Cigar Of The Day (COTD)

[GA Gator]

My COTD is the “Goldie”


Full name - La Palina “Goldie” Laguito No. 5
What captured my attention and desire to give this cigar a try is that each cigar is rolled by Maria Sierra.


A description from the web.

[FONT=&amp]The Goldie is a unique specimen for a few reasons, but the main one is that each and every cigar in the release was rolled by master roller Maria Sierra, who was one of the first women trained to roll cigars in Cuba, and who started her career at El Laguito, where Cohibas are produced, in 1967. Maria was trained by both Avelino Lara, who created the Cohiba blend, and Eduardo Rivera Irizarri, who was Fidel Castro’s personal cigar roller, and is a 95 rated Category 9 roller in her own right[/FONT]




The cigar is a product of a boutique cigar factory in Miami, El Titan de Bronze. Willy Herrera helped develop the blend and has since gone on to work with Drew Estates, creating the Herrera Estelli (which I really like).

The cigar is a robusto extra 5 5/8” x 54 ring. The flavor profile is creamy with nut and what I would call cooking spice. It has some spice to it but it is not peppery. The construction is perfect as expected, the burn is even, the ash a bit delicate and builds to 1” then falls off easily. One of my pet peeves is the band on a cigar not being put on with care, the band should be loose enough that it slides on the cigar. I understand that conditions can effect the band as the cigar might swell but on a well kept cigar the band should be a ring, not stuck to the cigar. Also bands glued to the cigar that rip the wrapper really tick me off. On this cigar the band was a perfect fit. The smoke production in one word would be abundant.


The second third the tobacco grew stronger the spice subsided a little and a dried fruit (fig maybe) appeared.


I would put this in the medium to medium + category of cigars. I normally favor full bodied cigars but this is on the top of my list. These come in boxes of ten my store had a box which has been on the shelf for quite a while, months actually. The price had deterred me, however they had 8 left Monday and today they had 2. I am going back tomorrow for the last one if it is there.



I paired the cigar with a Leffe Blonde Belgian ale, a Goldie and a Blonde it like having twins! Saturday night with twins

 

[Bk124tt]

Natural By Drew Estate

 

[shavious]

Well, the deed is done. I tried my first Liga Undercrown this evening. I've received one job offer this week and expect to receive another on Monday. After being unemployed since June 1, I'm happy to have employment options on the table. Verdict on the Undercrown: I'm VERY happy with my 5-pack that I purchased for $25. You'd be hard pressed to find equivalent smokes at that price point. Smooth, creamy smoke. Lots of flavor, some cedar notes and a wonderful cocoa note that paired excellently with my Terrapin Moo-Hoo chocolate stout this evening! After trying this, I'm definitely game to sample more of Drew Estate's stuff... now if I could just get my hands on some LP No. 9's around here...

 

[Lynchmeister]

Sitting out with my first cigar in quite some time...a Perdomo Reserve La Tradicion Cabinet Series P Maduro (belicoso). Keeping it company is a Goose Island Summertime Koelsch. Not bad.

 

[KarlMaldensNose]

Wow. First "real" cigar ever and I certainly didn't expect this. A Casa Magna Colorado (Robusto?) and it knocked my socks off. Only my top 10 or so pipe tobaccos can touch this... full, rich, complex, intense and yet still very smooth. I didn't want it to end, for the obvious reasons and also because up here in Canada these sticks are close to $10 each. And there's the rub. I can get a tin of pipe baccy for the same price (in the U.S.) and it will give me at least 15 hour long smokes, compared to the 30 minutes or so I got out of this cigar. But what a half hour, boy. I was in the zone and I'll sell a kidney if I have to get back there. Also worried the strength and full flavour of cigars will ruin for me the decidedly more mild pipe tobaccos. Yes, there are some strong blends out there, but the ones I've tried so far are rough around the edges and don't pack as much refined flavour. We'll see where this all leads me...

 

[The Dean]

Wow. First "real" cigar ever and I certainly didn't expect this. A Casa Magna Colorado (Robusto?) and it knocked my socks off. Only my top 10 or so pipe tobaccos can touch this... full, rich, complex, intense and yet still very smooth. I didn't want it to end, for the obvious reasons and also because up here in Canada these sticks are close to $10 each. And there's the rub. I can get a tin of pipe baccy for the same price (in the U.S.) and it will give me at least 15 hour long smokes, compared to the 30 minutes or so I got out of this cigar. But what a half hour, boy. I was in the zone and I'll sell a kidney if I have to get back there. Also worried the strength and full flavour of cigars will ruin for me the decidedly more mild pipe tobaccos. Yes, there are some strong blends out there, but the ones I've tried so far are rough around the edges and don't pack as much refined flavour. We'll see where this all leads me...

