Vitola: Corona Gorda- 6” x 46 ring gauge
- MSRP $10
- Purchased at Burns Tobacconist
Background
Several years ago, Drew Estate produced a cigar for the Brothers of the Leaf online community (BOTL.org). As part of the 2019 IPCPR trade show they announced the re-release of the BOTL blend as a national release for Drew Estate Diplomate retailers.
The BOTL comes in 3 sizes sure to be favorites for cigar enthusiasts, a Corona, a Lancero and the Corona Gorda I am reviewing today. Each comes in boxes of 15 sticks and is made from Nicaraguan fillers, a Connecticut Shade binder, and a Connecticut Broadleaf Maduro wrapper.
We received the BOTL a few weeks back and I’ve smoked several since, in all three sizes. For myself, I liked the Corona Gorda best, so that’s what I decided to go with for this review.
Prelight
I love the way the boxes look for this release. They are plain wood with dark brown type and fairly ornate “tax stamp” decoration, but it’s the shape that really appeals to me. The lid and bottom edges are rounded smoothly and very cleanly shaped. The box lid slides off with a slider and groove pairing that is cleverly hidden and designed. Seriously a nice design. The band is a little bit of a let-down after the box design. It’s nice enough and serviceable, but not anything special.
image courtesy Drew Estate
The wrapper was a medium-plus brown color with a very oily feel to it and an aroma that was rich and earthy with a touch of sweetness. The foot of the stick had notes of dark roast coffee, earth and cocoa powder.
After clipping, I had an excellent cold draw that had flavors of earth and hay mostly, with more subtle notes of cocoa powder and cedar.
Flavor
Firing up the BOTL, I got cedar and earth up front, along with vegetal and pepper spice notes coming in from behind, and slight cocoa powder notes on the finish. The nose had black pepper and dark coffee. The coffee flavor crept into the palate flavors as the third went along until it was fairly dominant.
The second third started out with that coffee bean flavor up front, with earth and wood notes coming in behind. The pepper had surprisingly almost ceased at this point while the body remained at medium-to-full.
The last third offered up more coffee bean flavor with earthiness and woodiness hanging on steadily. There was a little return of pepper spice—just enough to give bump up the interest a bit.
Construction
I had a very good draw, even enough burn line and solid ash.
Value
Very good experience with a price tag just at the top end of the “sweet spot,” so good value.
Conclusions
The BOTL is a very good cigar that I enjoyed, especially in this Corona Gorda vitola. The Lancero didn’t have quite as much complexity to it and the Corona was just not as memorable to me, but this size ended up being just right. Take it’s earthy coffee flavor and add a little spice, then offer it up for a price that does not reflect its very limited nature and you get a winner of a cigar. If you are a Nicaraguan leaf fan, get your hands on these while you can.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10
