Vitola: Corona Gorda- 6” x 46 ring gauge
- SRP $10.50
- Samples purchased from Burns Tobacconist
Background
I was fortunate enough to attend one of the last meetings of the Scenic City Cigar Club before COVID/quarantine/lockdown/cower-in-place started in 2020. The meeting served as a debut for the Aganorsa Leaf Supreme Leaf blend in its original Robusto vitola. I did really enjoy the blend, but it never ended up being a “must have” for me…a spot that does include Guardian of the Farm (original and Maduro), Aganorsa Leaf Signature (Corojo), and the regular Aganorsa Leaf lines (Maduro, Connecticut, and Corojo). Yeah…I do actually really enjoy almost everything the company has put out…even Supreme Leaf was something I liked enough to buy a 10-count box, although it was never a “top tier” cigar of theirs for my palate.
It may have had to do with the vitola, though, because when I first tried this Corona Gorda size of the blend (released just at 1 year after the Robusto), I remember being very impressed. I made sure to get a couple more so I would be able to do a review on it. As noted on the old review, this is an all-Nicaraguan blend of tobaccos grown by Aganorsa, including a Corojo 99 wrapper. They also note that the “vibrant colors” for the packaging “reflect the intense Corojo dominated flavors and aroma.”
They are releasing Supreme Leaf twice a year, each time in a different vitola, which will be available in a limited number of boxes of 10 sticks. Corona Gorda was the February 2021 release, while July 2021 will feature a Torpedo. I bought several sticks at Burns Tobacconist in Chattanooga, TN. This review sample is my third or fourth time smoking this blend in this size.
Prelight
Looking back at my notes on the packaging from the Robusto review, there is not a thing I would change. I think the box is good enough, though not spectacular…the band is probably the worst in the Aganorsa catalog and one of the worst bands I can remember for a really good cigar. It seems that they didn’t resize it for the smaller ring gauge, either, so it’s not only bad-looking, but ill-fitting on this 46 ring gauge stick. But for whatever reason I didn’t make it down in the preflight department last year, so I’m going to stick with that today.
The wrapper leaf here seems darker than I remember last February’s release being. As luck would have it I had one left from that initial box and…yes, the wrapper was notably darker. At any rate, this seemed to be on the lighter side of dark chocolate brown in color, with a decent amount of oiliness. It had an aroma of leather and wet earth. The foot was a stronger earthiness with touches of sweetness and cedar.
After clipping the head, I had a very good prelight draw that had notes off chocolate, earth, hay, and popcorn.
Flavor
The Supreme Leaf Corona Gorda started off with semisweet chocolate, black and red pepper, and earth notes on the palate, followed closely by cedar and a faint popcorn note. The retrohale was nutty and peppery. Subsequent puffs left a little sweet dark fruit note on my lips at the finish. Those same flavors continued mixing it up for the rest of the first third, riding on a medium-bodied smoke.
The second third started to see the buttered popcorn note of Aganorsa’s Corojo leaf come more into focus with chocolatey notes falling off at the same time. The red pepper faded while black pepper remained and I got a little bell pepper (more vegetal) note coming in at the same time. As I got toward the end of the third red pepper came roaring back on the lips and I got charred wood notes in the mix.
The last third had more charred wood and red pepper notes, with just a hint of sweetness in the background. The body had increased so medium-to-full.
Construction
I had a great draw, very even burn line, and a solid ash throughout.
Value
I enjoyed this vitola more than the Robusto, so even though it was a little more expensive, I thought it was well worth it.
Conclusions
I had debated whether to do this as a full review or as a pairing since I had reviewed the Robusto a year ago, but I feel like the full review treatment was justified since this vitola smokes so differently from the larger ring gauge version. I found this one to have more body and more complexity…I just enjoyed it more end to end and would definitely recommend buying a box of these if you can still find them.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10
