Country of Origin: Dominican Republic, USA
Strength: Medium/Full
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Dominican, Nicaraguan
Ring: 6"x52
Factory Second of La Gloria Cubana 'Corona Gorda'.
I have been smoking the El Credito bundles for years.
These are factory seconds of La Gloria Cubana, and the taste is [i:d85bdeb862]dead-on[/i:d85bdeb862].
These are long-filler smokes: the "Fumas" and Super-Habaneros" are only two mixed filler cigars of the El Credito line.
I burned one of these babies up today, and here are my [i:d85bdeb862]findings[/i:d85bdeb862]:
Awesome construction, great draw, and great taste.
The reason(s) that these are seconds generally present as cosmetic imperfections; some have "sun-spots", or uneven wrapper coloration...but you can't taste these imperfections.
The one I smoked today, had a wrapper that was slightly darker in one pass at the foot of the cigar, but was definitely a top-notch wrapper, for all intents and (smoking) purposes,-oily, dark-red, and just beautiful.
Ernesto obviously chooses the best materials, with careful consideration.
The cigar fired-up with a nice [i:d85bdeb862]kick[/i:d85bdeb862] of power, and quickly settled-in, to a tasty, complex smoke.
Lots of flavors going on here: the signature [i:d85bdeb862]dustiness/earthiness[/i:d85bdeb862] that I attribute to Ernesto Perez Carillo's offerings, with the classic solid backbone of rich "black tobacco" flavors, with ample sweetness, and an almost [i:d85bdeb862]toffee-like/baked cookie"[/i:d85bdeb862] taste and aroma.
The construction was very nice: perfectly [i:d85bdeb862]marbled-head[/i:d85bdeb862], with lovingly-applied triple caps, and the [i:d85bdeb862]liga[/i:d85bdeb862] was perfect...one of the ones that you can just look at the [i:d85bdeb862]foot[/i:d85bdeb862] and tell. The draw was excellent as-well.
I lit it a bit [i:d85bdeb862]sideways[/i:d85bdeb862], so I initially had to [i:d85bdeb862]touch-up[/i:d85bdeb862], and only had a couple more [i:d85bdeb862]touch-ups[/i:d85bdeb862] during the cigar- nothing major, and no detraction from the experience.
The cigar burned well, and for an hour and fifteen minutes. The first 1/3rd was mellow and flavorful, as is typical with a 52 ring girth, but the last third just kept building and building into a "[i:d85bdeb862]glorious crescendo[/i:d85bdeb862]" of balanced power, and complexity-no disappointments here.
The cigar's power "crept-up" on me, and left me most-pleasantly stimulated, when it was over.
Every so often, I get a plugged cigar in the bundles, but I have found the incidence of this to be about the same as the [i:d85bdeb862]boxed[/i:d85bdeb862] firsts; I have had some seriously plugged firsts...this comes [i:d85bdeb862]with the territory[/i:d85bdeb862] in the handmade cigar category.
I sometimes/generally think that the EMS versions of LGC tend to have a slightly spicier [i:d85bdeb862]kick[/i:d85bdeb862] than the maduro version(s), but sometimes I just [i:d85bdeb862]perceive[/i:d85bdeb862] any given smoke differently, on any given day.
These [i:d85bdeb862]truly[/i:d85bdeb862] are one hell of a bargain ([i:d85bdeb862]until S-CHIP will drive them up in price)[/i:d85bdeb862].
Famous and Holt's are good suppliers for these: both are great companies, though I have been a long-time fan of Holt's unrivaled customer service, (not at-all to detract from Famous)!
I think that these are awesome smokes, but I find it hard to assign a rating number to them: If you like La Gloria Cubana, you'll like these.
I'll follow-up with some reviews on other sizes later, but those will basically re-tell the same story; The blend is consistent throughout the entire range of vitolas/sizes...Would we expect anything less from Ernesto?
Very satisfying smokes, for just-under $2.00 per smoke.
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