View attachment 344987

Nice smoke. You can get that stick cheaper in the US, of course. But pipes (like DE shaving) can save you money in the long run if you don't develop PAD (pipe acquisition disorder). Back when I was on the pipe, my issue was, to find one pipe I really liked, I had to buy three or four. For a guy that had no savings, or much money to burn, it was hard to acquire enough good pipes to smoke as often as I liked back then. OTOH, it's relatively easy to find a few spare dollars for a cigar.

Since I smoke far less often these days, I may pick up a couple pipes and see if it takes me back.

 

[nesta]

I was in the mood for an ugly, evil little cigar, so I fired up an Avanti. Delicious

 

[The Dean]

I was in the mood for an ugly, evil little cigar, so I fired up an Avanti. Delicious

If you get in that mood again, and don't want a flavored smoke, I recommend these:






http://www.acigarsmoker.com/2011/05/31/el-perrito-war-of-flavors-cigar-review/

 

[nesta]

When I don't want flavored, there's always Parodi

Love this company...but while I like the fancy pants hand rolled cigars as much as anyone, I also smoke a lot of machine made cigars, and frankly, Parodi and De Nobili aren't ever going to stand up to the likes of Opus X or La Flor Dominicana or AVO or something...but a majority of the time I enjoy them as much as, or prefer them to, the majority of handrolled cigars I like. The price is right, and the flavor reminds me of a semi-sweet cross between a regular cigar and Peterson's Irish Flake....it's basically my bread and butter smoke. Still, I looooooove anise/licorice flavor, and the Avantis make a refreshing change of pace.

I'll have to try that El Credito thing sometime if I come across it

 

[The Dean]

When I don't want flavored, there's always Parodi

Love this company...but while I like the fancy pants hand rolled cigars as much as anyone, I also smoke a lot of machine made cigars, and frankly, Parodi and De Nobili aren't ever going to stand up to the likes of Opus X or La Flor Dominicana or AVO or something...but a majority of the time I enjoy them as much as, or prefer them to, the majority of handrolled cigars I like. The price is right, and the flavor reminds me of a semi-sweet cross between a regular cigar and Peterson's Irish Flake....it's basically my bread and butter smoke. Still, I looooooove anise/licorice flavor, and the Avantis make a refreshing change of pace.

I'll have to try that El Credito thing sometime if I come across it

I will smoke the occasional Parodi/DeNobilli in a pinch. No problem with it whatsoever.

Over the years, I have made very good money and been too poor to pay attention--and lived solidly middle-class as well. Along with these highs and lows in income, I have experienced high-end as well as budget products. Unlike some I know, I still find pleasure in the more modest products. Sure, I love a $50 bourbon--but I can be happy drinking well bourbon if that is what is available and what I can afford. I have tried to find quality at every price level. You couldn't pay me to smoke a White Owl or a Philly--but something from the Avanti line, or even a Backwoods Smoke will do.

 

[nesta]

I will smoke the occasional Parodi/DeNobilli in a pinch. No problem with it whatsoever.

Over the years, I have made very good money and been too poor to pay attention--and lived solidly middle-class as well. Along with these highs and lows in income, I have experienced high-end as well as budget products. Unlike some I know, I still find pleasure in the more modest products. Sure, I love a $50 bourbon--but I can be happy drinking well bourbon if that is what is available and what I can afford. I have tried to find quality at every price level. You couldn't pay me to smoke a White Owl or a Philly--but something from the Avanti line, or even a Backwoods Smoke will do.

Indeed, sometimes good enough is good enough. And even with plenty of more premium cigars here, I still often reach for machine made cigars. Phillies and Swisher Sweets and such are garbage...but there are a few machine mades which I like quite well. Avanti makes me favorites, but there's also Muniemakers, Marsh Wheelings, La Aurora's Principe line (never tried the flavors, but I love the naturals), the candela wrapped Grenadiers (Antonio y Cleopatra) are decent during the hottest weather, especially if you clip them despite being rolled with an opening in the cap, and while they're one of my less favorite machine mades, I've recently found the Garcia y Vega English Coronas are, at the very least, smokeable.

