King Cigars is headquartered in Pompano Beach, Florida and operates two factories.  One factory is housed in Santiago, Dominican Republic and the other in Esteli, Nicaragua. Available offerings from Kings Cigars includes the Baron, the Conde, and the King of Kings. Three additional lines are expected to be released in the latter part of 2013 to include the Virey, the Doque, and the King of Kings Limited Edition. There was not much information available on the cigar or the company on the web. I have reached out to King Cigars and will hopefully receive some information in the near future. ‘

The Facts

Samples Provided by King Cigars
MSRP: $8.50*
Size: 6 by 64 (Box Pressed)
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Unknown
Filler: Unknown
Drink: Water
Smoke Time: 2 hours and 30 minutes

*The MSRP is stated on the stogiereview.com video referenced above. However, I have come across different information on other sites.

Pre-light

The Ecuadorian Habano wrapper is medium brown with a velvety feel and small veins are scattered throughout. A light sheen of oil can be seen as light bounces off the stick. As I inspect the cigars for soft spots, I am surprised not to find any on such a large cigar. The cigar has a hefty feel and from what I can tell, the construction is solid. We shall see how it holds up during the smoke. The wrapper aroma is faint with notes of cocoa, barnyard, and cedar. The foot aroma is outstanding with the cocoa right on the forefront, raisins, and rich tobacco.

The large double cap is fitting for the cigar. If anyone over clips this cap, you should seriously take up a new hobby. King Cigars was kind enough to throw in a stainless steel, double guillotine cutter that cut the cap nicely. The effortless draw reveals a chocolate that is similar to a chocolate silk pie. The welcoming aroma from the foot and cold draw flavors have excited my palate and I am ready to fire up this 6 by 64 King of Kings.

First Third

It was a good thing I refilled my lighter before toasting the foot on this 64 ring gauge stick as it took some time. Instantly, I pick up the peppery spice from the Ecuadorian Habano wrapper. The spice is not overpowering but in the medium/high range.  As the smoke rolls across my palate the spice settles, roasted coffee enters the mix and lingers on the finish for some time. Only a half an inch in and the flavors have already evolved with chocolate and dried fruit joining in with the coffee and spice . Even after taking a good amount of time to light the cigar evenly, the burn started a little rocky. After 10 minutes of smoking, the burn line corrected itself. The thick burn line is edgy but of no concern leaving behind a firm white ash.  The ash is holding to nearly two inches.

Middle Third

A crack about half an inch long has formed right below the burn line, but, as of now, it is not having a negative impact on the smoking experience. The pepper is still holding its ground as the other flavors from the first third have faded. The pepper is now accompanied by heavy earth notes. There is a hint of sweetness peeking out behind the darker notes that is very different than the chocolate early on. As the cigar progresses, the sweetness has become rich and syrupy. I was able to burn past the crack with no issue. The smoke production has increased with each small draw pulling a mouthful of smoke. No change in the burn or ash to report on.

Final Third

After two hours of smoking, I have entered the final third of this behemoth of a cigar. The strength has finally crept up on me and I am having to slow my pace to not get sick. The flavor is very earthy, with a diesel quality. The spice has mellowed and the cocoa is barely showing through, but the sweetness is still there with the same rich, syrupyness. The cigar has become somewhat toasty and after 2 hours and 30 minutes of smoking, I am cigared out.

Wrap-up

If you have read my posts for any amount of time, you know that I shy away from large ring gauge cigars. First off, large ring gauge cigars are just uncomfortable to me and, secondly, the flavors are usually washed out. While the box pressed format improved the experience, I still found the King of Kings 64 ring gauge to be uncomfortable in my mouth, as well as my hand.  However, I am extremely happy to report that the large ring gauge did nothing to damper the flavors. King of Kings bursts with flavors of pepper, spice, coffee, chocolate, and a rich, syrupy sweetness. The transition in flavors held my interest for the two and half hours. Also, the King of Kings performance in the area of burn, ash, and draw were all excellent. If you are into large ring gauge, full flavor cigars, the King of Kings is an excellent choice. You may even find me smoking a few more in the near future. Lastly, I want to say “Thank you” to King Cigars for their generosity in providing the samples.

