LCDH La Gloria Cubana Inmensos Cigar - 1 Single

This is a Cigar that I had been thinking about enjoying on that perfect summers day, when the weather is fine and warm and all you want to do is sit outside with a drink and cigar. Today was that day! I am a big robusto fan and as I smoke a cigar a week and generally only outside in the summer, any cigar is an occasion for me. This was on my radar as the vitola is a double robusto and I was looking forward to a long slow smoke. The construction is impeccable, firm to the pinch and clearly a high quality wrapper, all in all a very alluring looking cigar! The unlit aroma was of cedar and spice with maybe a slightly floral background. So what was it like? Well I can tell you that there were a few things that I felt spoiled the experience of what could have been a top notch cigar. Firstly even before lighting, I felt the draw was a little tighter than I would like, but there was no problem lighting it, although it took a little bit of work to get the burn to stay even, as it canoed a bit during the first third. Once I got it past that point it became a much better smoke, but that rather defeats the object of a larger cigar. The other thing that made it a more difficult smoke became clear when it was time to remove the bands. This has a double band with LCDH band in front of the brand's own logo. They were both very tight and glued down rather too well with no purchase afforded on the edges. In the end, after a while of picking at them and getting nowhere, I resorted to a scalpel from our stationary drawer. It's not a biggie, but it's the first time this has ever happened to me in more than a decade of smoking cigars. As far as the tasting notes go, it was a smooth smoke on the whole, with a slight nutty bitterness (not unpleasant) to it and spicy cedar coming through as the main components, I have to say that it was rather unremarkable and slightly bland at times, not coming close to a comparable strength robusto, for instance the Hoyo Epicure No2 has much greater complexity to it. I can't say that it's one to write home about, but it was an enjoyable smoke over the course of the afternoon. I bought two of them and I will keep the other a year or so before revisiting this cigar. If i could give a 3.5 I would, but it's not a 4.