Cigar Weekly

La Floridita Limited Edition 3-Cigar Vertical

 

Published Friday, September 19th, 2008
Compiled by Doug McGuire (Mad Dawg)

CW's latest blind review is a little different from our usual format. Gary Korb (Chief Copy Writer, Famous Smoke Shop, Easton, Pennsylvania) sent me a five-pack each of the three sizes that make up Famous' new La Floridita Limited Edition line for the review. I sent one cigar of each size to five members of our review panel, and asked them to record their impressions of the entire line. The sizes and general specifications of the cigars are as follows:

La Floridita Limited Edition

Country of origin:          Honduras

Wrapper:                      Brazilian Mata Fina Maduro

Filler:                            Nicaraguan, Mexican

Binder:                         Indonesian

Presentation:                 Boxes of 20 cigars and 5-packs

 

 

La Floridita Limited Edition Toro

 

La Floridita Limited Edition Robusto

The La Floridita Limited Edition line is a new blend created exclusively for Famous Smoke Shop by Nestor Plasencia. I asked Gary Korb for an idea as to what Famous was trying to achieve with the blend in terms of flavor profile and target audience:

What we were trying to achieve was a more refined version of our bestselling La Floridita bundle selection. For similar reasons, we also wanted to present it in a box. The blend was created by Nestor Plasencia in Honduras, overseen by Famous Smoke Shop president, Arthur Zaretsky and General Manager Hal Odzic. We were looking for a cigar that was medium-bodied with a full-flavor, and offered a more complex taste, so a Nicaraguan/Mexican blend with an Indonesian binder was used instead of the Nicaraguan/Dominican filler/Dominican binder found on the original La Floridita. Nestor also had a rare crop of Brazilian Mata Fina wrapper leaf that dovetailed perfectly with the core blend, giving it added flavor and punch. After the first completed cigars were taste-tested, Hal insisted the cigars be aged an additional three months, which mellowed them that much more and gave the cigars a much-improved smoothness and balance of flavors. Due to the limited amount of wrapper leaf, we were only able to make three sizes. Additionally, we wanted to target it to the "medium-bodied smoker" who was looking for a more flavorful "luxury class" cigar that could be had for well under $100 a box.

Taken together, the La Floridita Limited Edition line was quite well-received by the Cigar Weekly tasting panel. Among those reviewers who broke out detailed opinions, the Toro was the clear favorite.

Pre-Smoke Comments

Fishin' Phil: Churchill - Slightly lumpy bunch, well finished head. Developed a slight split at the foot.

Toro - Nice smooth lightly veined wrapper. Evenly bunched and well finished, a good looking cigar. Burned razor straight.

Robusto - Slightly veiny. Nice firm bunch, well finished cap.

flipflop: All 3 smokes were very nicely rolled (shorter one wrapper a bit rougher than others) with easy draws prior to lighting.

Smoked in order of length; shortest first. Second cigar unraveled a bit when cap was clipped.

Cigar 1 paired with rum and Coke.

Cigar 2 paired with a Shiraz.

Cigar 3 paired with Highland Park 12 y/o single malt and a water back.

ronin: This was the vertical tasting. All samples were nicely rolled. A toothy wrapper with a nice cap. The roll on my cigars felt good. Upon clipping and testing them, I found them to be an easy draw. I used a torch lighter to toast the foot. All lit evenly.

SLR: Great looking dark brown wrapper, nice cap, overall all samples were well constructed. Draw was perfect.  It did have a tendency to burn uneven requiring some re-lights.

Elk Twin: These cigars had a burnt umber colored wrapper with some subtle defects.  Fairly rustic looking, there were a few holes in the wrapper leaf and the veins were evident.  Other than that the wrappers were oily and well applied.  The pre-light aroma had a sweet and spicy tone.  Lopping off the head created the prefect draw.  A couple of the samples started with an uneven burn but righted themselves with curls of blue smoke issuing from the unburned side. After a little more than an inch the ash tapped off to reveal a sharp spire in the center.  There was a bit of fraying as each of the wrapper defects was passed, but the overall construction was fine.

Smoke Comments

Fishin' Phil: All 3 sizes - Nice earthy flavor with a slightly sweet finish.

flipflop: Lots of smoke; ashes were fairly firm on all three, especially in first quarter to third. Ash changed to cone in second third through to end. Filler well centered based on cone. Shortest one burned a bit hot and each successive cigar burned cooler.

ronin: Overall, this was a fair smoke. It had a light touch of sweetness with no burn on the tongues. It did exhibit a light bitterness about the half way mark on all the cigars. Though with the Churchill size it actually did not show the bitterness till well past the ¾ mark on the cigar. It exhibited modest flavor and strength in all three examples.

SLR: Started out bitter tasting, with acidic bitter notes.  But after a half inch, the cigar mellowed out, unmasking nice and pronounced sweet spicy flavors, with nice complexity.  Overall these cigars are smooth and great tasting.  I really enjoyed this vertical tasting.

Elk Twin: The first puffs were reasonably smooth and softly dusted with sweet gum and black pepper, but within an inch the buffered smoothness gave way to a raspy woodiness.  At the one inch mark the flavor changed dramatically, shedding the harsh coat and morphing into a cocoa and paprika infused blend of leather and earth.  The medium strength began to flex and the fullness of the recipe began to emerge. The roll, which was initially quite firm, began to soften and the smoke flowed more freely.  At the halfway point the strength, as expected, began to build appreciably; the flavors also built in complexity as the cigar burned.  I enjoyed the dark espresso finish.  The smoke had a sharp but satisfying room note, but was thin and wispy between puffs.

Summary Comments

Fishin' Phil: Churchill - A nice medium cigar. Slight split at foot detracted a little from an otherwise good cigar..

Toro - Very well made cigar with a nice earthy flavor. I would not hesitate to buy these.

Robusto - I am not normally a fan of cigars over 50 gauge, this one performed well. While not exactly the prettiest cigar I've ever seen, it smoked well and tasted good. If you are a fan of large ring gauge cigars, you owe it to yourself to try this one.

flipflop: Overall, these were decent smokes. Would like to have seen more aroma and some added dimension. Perhaps more ligero would accomplish this.  More suited to an after dinner smoke than a daytime smoke. I'd buy these cigars as singles but not spend $$ on a whole box. Not great cigars, but better than average. Longer the cigar the better they were.

ronin: Overall on the vertical taste testing, I could find nothing to really recommend these cigars nor could I find no reason not to recommend them either. They are a nice middle of the road cigar that I found to be very mild. Nicely rolled but nothing in the smoke would make me run out and buy them.

SLR: All samples were well constructed with excellent sweet spicy flavors.  These cigars will appeal to a wide range of cigar smokers.  It does not overpower the palate, yet rich enough to satisfy experienced cigar smokers.

Elk Twin: My impression is that of well-made cigars that were assembled from quality if not 1st class components.  The blend is balanced and shows signs of proper aging.  The chameleon-like evolution of flavors through the life of each cigar demonstrated an experienced blender was at work.  I liked the cigars both for their flavor and complexity. The toro sized cigar was the best of the samples, with the others suffering from harshness and being too large in girth.  A smaller sample, say corona-sized, would be welcomed.

Scores

<!--[endif]-->

Review Results

 

Box prices for the La Floridita Limited Edition line range from $59.99 for the Robusto to $79.99 for the Churchill. The line is available exclusively at www.famous-smoke.com

All information in the Cigar Weekly Blind Reviews database is copyright the authors and Cigar Weekly. Unauthorized use is prohibited without express permission of either.