The post King Cigars – King of Kings appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Now I have to apologize for a HUGE fail on my part… I had taken a bunch of pictures and absent mindedly deleted them from the camera before I moved them to my computer! What a super fail! So not too many pictures today, sorry!

“What the heck is the Vallejuelo?” some of you might ask. It seems that a lot of people simply haven’t come across this cigar before but it’s actually got quite a big following for two reasons. It’s commonly held as a well manufactured medium body cigar, and secondly, it comes in at a very fair price of just around $4 if you buy by the box.

The Vallejuelo brand comes from a factory called Intercigar in Santiago, Dominican Republic. The owner, Maurice Antonius Koks, comes from Holland where his roots there were also in the Tobacco industry. He is also the blender of the Vallejuelo. This cigar has got quite a lot of hype as one of the best budget cigars so I’m excited to see what it offers me. So let’s dive right in and see if the Vallejuelo stacks up to the hype people have created for it.

Cigar: Vallejuelo
Drink: Innis & Gunn Highland Cask
Vitola: Robusto Gordo (5 x 54)
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Nicaragua and Dominican Republic
Price: $4.00 – $4.50
Burn Time: Just over an hour

Construction:
• The milky brown wrapper on this cigar has a wonderful oily sheen to it
• There are some veins here and there with one major one down the back but it doesn’t look to be a problem
• The single cap has a very clean finish to it, very well constructed
• The Vallejuelo is fairly firm and consistent from end to end, there is only a touch of spring to it
• Glancing at the foot you can easily see why it’s firm, this thing is packed to gills with tons of leaves
• The cut was easy and even but I’m left with a pretty tight draw, let’s hope it opens up a bit here

Burn:
• The toasting was a good at first but the burn quickly climbed the edge of the wrapper and charred it a bit before the foot was glowing. I find this happens often with delicate wrappers, sometimes affecting the first few puffs a bit but nothing major
• The burn got off to a nice even start and is going well through the first third
• The burn is staying nice and straight through to the halfway mark, no corrections needed and it’s smoking nice and slowly too
• Spot on burn straight through to the finish, no corrections needed at all!

Smoke & Ash:
• Since the draw is a bit tight it is taking a few attempts to get a good amount of smoke flowing here
• There’s a bit of resting smoke when I put the cigar down, slow but consistent
• The ash on this cigar looks super strong and firm, probably due to the serious packed in filler
• The color is mostly darker tones of grey with some lighter ones but no clean or neat zebra striping here today
• The ash held strong until I tapped it off at around the 1 inch mark, no flaking at all
• Ash stayed strong and lean with easy 1 inch pieces every time right to the end

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper has an almost nutty aroma to it, a first for me I think
• I got a bit of a tingling sensation from smelling the foot, definitely some spices in there, perhaps a bit of white pepper and still some nutty notes
• The pre-light draw brings more white pepper spice but now it’s backed with some woodsy and licorice type notes
• The initial draws have a bit of a charred flavor, probably due to the awkward toasting but I still am picking up some cedar and licorice notes
• The charred flavors quickly disappeared and I’m left with a sort of roasted woody and almond type of flavor with some licorice to back it up
• The licorice flavor is really shining through around the halfway mark and adding a bit of sweetness to the mix as well, very nice
• The pepper has died down and the flavors are balancing nicely
• The Vallejuelo has been in the mild category so far with only a soft sweet finish on the retrohale thats quite enjoyable
• The body is picking up a bit into the medium range as I pass the halfway mark and some of the white pepper spice is making a comeback
• The cigar picked up surprisingly strong in the last third. Body jumped into the fuller range and the pepper and woodsy flavors made a strong comeback
• The sweet licorice notes are mostly gone now which is disappointing because they were really good
• A nice medium finish to this cigar with just a touch of harshness, I still nubbed it!

