Review By: Dr. Mitch Fadem
La Gloria Cubana Coleccion Reserva cigars are made by Ernesto Perez-Carrillo in collaboration with General Cigar.
Excellent pre-light draw, nothing exceptional about the aroma. It has a nice dark natural wrapper, very smooth in the roll but consistent throughout the stick and not too solid and no soft spots.
Toasting the foot yields a woodsy aroma and after 5 minutes a slightly uneven burn. Initial flavors are coffee, cocoa and black pepper on the retro-hale. This cigar has a nice smoke output.
This is a mild/medium cigar with not a very complex profile. Middle of the first third the burn evened out without any touch-up. Near the end of the first third the pepper is now evident in the overall aroma and flavor and remains woodsy with some earthy undertones. I sense some cedar and oak and now some chocolate and graham cracker, almost like a s'more. At the end of the first third the ash is bent and a very slight uneven burn.
Middle of the cigar still has the same flavors and aromas with a touch more pepper, maybe some sweetness. I knocked the ash off at the mid-point to avoid it falling in my lap.
The final third got a little spicier and I noticed more pepper but the slight sweetness remained constant. The aroma and flavor on the retro-hale, although still spicy the amount was much less.
The smoking time was 90 minutes. I personally like cigars that smoke at least that amount of time because I have migrated to smoking better quality cigars. My humidor only holds 25 cigars and right now they are all La Gloria Cubana – Serie R No. 5, Serie N and Artisino. These are not bargain cigars. I actually stopped smoking sticks in that range. The older I get I want to smoke something that I can enjoy more. I don’t do yard work, I don’t tinker in my garage, hey, I’m retired and smoke to relax.
Okay, what about the value? This stick cost me $10 at my local shop. You can get them at online shops for much less. I found 5 packs for $35 and boxes of 20 for $115 on sale at Cigars International (normal price is usually $170). This was a very good cigar and worthy of at least a 4 point rating on a 5-point scale.
