La Gloria Cubana Artesanos De Tabaqueros (7x50)

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go on a Men's Retreat with my church group, and while the actual campground is less than 20 miles from my house, the experience is as if it is hours away out in the woods.

The weather was surprisingly chilly and we huddled around a roaring fire and as some of the older wiser men of our group headed up to the lodge for sleep, cigars quickly made there way out of the hiding spots and soon the fire wasn't the only thing smoking.

I elected to smoke a La Gloria Cubana Artesanos De Tabaqueros which is a cigar I have read about in several magazines and online sites, but was drawn to based on the distinctive 2-tone 2 leaf wrapper. This cigar wears its band about 3/4 of the way down on the cigar close to the foot, exactly at the joint of the Connecticut Shade wrapper and Sumatra wrapper meet.

Since this was a torpedo shaped cigar, cutting the head was a necessity and a good clean cut was made and the foot was slowly roasted. The initial draw was highlighted by a smooth flavor, some overtones of nuts defined the palate and the mild nature of the Connecticut Shade wrapper was evident and well balanced.

The cigar put out a large quantity of smoke but was a very slow burn. After 15-20 minutes, I was barely half an inch into the cigar, and the mild profile actually had me longing to hit the darker richer Sumatra wrapper. This would take a good 45 minutes or so, however upon reaching that point the cigar took on a much livelier note with very well defined cocoa flavors with a hint of cinnamon on the finish.

There was no sweetness per se to the cigar, but the essence of those flavors were there and very well defined. The campfire continued to burn while I sat with friends and discussed everything from politics to our individual faiths, hurdles and triumphs in life, and the cigars we were smoking served as the perfect companion to the evening.

As my cigar continued its burn, it stayed consistent producing a large volume of smoke, but never burning hot or fast. As I reached about 4 inches or so into the cigar, it extinguished itself quite unexpectedly so I relit it, however upon relighting it it took on some undesirable tar characteristics, most likely from being relit took quickly.

I took a few more puffs, allowing it to cleanse itself blowing out reducing a good portion of the tar, however the sweet spot obviously had been past and this cigar was quickly deteriorating and as such ended its final moments in a roaring fire.

This is a big cigar, not from a flavor standpoint but from a length of time standpoint. The 2 wrapper idea is not a bad idea, but be warned that in this case the 2 wrappers do in essence create very different cigars in a single package.

I would definitely smoke this cigar again, the biggest downside is the price point which would relegate it to a special occasion only smoke, not part of the regular rotation. The evening concluded at 2:45 in the morning, but most of us were back around the fire the following morning early to conclude the retreat before we headed for home.

A good time of male bonding was had by all, and being able to meet under the stars and enjoy nature made this cigar smoking experience one to be remembered. I can't wait until next year and another good time with friends.

Until we smoke again...