Cigar:            La Gloria Cubana Corona Gorda

Size:             52 x 6.0"

Country:          DR

Wrapper:          ECSU, E

Binder:           DR

Filler:           DR/Nic

Flavor Strength:  Medium-Full

NicotineStength:  Medium-Full

Date Received:    2004-05-21

Suspected Age:    6 years, 4+ upon receipt

Vendor/Price:     Gifted by Beans, ASC.  Thanks, Jeff!

Beverage(s):      Water, Widmer Blonde Ale, Deschutes Black Butte Porter

Smoke time:       2 hours

Date:             2005-08-20

Posted to ASC:    2005-08-21

Overall score:    4.5/5.0

Overall:    Wow!  A GREAT stick.  Sweet pepper and nuts, then sweet and floral intensifying over the smoke and becoming fruity in the latter portion.  Transiently, pepper, almond, orange, and cinamon appeared.  Long, sweet estery finish.  Copious smoke volume and a perfect burn.  Substantial nicotine buzz.  Wow! 

Ambience:   Little woman is out of town for three weeks.  When she returns we will be living elsewhere, so the current house has been declared a smoking zone!  Ah, the freedom of lighting up in the livingroom and watching a movie, or just putzing around with a lit stogie.

Appearance: Milk chocolate colored wrapper with a couple of large veins.  Very firm roll.  There is a tiny perfectly round hole in the wrapper at midway.  It looks like a pin was stuck in it.  Under a 15x loupe the edges of the hole are scalloped.  Looks like it was chewwed by tiny jaws.  Beetle!!  No beetle in evidence.  No apparent debris in humidor.  Today I pull every stick out of the humidor and check them.

Cut & Prelight:   Cut perfectly, yielding a somewhat tight draw.  It has a wonderful, floral, sweet, creamy aroma with a very similar draw flavor.  Lip tingle.

First third:      Initially sweet pepper and nuts.  Copious smoke volume once it got going.  Soon, pepper faded and the smoke was sweet with a sweet, floral finish.  Wow!  Then cinamon and almond.

Second third:     Flavors intensifying.  Still sweet smoke and finish.  Firm, lined ash that I knocked off every inch.  Sweetness is moving toward fruitiness - orange spice. 

Third third:      Nicotine buzz quite apparent (empty stomach).  Aromatic spice, and fruity esters increasing.  Finish remains sweet.  Wow!  Reluctantly I had to abandon it at one inch due to a substantial nicotine buzz.  Long, long, sweet finish.