Final Thoughts:
All in all this was an interesting cigar. It had a lot of change ups and some distinct flavors. I would have liked the sweet licorice to stick around more but I really enjoyed it when it was there. The burn was top notch and was also nice and slow which are big bonuses for me. I think I’ll want to seek out some other vitolas to see how the blend changes, maybe a corona size or so? I think this could really shine in a smaller ring gauge. Definitely worth picking some up and giving them a try if you haven’t had one before. A big thanks to Jeff for hooking me up with this and letting me try a brand a might not otherwise have picked up!

Pairings:
Yet another brew from one of my favorite breweries, Innis & Gunn. It’s another limited batch called the Highland Cask and I stumbled on it in the beer store earlier this year. This interesting batch is aged for 69 days in barrels that once contained 16 year old Scotch. Now that’s pretty cool if you ask me! It comes in another fancy box with a cool story and has a Best Before date of December 2012 so I’m guessing there won’t be too many more left on store shelves now. It’s got more of the awesome oaky, malty and toffee notes I’ve come to love from Innis & Gunn but also adds a layer of Scotch type of flavoring. It’s quite subtle and not in your face so don’t be afraid to try this even if you aren’t a Scotch lover. It definitely paired well with the Vallejuelo and another choice pairing would have been coffee here, I think that would have made a very interesting.

The post Vallejuelo Robusto Gordo appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

As many of you know I was lucky enough to be one of the bloggers that General Cigar invited on a 4 day trip to cover their operations in Santiago, Dominican Republic. The way this trip went down was kind of random in the most organized way possible. Basically, Victoria McKee, our PR contact with General Cigar, contacted us and let us know that we were all invited on a grand tour of the General Cigar organization in Dominican Republic. This trip would include the rolling, warehousing, box manufacturing, growing, and even machine operations. She also noted that we would be accompanied by key personnel from each of the General related brands. Very cool, and of course we all jumped on it not really knowing what to expect. The crew included: Anthony of Cigar Brief, Barry Stein of A Cigar Smoker, Ben Lee of Nice Tight Ash, Bryan Glynn from Cigar Obsession, Craig Vanderslice from Cigar Craig, Dan Reeve from Cigar Explorer, David Jones from Tiki Bar, Doc from Stogie Fresh, Justin Yoch from Ash Report, Patrick from Cigar Examiner, Patrick from Stogie Guys, Skip Martin from Hava Cigar Shop/Cromagnon, Stephen Boyajian from The Cigar Network and Tony Blake from 365 Cigars. Jerry Cruz from Stogie Review was also slotted to join us, but had to cancel last minute due to a work emergency.

Day 1:

Not really knowing what to expect I set fourth on my journey. A car service picked me up at my house at 5:45am. Why is that important? Cause they weren’t supposed to be there until 6:45am. The driver insisted on waiting in the car, but I felt terrible so I showered and got dressed as fast as I could only to arrive at the airport about two and a half hours early. My first stop was Dallas where I met up with Skip and enjoyed a nice lunch, as well as some interesting conversation. If any of you have ever had the pleasure of meeting Skip you know exactly what I’m talking about. First, he managed to upset an American Airlines flight attendant in line to buy tootsie rolls based on his experiences with the company. Extremely amusing. Then we ate lunch at a pizza bar where we enjoyed some great conversation with our waitress before heading to Miami. Skip’s awesome. Spend some time with him, you’ll love it.

Skip and I were the last ones to fly into Miami so we were greeted with all the family blog faces as well as Abe Flores from Pinar Del Rio who just happened to be on our same flight, Yuri Guillen from Team La Gloria, Michael Giannini from La Gloria Cubana, and Rick Rodriguez from CAO. We packed the plane and headed off.

