Wrapper: Dominican Corojo
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican, Cameroon, Brazilian
Size: 5 x 54 “#2- Perfecto”
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $8.00

This cigar is a wonderful stick to have in your humidor. I think it is a little on the pricey side but it is a helluva stick. If you’re not a show off, avoid the tubos in shiny aluminum that are the perfecto shape. If you skip the tubo, you can save up to $5 per stick. That’s a lot of dough for a 35 cent piece of metal to cover your cigar.

I want to thank Jason Harding at BestCigarPrices.com for sending me some samples. It seemed like a good time to remind the public about this cigar. And yes, he sent them without the $5 hood ornament.

From Cigar Aficionado:
“La Aurora cigars are the oldest cigar made in the Dominican Republic. They have been grown in the same fields of the Cibao Valley for over 3 generations.”
“This line was originally created in one of the oldest factories in the Dominican Republic dating back to 1903. All wrappers are aged in oak casks. The cigar comes in the original perfecto shape that was rolled when the factory first opened. La Aurora Preferidos are a super-premium cigar and only 200,000 are produced annually, making them among the most sought after cigars in the world.”

For a cigar with a lot of hype built around it, it is not as gorgeous under the hood as one would expect. There are a lot of veins…some very big ones. The cigar is solid but not rock hard. The triple cap is impeccable and almost invisible. The tawny brown wrapper has an oily sheen and feels very smooth to the touch.

I “V” clip the cap and find aromas of cinnamon, cream, spice, baker’s cocoa, espresso, wood, and leather. It is one of the most aromatic cigars I’ve ever shoved my nose all over. My wife, who thinks all cigars smell like crap, loved the aroma.

I clip the foot a bit to give it a better lighting surface than the currently exposed ¼” diameter circle.
Time to light up.

The draw is a little tough. I massage the stick a bit and voila, the draw is now perfect. Smoke now pours from the tiny foot.

I get doses of some cocoa, cedar, wood, nuttiness, and a touch of creaminess. The spiciness slowly ramps up.

I get a salty pretzel flavor. The creaminess and cocoa and natural tobacco sweetness continue to become bolder. It is unusual for creaminess to be such an early component. I’ve smoked so many Nicaraguan cigars lately; I’ve almost forgotten what it is like to smoke a Dominican.
The body is medium from the start. The burn line is wavy. But touch ups aren’t required.

As I hit the one inch mark, the creaminess really runs the show. The cigar has become very chewy and delightful. I recently reviewed the Davidoff Golden Band Award cigar and it is primarily a Dominican like the La Aurora.

Smoking the La Aurora Corojo blend is similar to that Davidoff. Its baseline flavors are creaminess, spice, sweetness, and caramel. Plus it has a similar trait that the Davidoff people call the “Twang.”

The red pepper has escalated quite a bit in that first inch and seems to not want to stop.

The body is closing in on full by the end of the first third. The light brown wrapper is deceiving. And I just don’t think of La Aurora as having strong cigars. But this is a powerhouse. It is a shame that the burn isn’t sharp. I am forced to give it just a slight touch up and we are good.
I don’t know why I am using thirds to describe this cigar. Habit, I guess. Even though it is 5” long, the perfecto tapered ends reduces the extent of what can be smoked down to just a little over 4”. So we shift gears and go with halves instead of thirds.

I approach the first half and the cigar is uber flavorful. The draw is terrific. And those few little flavors are incredible. I am so used to that long laundry list of flavors with Nicaraguan cigars that it is a nice change to have a few solid components that shine and still make the cigar an excellent blend.

The caramel is so buttery that I cannot find the words to describe its intensity. The creaminess, in tandem, really emphasizes the sweetness of the cigar. Meanwhile, the spice is burning like a bonfire in the background.

Time to remove the band and I’m afraid that in doing so, I will knock the sturdy ash from its seat.
Wrong. I think I will need a ball peen hammer to knock the ash off.

Now here is the deal. This cigar ain’t cheap. And it’s $8 only because that is box price. It gets more expensive by the 5 pack and the single.
But this is truly a unique cigar. I’ve smoked a lot of $9 sticks and while they are good, they were mostly Nicaraguan blends and therefore, somewhat similar in body and taste.

Blenders have flocked to Nicaragua because it is the current trend of what the public wants. And the Dominican cigars have sort of been lost in the shuffle. Clearly, a lot of work went into blending the La Aurora Preferido Corojo. There is genius behind this blend.

This is certainly not an everyday cigar. Unless you are bucks up, of course. But I would definitely consider buying a 5 pack and have them in my humidor for when I feel like treating myself to something special.

At the halfway point, the only thing that has changed is that now the cigar is very complex and bold. The stick is oh so smooth. The spice has tapered down a bit. But the body is on the light side of full.

This is one of those few cigars I don’t want to end. The creamy caramel is a delight. Everything else in the taste profile is subservient to these two elements.

I move towards the end of the cigar and it just keeps getting bolder and more complex.
Turns out, I tore the wrapper slightly in removing the band.

The ash finally disengages itself from the cigar. It probably would have stayed in place but I trimmed the cap to get rid of the slobbery look from my saliva. It looks terrible in photos.

The end of the cigar sees the strength move to full bodied. The spiciness returns. And the flavor profile is doing the 40 yard dash in 4.4 seconds.
I know a lot of you will look at the price point and immediately dismiss it. But this is a great cigar. And once in a while, you deserve to treat yourself with something special.

Thanks again to Jason Harding at BestCigarPrices.com for the samples.

Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS