Total Wine & More

La Aroma de Cuba

TL;DR - Glad I gave it a try, though it's not a humidor addition for me. Generally recommended 👍 Aged 1 year, dry-boxed 6 hours ⏳️ Pre-light is a pleasant honey 🍯 Light-up is easy 👌 Goldilocks construction and draw, though a little wrapper is lost with label removal. Initial impressions: pleasant oak. Some kind of herb or vegetative flavor develops that is neither cravable nor offensive. White pepper in the retro, and a bit of Walnut bitterness develops at the 2nd third. This is, more or less, a linear smoke. Burn 🔥 is fine. Mild/medium flavors and medium nicotine.

My Father

Chocolate through-and-through. Another amazing experience.

E.P. Carrillo

TL;DR - an elegant smoke as expected. Medium strength. Tea at the core. 👍 Aged 7 mos ⏳️ Pre-light sweet tobacco. Superb construction, not loose-packed like some previous EP Carrillo encounters. Goldilocks draw. Light-up easy and even. Initially toasty oak, leather retrohale. Black tea and tobacco spice develop and stay to the end. It's an exquisite smoke, though coffee pairing is not recommended.

E.P. Carrillo

I finally got to properly experience one of these. In general, I agree that this is an elegant cigar. However, I don't see that it earned its #1 position in 2018/2019 (?). The first and second thirds were clearly pecan with a tea undertone. I loved it and it was a wonderful departure from the typical wood / oak we experience in so many other cigars. Honestly, I do not know how to describe the final third, but it was good. The burn started a little bit rough, but did self-correct. The prelight was very mild and hardly noticeable. The cigar's construction was immaculate. I definitely recommend this cigar, and will be buying more. If I can leave one parting thought, I would say that this should not be paired with anything that has strong flavors, or you will lose all the nuance of the cigar.

Arturo Fuente

Alec Bradley

A fine cigar in many ways, just didn't have the complexity of flavors I'm looking for. Mostly light flavors. Long ashes and a great burn with a V-cut. Gonna try a punch and a young single malt next smoke.

Alec Bradley

Padron