Once we landed in DR it was evident that the humidity was going to eat me alive. Just the walk from the plane to the airport had me sweating. I’m used to heat, it gets hot as hell in El Paso, but the humidity was something else. We rarely see more than 20% here in the desert. Anyways, to make a long story short, we got our luggage and packed into the van. Driving in the DR is freaken insane. There really is no lanes, no structure, no nothing. That being said, about 5 minutes into our trip from the airport, just as Michael Giannini was telling us how crazy the driving is, we witnessed two kids on motorcycles get PLOWED by an SUV. One kid actually ended up under the wheel of the vehicle before the SUV sped away. Nuts! This all happened about 15 feet away from my window on the van. Welcome to the DR!

After unloading at the hotel we headed poolside for BBQ, drinks, and cigars. Barry and the famous Benji Menendez were already there waiting for us. The rest of the night went on, drink after drink and cigar after cigar. We stayed up a little later than we probably should have considering we didn’t get to the hotel until about 10pm and had to be up around 6:30 am the next morning.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Day 2:

After enjoying breakfast, a new Cromagnon prototype (Thanks Skip, it was Delish!) and realizing that the humidity was actually causing the lenses on my camera to fog up, we headed to a Tax-Free work zone in central Santiago which housed the General Cigar facility as well as quite a few other factories (I can’t remember exactly which ones, and could be way off but I want to say Fuente, Quesada, and even Cigar Rings were part of this zone). Once at the factory we headed straight to the training room to get the inside scoop on the company and meet some of the key personnel behind the brand Jhonny Diaz, Edmundo Garcia, and Francisco Rodriguez. It was insane learning just how big this operation was. General cigar operations span 2,792,362 meters combined and houses over 2,125 employees in the Dominican Republic alone. Granted, the Honduran and Nicaraguan operations under the General brand are smaller, the sheer size of the company blew me away. One neat tidbit was the initiatives that General Cigar actually offers it’s employees. Outside of paying more than just about any other mass organized factory in Santiago, here are a few of the things General Cigar offers each of it’s employees:

Education

General Cigar believes that education is the key to a better future in the Dominican Republic and Honduras.  The company allocates hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to support programs that increase literacy among employees and residents of the D.R. and Honduras, while also providing scholarships for its employees and providing complete funding for schools in both countries.

General Cigar began its “Literacy Initiative” in 2004, and today, this program remains one of the company’s most unique corporate social responsibility endeavors. General Cigar underwrites the program, provides instructors and holds classes within its Dominican and Honduran facilities.  Under this campaign, company employees, as well as citizens who live in urban and rural areas surrounding the company’s farms and factories are taught to read and write based on curriculum mandated by the Dominican and Honduran governments.  Students who pass the course receive a diploma that is formally presented during an annual graduation ceremony, the most important event held by General Cigar in a given year.  To date, more than 600 Dominicans and Hondurans have advanced under this program.

General Cigar is also very proud of its “Continuing Education” program which continues to offer a range of professional development courses designed to provide employees with additional skills and training relevant to jobs within the company.  More than 4,000 employees have prospered under this program which boasts more than 50 unique areas of training, each developed in cooperation with technical education institutions in both countries.

Another component of the company’s commitment to education is General Cigar’s support of post-secondary education for its employees. In a given year, approximately 30 employees are able to attend college or pursue advanced technical training, directly due to financial assistance from the company.  As a result of this program, General Cigar currently employs more than 64 college graduates, with 16 of these employees holding master’s degrees. In fact, all of General Cigar’s upper and middle management employees hold college degrees. This investment continues to make General Cigar one of the Dominican Republic and Honduras’ most professionally and technically-advanced companies.

Under the “School Sponsorship” endeavor which was created in 1997, more than 2,500 students have benefitted from General Cigar’s support, which helps to broaden the scope of learning and ensure a better future for the children.  Through this initiative, General Cigar provides broad-based financial support to four economically-challenged Dominican schools. The company underwrites infrastructure costs, while also providing students with school supplies and sporting goods. General Cigar has also utilized this program to bring technology to remote urban areas by appointing the schools with modern computers.

