Newbie Review #2 La Carolina Corona from Cuban Crafters

[Dru Lee Parsec]

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:

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.

[Dru Lee Parsec]

OK, I just had another one today and I've decided that these cigars are not for me. After the first one I was undecided if I actually enjoyed it or not. But now that I've had a 2nd one I'm pretty sure it's not a cigar that I'd buy again.

Ratings so far from the Cuban Crafters sampler on a scale of 1 to 10:

La Carolina : 2.5 Spicy and bitter and not that much else. The 2nd one just stank up my workshop
Don Kiki Green: 3 Good for newbies, not really all that much there though as far as flavor or complexity.
Don Kiki Red : 8 Sweet chocolate goodness. My favorite cigar so far.
Cuban Crafters: Cameroon: 8 My 2nd favorite cigar so far
C.E. Beck & Co : 1.5 Almost a dog rocket

Non Cuban Crafters Cigars:

5 Vegas Robusto: 5 Decent cigar, not unpleasant but there's nothing really outstanding about it.

La Gloria Cubana Wavell : 5 Good newbie cigar but now that I've had better I can see how it suffers by comparison.

Garo Hubana Maduro: 1 A dog rocket with notes of manure and burning trash.


I think my "On Deck" cigar is going to be either a Perdomo Signature Collection or a Don Kiki Brown. I do have 2 R Salezar's from the CC sampler though.

Decisions decisions.

[chefchris]

ya, i've had my eye on the Don Kiki Brown label. Intrested to hear your review, they are very helpful as I, too, am a newb.

[sprangalang]

Thanks for the review. I've been wanting to try some CC's, they look some damn tasty in the pictures. Your review makes me want to try em more. I like the looks of those pyramids.

[Dru Lee Parsec]

ya, i've had my eye on the Don Kiki Brown label. Interested to hear your review, they are very helpful as I, too, am a newb.

I haven't had a chance to try the Brown Label yet. I sure liked the Red Label. The La Carolina and C.E. Beck cigars by Cuban Crafters are NOT to my taste.