So although I may not buy these myself, they are a pretty good gift or purchase for a new cigar enthusiast.

Pairings:
It’s coffee, nothing fancy here. It tasted like decent coffee. My wife made it and it was still hot, not even sure what beans she used but it tastes good. I prefer a really dark/strong coffee but this one was more of a medium roast for sure. Did it pair well? I’d say you can’t get much better. The very light/mild flavors of the Guantanamera Cristales went perfect with this lighter coffee, anything stronger and it would have drowned out the flavors even more. Might even suggest going for water or sparkling water as a good pairing if you really want to taste the few flavors this cigar has.

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I’m pretty sure everyone has heard us and other blogs jabber on about La Aurora. They’ve been turning out some fantastic cigars as of late so I can’t really blame all the great press they’ve been getting. Also worth mentioning, Guillermo Leon recently bought out La Aurora and is now running the successful ship! He’s not shy to turning out quality smokes as you can see in our review of the fairly new Guillermo Leon Signature Cigar. I decided to pick up a La Aurora cigar but instead of one of their fancy new blends, I went with one of their blends that’s been a staple on their profile for awhile now. That cigar is simply called “La Aurora” but a lot of people seem to call it the La Aurora Cameroon so it’s easier to differentiate.

The Cameroon addition to the common name comes from the wrapper used to hold this cigar together. The majority of the leaf used in this cigar is harvested from the El Cibao Valley in Dominican Republic, the hometown country of the La Aurora factory. The La Aurora Cameroon is available in a variety of boxes not typically seen in other blends. You can actually pick these up in full presentation boxes of 5, 10, 20 and 25 cigars. As you can see from the pictures, I managed to get myself a 5 pack box of the Doble Coronas.

Let me note that this cigar is huge! It’s much bigger than what I normally smoke as my max comfort range is usually in the Toro/Torpedo range. But at the price they are I couldn’t resist. Be sure to check out some of our previous La Aurora reviews as well, such as the 107, 100 Anos, Broadway Series, or the 1495 Connecticut. The weather here in Toronto is wacky as usual. It’s gone super hot and dry back down to very cold and damp all within a couple days. At least it was some nice cigar smoking weather while it lasted so I sat down with this cigar and prepared for a long review session. Let’s see how it went…

Cigar: La Aurora Cameroon
Drink: Waterloo Brewery Dark Ale
Vitola: Doble Corona (7.5 x 50)
Wrapper: Cameroon
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican Piloto Cubano and Nicaraguan Olor
Price: $3.50
Burn Time: 2 hours

Construction:
• This cigars wrapper has an interesting dark cinnamon color with specks of a darker brown here and there
• It has a velvety touch to it and a bit of toothiness
• There are some major veins running down the side of the cigar but I’m hoping they don’t cause any major issues
• The foot of this cigar was well packed, and given it’s size that kind of worried me that it would be a tight draw
• Given the length of this cigar, I’m amazed at how even the diameter is from start to finish, very well made
• The head of the cigar is finished with a slightly messy double cap, a few folds can easily be seen
• For the most part, the length of the cigar has a soft spring to it, but I did notice one very firm part about an inch above the foot
• The cap clipped off easily and made a slight mess in the ashtray
• Draw is perfect! I’m amazed because I usually have bad luck with large vitolas

Burn:
• Toasting took a bit longer than usual and even after 30 seconds with my large culinary torch I couldn’t get it glowing properly but I started smoking it anyway
• As expected, my poor toasting led me to require a retouch within the first inch
• After that first touch up, the burn was been excellent up to the halfway mark here
• As I make my way into the last third, still no burn issues and continuing along fairly razor sharp

Smoke & Ash:
• This thing is producing a ton of smoke, each draw fills my mouth completely and with ease
• The resting smoke is still fairly full and gives off a nice sweet woodsy aroma
• The ash on the La Aurora is nothing pretty, it has some light and dark grey tones and is fairly flaky through the first inch
• The ash lasted just over an inch before I tapped it off because it was flaking and looked like it was snowing every time I moved the cigar
• The second ash was a little less flaky and held on for nearly two inches, this was also the part of the cigar that was a little firmer and could explain the difference

Tasting Notes:
• Wrapper aroma gives off a light sweetness and earthy aroma
• The pre-light draw is woodsy and earthy with a touch of spice on the lips
• Initial draws bring earthy and woodsy flavors mixed with a bit of coffee, a nice start
• As the cigar progresses, I’m picking up some sweetness here and there, almost like some sugar was added to the coffee flavor
• Cigar has been mostly mild through the first bit
• Approaching the halfway mark, the sweet coffee notes are becoming more prominent and I’m getting some raw cinnamon notes in there too, the earthy and woodsy flavors are still there but are more in the backseat now.
• The retrohale is very smooth with a small bit and a roasted coffee finish
• As I get into the last third stretch, the coffee has developed very nicely into a roasted coffee flavor, the sweetness and raw cinnamon still remains
• The finish at this point has turned super creamy as well, a very tasty touch!
• The intense sweet coffee and cinnamon flavors continued to the end, with some added roasted cedar. Although the last half didn’t change much it was still very enjoyable
• The retrohale developed a stronger kick to the end, still tasty and not overpowering
• The body also developed towards the end of the cigar, coming in at a comfortable medium

Final Thoughts:
Let me start by saying I was very impressed by the overall construction of this cigar. I always tend to have burn or draw issues when it comes to very large vitolas, especially ones that are well priced. This cigar hit those marks with flying colors offering a perfect draw and great burn. The flavors were also extremely enjoyable and offered a bit of dimensionality to keep it interesting. This cigar is still larger than what I would normally smoke and I think it would be even better in a smaller vitola. I also found through some searching that these are commonly offered as “Factory Seconds” at some retailers with this huge vitola selling for under $2! That’s just crazy good! Even the normal retail of this massive vitola is under $4, that’s a hard price to ignore for such a good cigar. These will definitely be part of my regular rotation at this price and I would highly recommend you seek them out.

Pairings:
For today’s I went with a trusty brew that I always have on hand. It’s from Waterloo Breweries located only about an hour from my house and it’s their Dark Ale offering. Their Dark Ale is surprisingly light and refreshing but offers the great notes of roasted hops and a slight bitterness mixed with a mild fruity and malty flavor. The La Aurora Cameroon is a fairly mild stick so this brew fit it well with it’s crispness. The bitterness and mild fruits paired excellently and accented to roasted and sweet notes of the cigar. I think an IPA or Amber lager would also pair well here. The flavors of the cigar could also compliment a nice coffee.

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