La Aurora Barrel Aged

[bsslack]

I was gifted one of these to try.


THE CIGAR:

This is an interesting size 7 x 44 I have not found it listed on the few sites that I checked. Of course that means little. The story is that this blend spends a Year in the barrel. Old Rum Barrels to be correct. All of the tobaccos, Filler, Binder and Wrapper are aged in the barrels to impart a unique element to the various tobaccos.
Hmm, sounds interesting, but does it work?



THE APPEARANCE:

This is not a good looking cigar. It's motley Wrapper color is inconsistent with horizontal veins protruding off of the surface. For a minute I thought that it had been set on backwards.
I have come to expect much more from La Aurora products.


THE CONSTRUCTION:

The uninspired theme continues. The single cap is off color and off center, with ripples. The Parejo shape is lumpy and several soft spots were noticed. The binder even appears Twisted under the Wrapper. Not a good start, so far.



THE PRE-LIGHT:

After a shallow Guillotine cut......nu thin. After a second trim a very firm draw was established. There is a slight sweetness coming off the wrapper, but not much down the pipe.


THE SETTING:

Just setting down to watch the NASCAR race in Chicago. It's a sunny and windy day in So-Cal, temps in the upper 80's. All the windows and doors open in the house and settling down in the living room for a smoke and a race.


THE PAIRING:

Trying something new, I picked up a few bottles of Trader Joe's Blended Scotch Whisky. I had a sip earlier and it's a light bodied Scotch with an almost fruity finish.


THE INTRODUCTION:

Well, the cigar seems very moist, after the clip. So, I set it in the dry box for a few hours and waited.
OK, after two hours enough waiting Here We go.
The Lotus goes and the Aurora Glows.

The first draw has a nice flavor to it. Color me surprised.
The feel of the cigar is still spongy.
Well at 3/4 inch the burn is already off. So, is the Flavor, that first taste is gone and in it's place is a sickly sweet and slighly sour flavor.

The flavor profile is very different from any La Aurora as well as almost all other cigars too. It tastes like a Flavored cigar.

I know why this seemed so familiar! This texture reminds me of my Pipe Tabac, extra moist and aromatic. Duh!

The ash is solid and a yellowed white in color, I tap it off at just over an inch. The odd burn has corrected without help from me. The simple band comes off by it's self.
It's odd, but since I realized that it seemed like Pipe Tabac, it seems to finish dry, like a pipe does. You feel the after taste more than the smoke taste.

Whoa! We are getting some substantial wind gusts here 30 to 45MPH! That's cooled down the temps to 80 degrees which is Perfect. But stuff is blowing all around in the room!

I went to refresh my drink and the smoke went out, another indicator of a high moisture cigar. I relight with no surprises. The draw deteriorates so I clip again and what little of the cap there was, has now departed. Only 1.75 inches in and I've had to clip it 3 times and the whole cap is gone.

Sadly the NASCAR Race is like this cigar........Boring.

Two inches in and I'm already thinking about what cigar I Could be smoking instead of this one. Sadly, I'll have to figure out how get the funky taste out of my mouth first.

This cigar was a gift, otherwise it would be history by now. That's a shame because I LOVE the Preferidos, the 100 ANOS and cut my smoking teeth on the La Aurora Cammie line.

As far as positives, this is a very cool and slow smoke.

The draw continues to be a problem. Oddly, I expected this puppy to unravel with no remaining cap, but it appears to be glued down securely.
As far as classification it would be a Flavorful smoke and Mild/Medium bodied.

The issue that I have is that it's not a Tobacco flavor. The Opus X line ages tobacco in Cognac barrels and that works. But, if this had been a blind tasting I would have guessed it was an average to lower quality flavored cigar and not given a second thought to retiring it, Post haste.

After 3 inches it's more of the same. The draw has again closed and it went out again....

..........................I'm sorry, but I gotta let this thing go.



CONCLUSION:

Well, that's an hour and a half I'll never get back. Poor construction, odd wrapper, sloppy cap and a very Funky Flavor. This might be a enjoyable cigar to a Newbie or a non-cigar smoker, but it just doesn't work for me. Factor in the Construction issues and it's a big NO for me.
I'll even Allow, that I may not have received a smoke that is representative of the blend.

But, this simply is not something that I would buy.


I'll just have to be Happy with my Lovely Preferidos.





Cheers to the NEXT One!




slack


ps- At least The Trader Joe's Scotch was good!

pss- It also proves that I don't only review cigars that I like.

[ulster]

I picked one of these up at the local B&M as I too love the other cigars in the La Aurora line - especially the perferdios and 100 ans.

This cigar - very disappointing and quite boring. I didn't have the same construction issues as the burn, feel, look, and draw on this one were fantastic.

The taste; although I didn't feel like this was like a flavored cigar was much different. It was very sweet and very woody and VERY one dimensional. I struggled with this cigar, hoping for the best but remaining disappointed as I tried to finish the cigar. I ditch it in the last third.

This reminded me of a potentially good wine that lost its flavor from overpowering oak.

[rdking]

I too found this cigar disappointing......after enjoying many 1495 & 100 Anos, I expected this to really knock my socks off.

Unfortunately, I did something I never do......unable to locate a sampler of this new blend I sprung for a full box of churchills...trusting the La Aurora name.

The placard that is placed on top of the sticks that list the lot #, date etc. also has a little story on the flip side about the cigar's creation history. It states that the filler & binder of the much loved Preferidos, 100 Anos & 1495 series have all spent time in these same type of old rum barrels

The difference with this cigar is ALL of the tobacco used (wrapper too) have spent time in these barrels.......sometimes too much of a good thing is not a good thing?

I agree with the impression that the cigar is far too woody (Oak) for my tastes. Kind of like smoking a real stick

Oh well, if these are to somone's liking out there and you would like to do a trade.........

Mark

[JCole311]

I agree with most of what I read, I smoked 2 of them and I would stick with the 100 years or preferidos or even one of the other less expensive cigars. The Barrel Age just did nothing for me.