Health/Well Being

General Cigar also dedicates considerable resources toward creating a better quality of life for its staff. Health insurance, dental exams and blood pressure screenings are available for employees of both countries. In addition, the company provides transportation, including new bicycles to employees and conducts intramural baseball and soccer leagues within their Dominican and Honduran facilities.

For those employees who need assistance in paying for home repairs, General Cigar has a dedicated fund which allows employees to secure no-interest financing for home improvement projects. Over the last 27 years, this program has dramatically improved the quality of life for many employees and their families.

Just as General Cigar is passionately committed to advancing tobacco cultivation, the company uses its vast resources to contribute to the health of the Dominican and Honduran people. General Cigar purchases citrus fruits, vegetables, dairy products, livestock and fish which are then sold at below wholesale prices to company employees. Providing nutritious and affordable food is another way that General Cigar contributes to the well-being of its employees.

General Cigar also maintains a “Natural Disaster” fund allowing the company to readily provide its employees and people in the Dominican Republic and Honduras with food, clean drinking water, necessities such as diapers and medical supplies as well as home repairs and shelter.

Reforestation/Environmental Protection

Protecting the environment and preventing pollution are two additional areas of focus for General Cigar’s corporate social responsibility programs. Perhaps the only cigar manufacturer to have its own reforestation program, General Cigar replenishes cedar and mahogany trees to replace those that are depleted in making their handsome cigar boxes. Each farm in the Dominican Republic and Honduras participates in the reforestation activities which are now part of the company’s standard agricultural operations.  To date, more than 35,000 trees have been replanted.

General Cigar is also pleased to have been recognized for being in compliance with “ISO 14001” standards which acknowledge the company’s commitment to conducting its business in the utmost environmentally-friendly manner.

In addition to its Dominican and Honduran charitable initiatives, General Cigar supports various charities in the United States, to benefit literacy initiatives, support members of the U.S. armed forces and their families, and provide funding for medical research and disease prevention.

With the recent addition of CAO to the General Cigar family, the company now has a dedicated cigar making facility in Nicaragua. They have already begun exploring the possibility of replicating and expanding their corporate social responsibility programs in that country.

The presentation alone blew me away. I guess I just never really took the time to step back and really think about what goes into the cigars we all love. After the presentation we took a really quick tour of the factory before arriving in a room where they stack, and separate stored tobacco. The room houses two huge tables, each containing about 15 different types of tobacco leafs, labeled, waiting for us. It was then that they told us that they were going to have us create our own blend! It was slightly daunting at first, but the more we played around with mixing tobacco, the more I realized that I had no idea what I was doing. Benji Menendez, Rick Rodriguez, and the guy who helped me Michael Giannini were all there to lend us a hand. Sampling each tobacco made it VERY easy to formulate a blend in my head, but every time we rolled them together we were hit with the realization just how hard blending is. I can personally say that my first 5 or 6 blends were absolutely terrible. Finally, crazy nicotine highs later, we left the room with what we all thought was the final blend of our cigars.

We kicked back and enjoyed a feast of a lunch at the training room before heading back out to tour the General Cigar Warehouse. Holy crap it was huge! I wasn’t expecting that much tobacco. Francisco made mention of having 50 year old tobacco stored there and a building total value of over millions of dollars worth of product each bunched, labeled, packed, and piled in these handmade mesh bags weighing hundreds of pounds each, and running anywhere between $2,000 to $9,000 a pop.

After the tour we headed out, had dinner and probably more drinks then we should have at an amazing Italian restaurant before heading back to the hotel room for another late night of drinks by the pool. I swear we were all running about 2 – 3 hours of sleep each night.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Day 3:

After a quick breakfast and some calls to hotel rooms to wake up some of the guys, we packed back on the bus and headed to Licery El Medio, which was a suburb of Santiago. This area housed another factory ran by General Cigar. This factory only had about 400 employees and handled mainly the long filler portion of the operation. One interesting fact about this factory was that it was once owned by Capote before being taken over by General cigar. General could very easily move these operations into the main factory in Santiago, but due to the poverty and low income area of the location of the factory General Cigar decided to keep it where it was so that they didn’t have to displace any of the current employees who counted on that job as their only means of surviving.

