Originally published at Tiki Bar Online
Robusto, 5” x 52 ring gauge / MSRP ~$6.25
Call it a coda or postscript for last week’s look at new releases for PDR Cigars…this cigar is not exactly new (it’s been out about a year), but it is “new to me” and it was made in the PDR factory, so it is kind of related. I first came to know Frank Herrera at the first Atlanta Tweet-Up in December 2010. He gave me some of his then-current line “La Caridad del Cobre” to sample (La Cucaracha was great!) and we talked about cigar copyright law and what he does in “real life” to pay for his cigar-producing job. He was an early supporter of the Chattanooga Tweet-Up, supplying us with Javelin cigars that year (those were spectacular!). Last year he decided on a new line of cigars named “Biography”…a guess these cigars represent the story of his life. From what I heard him say at this year’s Tweet-Up, the original La Caridad cigars are on hold for the moment, but at least a couple vitolas should return at some point. In the meantime, he sent Biography to this year’s Tweet-Up and I finally got to try them…and saved one out for this review (Burns does carry Biography now, as well, call 423-855-5200 to order). The fillers are Dominican and Nicaraguan; the binder is Dominican; and the wrapper is Brazilian Arapiraca (thank you to Cigar-Coop for those details). As noted before, this cigar was made by Abe Flores in the PDR Cigars factory in the Dominican.
Compared with the old La Caridad band and box treatment, the Biography is a much more modern, minimalist and cool look. It uses a straight-edged (as opposed to a fancy die-cut) ring with simple blank and metallic gold ink on white paper, along with a little highlighting emboss. The wrapper was dark chocolate brown with a couple larger veins and a thickly oily feel under my fingers. Bringing it to my nose, I got aromas of bittersweet chocolate and leather. The foot had a cedar and barnyard aroma. After cutting the head, the Biography had an excellent draw that tasted of chocolate, dried berries, and earth.
The Biography lit easily and quickly and it immediately delivered a very nice combination of earth, cedar, dried fruit, and cocoa powder to the palate, along with a sharp pepper spice to the nose. Before long the pepper spice died down a bit and the cigar settled into a very nice flavor profile, with sweet raisin and bitter dark coffee flavors balancing each other, while cedar, earth and cocoa powder played around in the background.
As I burned my way through the second third, I noticed that the flavor had turned a little smokier, with a little bit of pepper spice at the back of the throat. There was still a nice balance between sweet and bitter flavors and construction was turning out to be excellent, with a very straight burn, solid ash, and flawless draw.
In the final third the Biography took on darker earthy flavors of espresso and extra dark chocolate, and the pepper spice picked up on the palate. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this newest creation from the combined talents of Frank Herrera and Abe Flores. By the end it ranked low on the full range in body, while maintaining about medium-plus nicotine strength. It exhibited a great balance of flavors that made it very easy to enjoy and the price is very attractive as well.
Body: 8/10
Strength: 6/10
Complexity: 7/10
AFP Scale
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10
