La Aurora Barrel Aged Robusto

Specs:
Price: $5.36
Size: 5x50

Filler: Nicaraguan, Corojo, and Piloto Cubano
Binder: Dominican

Wrapper: Dominican Corojo oscuro (also known as Maduro)

Body: Medium-t0-Full

The La Aurora brand is supposedly the oldest maker of cigars in the Dominican Republic. All of the tobacco that is used in La Aurora cigars is aged inside of rum barrels for a least a year made from oak, which you can sense in the taste of the cigar during the smoke and even in the pre-draw. The idea behind using barrels to age the tobacco of La Aurora cigars is the thought that they bring the tobacco blend to their peak flavor profile.

Appearance and Construction:
The wrapper of the cigar was dark brown, but not as dark as black. It had a reddish-tan tinge to it. The cigar looked like it had several large veins in it and had minor, almost pimple-like, dots that adorned the cigar, but nothing to be concerned with. Overall the cigar did not look like it's wrapper was damaged, so good construction. It seemed tightly packed, but that could have just been the particular cigar that I had. The band of the cigar looks modeled after one of the rum barrels it was aged in.

The Smoke:
In latter posts, I'll try to write a more detailed review of my experience while smoking cigars. For now, I'll give you a general overview of what the flavors of the cigar were and my overall thoughts on the smoke.

Flavors:
After several failed attempts with my crappy white-tipped Cigars International matches, I got the cigar to light and immediately noticed the flavor was a mild spice which was in the medium-body range. Just like I stated earlier, you could really taste the oaky nodes, almost as the main theme, mixed with the slight spice and an almost undetectable amount of sweet. The smoke had a supprisingly dry, salty flavor (if that at all makes sense). It was more like in the aging process someone put 1-2 drops of vanilla on the tobacco, it was that slight. The finish of the cigar lasted around 10-20 seconds max, almost making you want to smoke faster than normal. As the cigar was smoked closer and closer to the band, the spice kept intensifying and at this point the slight vanilla sweetness was nonexistent. Towards the end of the smoke the predominant flavors were a peppery spice and the oak flavor came through as the main feature in the cigar. There were leathery nodes in the smoke as well. The flavors of the cigar kept me smacking my lips the entire time I smoked, the same way that you smack your lips while eating a peanut butter sandwich. I finally decided that the weather in Massachusetts did not want me to continue to smoke the last 1 or 2 inches of the cigar, so I put down for good knowing that I just had a real treat of a cigar.

The Verdict:
I enjoyed the La Aurora Barrel Aged Rubosto very much. When rating the cigar out of 10, I give the cigar a 7.5 out of 10 for a couple of reasons. One reason is that I've had much better cigars that were in the medium range than this cigar. I also tend to like more creamy and smooth cigars, simlar to the Perdomo Lot 23 Natural. The lack of a smooth, creamy smoke did not detrack from the experience, it's just a personal perference. I think that the flavors of this cigar are an aquired taste, which is another reason I don't rate the cigar as high as I do. So to wrap up the review, great smoke that I recomend you try if you like the flavor profile and want to try something cheap from your local smoke shop!