Newbie Review #2 La Carolina Corona from Cuban Crafters
Newbie Review #2 La Carolina Corona from Cuban Crafters
In this second of my "Newbie Reviews" I tried one of the cigars from the Cuban Crafters "Best Cigar" sampler that came with my humidor. The Cigar was the box pressed La Carolina Corona.
Stats:
Name:: CAROLINA-CORONA
Size:: 5½ X 42
The Cuban Crafters website doesn't describe where the wrapper, binder or filler come from. Their website does describe the cigar as:
Quote:
MEDIUM-BODIED. Described as medium to full-bodied with loads of deep complex flavors. They are smooth and mellow with a mildly creamy and fruity taste. The aroma is very pleasant and with a floral scent. . . . This is the same great tobacco and blend that was used by Tabacalera Esteli to make Cupido Cigars . . .They have that special naturally fruity tobacco taste and low nicotine content that made Cupido the top rated medium body cigar in America.
So I light up this rather small cigar (maybe because it's box pressed it just feels smaller in the hand). It lit easily and burned very evenly.
My first impression was "I really don't like this". I'm not sure what it was about the cigar but it seemed really strong to me. Now remember, this is from the point of view of a newbie so a medium body cigar seems strong to me.
So I told myself to mellow out, sit out on the patio with a good book and enjoy the cigar. After the first shock of the intensity of the flavor passed I started to get use to it. By the time I had smoked down about 2 inches the flavor didn't seem so overwhelming. I'm not sure I was detecting any fruit taste in the smoke. But I could detect a bit of the fruitiness in the aftertaste.
I think that most up front flavor was a sort of spicyness combined with a dark chocolate flavor. At first I was thinking spice was clove but that's not quite it, it's darker than that. There was a bitterness on my tongue but I started to realize that the bitterness is part of the flavor profile just as the bitterness of hops is an important part of the flavor of a good beer.
About halfway through the smoke it really started to grow on me. The smoke itself started out kind of thin but by halfway it was thicker and tastier. By the time I got to the last third I was getting a bit more of that fruitiness but it was still pretty subtle. The spiciness was still right there up front though.
The La Carolina was absolutly a stronger flavor than the La Gloria Cubana Wavell. As a newbie I'm not sure I'd want anything stronger than this as my first cigar. I did notice an almost total lack of nicotine buzz which fits with what the info on the website said.
I think as I get use to medium body cigars I'll find myself enjoying this cigar more. The cigars in the Cuban Crafters sampler are almost entirely medium to full body cigars so this is probably a good introduction for my newbie palette.
But Did He Like It?
Uh, Yeah, I guess so. I think that this cigar challenged me with more flavor and intensity than I was ready for. But yeah, overall I'd say that I enjoyed it. I have another one in my humidor and now that I know what the flavor is like I think I'll save it for a time when I can match the cigar with a good smokey single malt whiskey.