This is where we met Don Quico. Don Quico is an agricultural engineer who is basically in charge of the tobacco from soil to factory storing. He spoke with us giving insight on just about every area in tobacco growing. I had no idea that it took a total of between 30 – 90 days total for the farming of each tobacco plant depending on the type of leaf, and the priming. Most priming happens about 20 days apart. Another interesting note that a few of us picked up on was when he mentioned that most of the flavor of the tobacco is located in the outer edges of the leaf. Also, Ligero always needs to be placed in the center of a cigar when it is being bunched to ensure proper burn. A few of use kept that in mind if we used ligero in any of our personal blends.

After a quick tour of the long filler factory we were taken another 20 minutes away from the city to take a tour of the actual farms where they raise the tobacco. The first leg of the tour showed a smaller section of the farm with large silos where they grow all the shade grown tobacco. The second leg took us through the sun grown facility. That facility houses a MASSIVE above-ground irrigation system. We got to see first hand the machine and man work that went into planting each of the seeds. As we headed further into the farm we came to a huge gazebo that overlooked the entire farm. This gazebo was something straight out of the movies. It had a bar, kitchen, restrooms, power generator, and even a large man made lake. I could spend an entire vacation here. We joined up for dinner and drinks here with General Cigar’s President Dan Carr.

We enjoyed a huge dinner here as well as way too many drinks once again. I was lucky enough to sit next to Stephen on the way back so I could see the train wreck of a night unfold.  We got back to the hotel to find the pool had been closed (probably due to our prior late nights). Victoria immediately jumped on the phone and within minutes had cases of beer, bottles of rum and scotch, as well as a full bar staff waiting for us. 2 bottles of Johnny Walker later Stephen stumbled to bed. Dan Reeve and Skip actually had a bet. Not as to IF he would throw up, but whether or not he would throw up in public or not. I spent most of that evening secretly sending tweets from Skip’s ipad, and listening to Dan Reeve, Ben Lee, and a drunken David Jones talk about how boring football is.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Day 4:

The next morning I woke up from my 2 hours of sleep and stumbled to breakfast. Surprisingly there was only one person there before me. Any Guesses who it was? Stephen. After being asked why he was there early he went on to tell me how he couldn’t stand to sleep in his vomit ridden room any longer. Turns out he threw up at some point in his slumber and didn’t realize it till he woke up the next morning. Looks like Dan won that bet.

After breakfast we quickly made our way back to the factory. The realization of this being our last day at the factory had already started to set in with a few of us. But today was the day we learned how to bunch, roll, and package our own cigars. First was the bunching. I think all of us thought we were rock stars after that portion. It wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t nearly as hard as we thought it was. Each of us were paired with our own personal helper who trained us how to bunch before setting us out on our own. It took us over an hour to bunch all 20 of our cigars. 10 would be brought home while 10 would be smoked by the General team who would then decide a winner.

After the bunching, we let our cigars sit in molds under the press while we took a quick ride over to the box manufacturing facility. I wasn’t expecting such a huge, expedited operation! Basically blank timber came in and boxes went out. They did everything there from cutting, sanding, painting, manufacturing, pressing, stamping, and glazing the boxes. It was insane. They were even making wooden ashtrays as we took our tour.

We then went back to the factory to try our hands at rolling. This was a humbling experience. I think it was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I don’t think very many of us got the hang of it. My cigars looked like they had been made by a 5 year old.

After we rolled our cigars, a few of us had lunch and then headed out to a museum and a few monuments to enjoy our final day in the DR before heading back to the hotel room for a little rest.

