I’ve been itching to smoke this one, it’s been sitting in my humidor calling my name ever since I received it in my Powerhouse 16 Sampler. Today I decided was the day for it. I headed out to the tasting booth and began my pre-light inspection.
This cigar came in a cedar lined metal tube. I’ve never encountered one of these and perhaps this added a bit of mystery to the cigar.
I did the ol’ squeeze test, and felt consistent hardness throughout except for what felt like a small knot just below the band. The cigar had plenty of veins, but seemed to give the cigar character. A good looking stogie indeed. Long and narrow, a bit unusual.
After I made my cut, I tested the draw and knew immediately I’d be cutting again. After my second cut without improving the result, I had a bad feeling. After lighting my struggles intensified. The draw was so bad I was certain it was plugged. I had about 1/2 inch of ash when I contemplated dumping it. I was frustrated.
I went in the house, got a toothpick and rodded out the center. This improved it a little, but it was still bad. I was thinking the plug was near the band where I felt the knot, but I finally smoked through it about halfway through. Once I got through it, the smoking experience improved dramatically. I could finally focus on the flavor of the cigar, and wasn’t bad. When the cigar was about 2/3 finished, I began to notice a hint of some sort of mint, or perhaps menthol.
The review of this cigar was impacted greatly by the draw/plug. I can’t imagine this being a normal occurrence, but I am reviewing the cigar I’m smoking, not what I think most of them are like so I have to give this cigar a “D” with hopes of trying another one in the future and having a better smoking experience.
Posted by Sam
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I’ve been working a lot lately, and find myself smoking more of my cigars at work. That was the case today. I brought along a La Gloria Cubana, one I picked up in my Powerhouse 16 Sampler. My anticipation built all day until I finally took a pre-dinner smoke, only to be a bit disappointed.
My pre-light inspection revealed nothing but good things about this cigar. The cut was good, no appearant problems with the wrapper, a fine looking cigar it was indeed. I did my normal draw test before lighting, and tasted the sweetness of the cigar.
After I lit up, I noticed that the La Gloria put out a bunch of white smoke. I conducted a “squeeze test” and found no hard spots, however the wrapper cracked on me halfway down. I didn’t use excessive pressure, it just kinda happened. The draw stayed great though and the break didn’t worsen.
As the burn progressed, it was clear that the cigar was burning very unevenly. The ash was very loose and ugly. It looked liked rolled up newspaper clippings rolled up with sawdust. The filler appeared to be of smaller pieces on the side burning faster, and I’m not sure if the small ash was due to the fast burn, or the fast burn was due to the small filler. The cigar burned a bit faster than I hoped, and it burned hot.I was done with it after 45 minutes.
It seemed as though there were humidity issues, but my humidor has been holding steady 70%RH and 70 degrees. My transport bag had a humidifier in it, and wasn’t heated during the day. Could that crack have played a part?
Despite everything that went wrong with this cigar, it was flavorful and I would be willing to give it another try. Until then, I have no choice but to issue a “C-” for this smoke. Definately a smokable cigar, but there’s a lot of better cheapie cigars that out perform this one.
Posted by Sam
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I’ve been itching to smoke this one, it’s been sitting in my humidor calling my name ever since I received it in my Powerhouse 16 Sampler. Today I decided was the day for it. I headed out to the tasting booth and began my pre-light inspection.
