La Rosa Especial

Smoked this stick on Sunday afternoon while following the wife around as she made donations to the Potawatomie tribes slot machines. I got this in a trade a couple of months ago and it has been resting in the humi since.

From Jr's:
Handmade HON/NIC
Wrapper: HON Binder: CR Filler: MEX/CR/NIC/HON
Full Bodied

Size = 5x50

The first thing I noticed about this smoke when I pulled it out of the humi was its weight.....this is one fairly heavy stick.

The squeeze test revealed that it was very firmly packed and had no soft spots along the length of the smoke. The construction was good, the cap was well applied and cut just fine to reveal a nice tight bunch. The pre-light draw was just to my liking, some resistance, but not an eye-popper. Initial flavor impressions were of chocolate and cedar earthiness. (think RP edge maduro with a bit more pep)

The light was uneventful and the burn started out straight and remained that way for the entire smoke. The ash was a mottled grey with some darker spots....it was firm and held well until I ashed it at about 1 1/2"...snapped clean and revealed a perfect cone ember.

The flavor picked up about the mid point with the woody and chocolatey flavors mingling nicely. This is a pretty interesting smoke, though it seems to loose some of the woody character towards the last 1/3 and replaces it with more deep tobacco flavor. I'm glad I had a full stomach for this one.....nice power and good kick.

I will be smoking a 2nd.....and if the experience is the same I will most likely invest in a box. For those of you who have smoked this before and enjoyed it, JR's has a freebie deal on them right now.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys full bodied smokes.

I have had one of these that was gifted to me, I burned it while sitting around a campfire, sipping clear fluid from a mason jar:smiley29:

I do remember really enjoying it, even if I remember very little else:smiley41:

Very nice review

going to look at JR now:smiley24:

I used to smoke em on a regular basis...They were not too bad.

Thanks for the review.

Thanks for the review!

I'm smoking one right now and I'm quite enjoying it!