That evening we headed up to Camp David for a final farewell party.  Drinks and food! We basically digested the remainder of the trip before listening to a speech from Dan Carr. One of the questions on everyone’s mind was “why did they do this for us?”. He answered that question by basically letting us know three things. One, they appreciate us as a valid source of media (which is something I still don’t take seriously), that they wanted to show us what they were doing as a company, and that they wanted our serious thoughts on what they could do better. They also announced the winner of the best blend, and to our surprised it was Stephen. I don’t know how he did it, he was still half drunk while he was rolling his cigars. We spent the remainder of the night there. Before leaving, Bryan Glynn actually took these pictures of us. The first one was a 15 shot mash up of each of the bloggers, followed by a single shot of us along with the people who made the trip possible.

We headed back to the hotel for a few final drinks before heading to the airport for our journey’s home the next day.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Final Thoughts:

To sum up this trip, it was seriously one of the best, and most educational experiences I ever had. General Cigar really went out of their way to make us feel us feel welcomed, and part of the team. They taught us not only about their day to day operations and what they offer as a company, but how tobacco is grown, harvested, stored, aged, rolled, packaged and consumed. I had no idea the process was so immense and General Cigar has a really efficient way to accomplish it.  Victoria McKee was the star of the show. She really did so much for us every step of the way and my sincerest thanks goes out to her. Did it change the way I perceived the company? Greatly. When most people think General cigar they think of this huge money making machine, which isn’t really the case. They give back more than anyone else in the Santiago area. Did it change the way I thought about cigars. Totally. I can now see the amount of work that goes into each one. Did it change the way I feel about General’s cigars? Not at all. I knew they were quality product, and although they don’t come out with many blends that suit my profile, they have always been a huge hit with other cigar smokers.

Again, if you want to see all the pictures click this link: Dominican Republic Trip 2011

The post General Cigar Dominican Republic Blogger Trip 2011 appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Getting back to my story, Jose sent me an invitation to attend an exclusive seminar he was hosting. I was leaving for my vacation the next morning and hadn’t even packed yet but I couldn’t miss out on the opportunity. Jose took us through the process of how they choose the blends for a cigar and explained a lot of the processes involved as well as what to look for when you are smoking a cigar. Aside from being a great person, he is also very knowledgeable and very willing to share all of his knowledge. It was a wonderful experience and on-top of the exclusive invitation he also gifted me with a few La Aurora cigars, including the one being reviewed today, the yet-to-be release 107 Corona.

The La Aurora 107 was created to commemorate the La Aurora company’s 107 years in business. The factory was opened in 1903 by Don Eduardo León Jimenes near Santiago, Dominican Republic. The company has remained family owned and is now under the watchful eye of Mr. Guillermo León, a fifth-generation León. The factory is also home to León Jimenes line of cigars. You can read more about the company on their main website, http://laaurora.com.do

The La Aurora brand is distributed by Miami Cigar & Company in the United States. Their headquarters is in, you guessed it, Miami, Florida. Miami Cigar represents a variety of brands and has ben happily working with La Aurora for over 20 years. You can read about the press release for the La Aurora 107 on the review that Tony wrote on the La Aurora 107 Robusto. You can also follow Miami Cigar & Company on twitter: @MiamiCigar

The La Aurora 107 is currently available in 3 vitolas, Belicoso, Toro and Robusto. The Corona vitola should be hitting shelves soon so keep your eyes open. The cigar has a nice blend of leaves and promises to be a complex cigar without crossing into the full-bodied category, making it an all-around good smoke for anyone. Check out Tony’s review of the La Aurora 107 Robusto vitola and then compare the notes and see how our opinions differ.

