Cigar Czars

 

Review of La Aroma de Cuba Cigar

By: Gary Manelski

La Aroma de Cuba cigars have been around for a while, and were reviewed many times by various cigar journalists over the years. The current Nicaraguan version of the cigar was rated 22 times by Cigar Aficionado (including Cigar Insider) since 2009, receiving scores between 87 and 93 points. The latest rating was for the Churchill size, in the Nov-Dec 2019 issue of the magazine, receiving an outstanding score of 93 points.

I also reviewed these cigars in the past, and back in 2013, here is how I began my review on About.com:

La Aroma de Cuba cigars were originally introduced by Ashton in 2003, but were re-blended and reintroduced after production was moved from Honduras to My Father Cigars in Nicaragua during 2009. La Aroma de Cuba cigars are now made with a blend of Nicaraguan fillers and Connecticut Broadleaf wrappers...

The above portion of my 2013 introduction has not changed, but the remainder of this 2019 review has been updated. This time around, the cigar being reviewed is the La Aroma de Cuba Monarch, which is a Toro size cigar measuring 6 x 52. These cigars are still value-priced at less than $30 for a 5-pack, which is a good deal for an attractive Ashton product.

The 2019 La Aroma de Cuba cigar still began with a modest peppery flavor, but not as intense as the Marquis (5.75 x 48) vitola that I reviewed six years ago. The cigar was still medium bodied, but now bordering on the medium-to-full range. As in the past, the pepper and spice gradually faded into the background, before virtually disappearing after about 25 minutes. During that time, there were also hints of a caramel sweetness, which gave way to a smoother woodsy/cedar flavor during the second half of the smoke.

These cigars were well made, had very good draws, held a medium-to-long ash, and had mostly even burns. Although no relights nor touch-ups were needed on the Marquis back in 2013, the Monarch in 2019 did need a couple of minor touch-ups, plus one relight near the end of the smoking session. It took me 80 minutes to smoke the Monarch down to two inches remaining, compared to an hour to smoke the Marquis down to 1½ inches.

The bottom line, I enjoyed the La Aroma de Cuba Monarch more in 2019 than the Marquis in 2013. The Monarch is a very good cigar that now deserves a solid rating of 4 points on a 5-point scale. On About.com, I rated the Marquis with 3½ stars. Sometimes size does matter, but individual tastes and tobacco harvests can also change over time. The moral of this story is: there is no reason not to revisit cigars that you haven't acquired in a while, especially when the price is right.

La Aroma de Cuba Monarch Cigar
La Aroma de Cuba Cigar

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