In a lot of cases, I think the better machine made cigars are better than the cheapest hand rolled smokes - though I will say if you get around a buck or so a stick, there are some great bargains to be found in some seconds and overruns. I've bought a couple bundles of A.J. Fernandez overruns recently, and they're absolutely awesome smokes, but I still sometimes am more likely to smoke a Parodi or Avanti. They may not be as "good," but I like them just as much

 

[Laz]

I too am a Parodi fan

 

[shavious]

Wow. First "real" cigar ever and I certainly didn't expect this. A Casa Magna Colorado (Robusto?) and it knocked my socks off. Only my top 10 or so pipe tobaccos can touch this... full, rich, complex, intense and yet still very smooth. I didn't want it to end, for the obvious reasons and also because up here in Canada these sticks are close to $10 each. And there's the rub. I can get a tin of pipe baccy for the same price (in the U.S.) and it will give me at least 15 hour long smokes, compared to the 30 minutes or so I got out of this cigar. But what a half hour, boy. I was in the zone and I'll sell a kidney if I have to get back there. Also worried the strength and full flavour of cigars will ruin for me the decidedly more mild pipe tobaccos. Yes, there are some strong blends out there, but the ones I've tried so far are rough around the edges and don't pack as much refined flavour. We'll see where this all leads me...

Welcome to the dark side, my friend. I've enjoyed cigars for a couple of years and recently tried to give pipe smoking a go. While I enjoyed it quite a bit, I found that I'm much more of a cigar fan. I think part of it has to do with the fact that I don't smoke often, so the economy argument doesn't do much for me. The other part of it I would align with what you said: the flavors are just out of this world.

 

[KarlMaldensNose]

Thanks for the welcome. I always knew it was just a matter of time as I've been gravitating toward the darker, stronger pipe tobaccos, such as plugs, dark fired Kentucky, etc.

Regarding the flavours, I've read numerous times, from people who are both pipe and cigar smokers, that pipe tobacco offers much more variety than cigars. While I can't comment on that, being only a year into pipes and a day into cigars, I can confidently say that the one cigar I've had was head and shoulders above 90% of the pipe tobacco blends I've tried (~100) in terms of fullness, richness, complexity and smoothness. I know it's not a competition and each has its place. Just happy I found a new way to spend my money on the brown leaf.

 

[shavious]

Thanks for the welcome. I always knew it was just a matter of time as I've been gravitating toward the darker, stronger pipe tobaccos, such as plugs, dark fired Kentucky, etc.

Regarding the flavours, I've read numerous times, from people who are both pipe and cigar smokers, that pipe tobacco offers much more variety than cigars. While I can't comment on that, being only a year into pipes and a day into cigars, I can confidently say that the one cigar I've had was head and shoulders above 90% of the pipe tobacco blends I've tried (~100) in terms of fullness, richness, complexity and smoothness. I know it's not a competition and each has its place. Just happy I found a new way to spend my money on the brown leaf.

The proliferation of variety in pipe tobacco is what interested me [plus the fact that pipes are often works of art!]. Frankly, I think I'm with you in that I prefer the flavor profile of cigars to what's available in tobacco. In addition, while I admit that there is more variety in pipe tobacco, I believe there is a VERY wide range of flavors in various cigar lines. Different wrappers, fillers, binders, aging processes, etc etc provide lots of great options.

 

[KarlMaldensNose]

Pura Sangre Robusto... not bad but I preferred yesterday's intro Casa Magna. Similar flavours but the Pura wasn't as, I dunno, as developed or refined... the flavours were not as clear, more muddled, I guess. I think I'm smoking too fast as I got a mild headache near the end of it, and with yesterday's smoke as well.

 

[Headcharge]

Undercrown. Always one of my favorites.

 

[ksblazer]

2012 Quintero Favorito

2012 Bolivar Petit Corona (One of the Best Boli PC's I've had)

2011 Bolivar Corona JR

 

[Paul L.]

Smoking a private blend from a buddy.

 

[KarlMaldensNose]

Alec Bradley Black Market Robusto... the micro anlalyzing of every minute detail of cigars is just not for me, but I will say that this one quickly evened out on the burn, produced a lot of smoke, was very peppery to start but thankfully quited down in that regard and gave me some good cocoa, coffee and molasses/raisiny flavours that I enjoy so much. Still getting used to the large diameter of cigars after so many years of cigarettes and more recently pipes. Also have to note that the smoke clinging to my face and hair isn't nearly as strong and tenacious as pipe smoke is.