There has also been chatter about a Lancero vitola coming soon for the 107 line although there is no definite timelines. I think this would be a fantastic addition. The Corona size really brought out the lively flavors of the wrapper and I think the Lancero would make them pop even more. Keep your eyes peeled for more information on this…

Cigar: La Aurora Serie Anniversario 107
Drink: Havana Club Silvery Dry Rum on the rocks
Vitola: Corona
Wrapper: Sun Grown Equador
Binder: Dominican Republic
Filler: Dominican Republic & Nicaragua
Price: Gifted by Jose Blanco (@joseblanco809).
Burn Time: 1.5 Hours

Construction:
• Even diameter throughout the length
• No major veins on the wrapper to be seen
• Has a fair bit of softness and a good spring to it
• Nice and clean triple cap
• Foot looks well packed, one small hole in the center
• Wrapper has a nice golden brown color to it with just a bit of oiliness
• Cut was very clean
• Great draw, just enough resistance
• Band slid off easily with no damage to the wrapper

Burn:
• Toasting was nice and even with no dark spots
• These seem to have great burn, always nice and even with a razor sharp edge
• No need to baby-sit this cigar, allows you to enjoy it nice and slowly with no extra draws
• I did not have to touch-up or purge this cigar at all, a great experience through and through.

Smoke & Ash:
• Lots of smoke right off the bat, fills your mouth nicely
• Moderate amount of resting smoke that has a nice woodsy aroma to it
• Ash appears strong and steady for the most part, no flaking
• Ash fell off nicely into the ashtray just short of an inch, Id say that’s just about perfect for this vitola
• The following ashes continued to fall calmly into the ashtray making this an effortless experience

Tasting Notes:
• Wrapper aroma is fairly woodsy and earthy with a touch of spice
• Foot aroma has some woodsy to it but is dominated by a mix of fruity and citrus notes, very appealing
• Pre-light draw gives flavors of earthiness, woodsiness, spice and a bit of floral
• Initial draws are very woodsy with some slightly spicy undertones
• Each of these that I’ve smoked have had a great retrohale right from the start, it starts with a small bite and a smooth floral finish
• Body has been mostly mild for the first couple of inches
• As I approach the half-way mark a nice spice has begun making it’s appearance and the retrohale is now getting the fruity notes added to the floral notes, a great touch!
• The body is slowly increasing into the medium range as the cigar burns on
• The cigar has been nice and smooth throughout, no dryness or harshness as I approach the last 2 inches
• I’m really enjoying the contrast in flavors between the regular draw and the retrohale, it’s almost like smoking two different cigars
• Nearing the end, I’m picking up a nice tart-like citrus flavor. This is something I didn’t expect so close to the nub, another nice touch
• The body was dancing on the edge of medium-full, making this a perfect smoke for me with lots of flavor
• No real harshness all the way down to the nub and most of the flavors stuck around to the end

Final Thoughts:
Yet another great cigar added to my list and to my must-try recommendations. I found this cigar to have a nice unique flavor profile that I don’t find too often in other cigars. La Aurora has some fairly expensive offerings in it’s inventory, thankfully this is not one of them. The price is very fair actually and you get a great smoke on all levels, multi-dimensional flavor, solid construction, perfect burn and overall wonderful enjoyment. The body was also in the mild-medium range which can make it a great go-to smoke for any time of day and any level experience of smoker. I’ve had the chance to try the Robusto and Toro sizes as well and although they were all enjoyable I found the flavors in the Corona vitola to jump the most. This is another cigar that really gives a great retrohale and I’ve been doing that more often then usual. I think you’ll be missing a fine point to this cigar if you don’t retrohale. Even if you don’t retrohale though, this cigar still has some great flavors throughout.

If you haven’t had the chance to try a La Aurora 107 yet, definitely give it a go. If they don’t have the Corona vitola in stock yet, try one of the other vitolas as they were all top-notch smokes. Thanks again to Jose Blanco ((@joseblanco809)) for giving me the chance to try this great cigar, I will definitely be seeking out more of these in the near future.

Pairings:
I still haven’t stocked up the beer fridge yet so I decided to keep going on with the Havana Club Rum on the rocks. As I mentioned before, it’s a well priced Rum with some good flavors. It actually made a good pairing for the floral and fruity notes in this cigar. I think Port would have also made a great pairing here. Some other suggestions would include coffee, a dark lager or some sweet tea.

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