Vitola: Salomon- 6.5” x 60 ring gauge
- Price TBD (but previous Puro Vintage have sold for $17 to $20 per stick)
- Samples from Creativas Group (marketing company)
Background
La Aurora isn’t afraid to celebrate how many years they’ve been in existence. The 100 Años blend felt almost obligatory…any company that’s been in business 100 years is going to do something to commemorate the event. Then the 107 blend, celebrating 107 years and kind of said, “Yeah…we just celebrated 107 years!” Then last year we saw quite a few “110th Anniversary” secondary bands on La Aurora releases. Now they are getting ready to ship the Puro Vintage 2006 with a secondary band that reads “Edición 111 Aniversario.” Well…if Bilbo Baggins can celebrate his eleventy-first birthday, La Aurora Cigars can, too.
This also happens to be the fourth time a Puro Vintage cigar has been released by La Aurora, following on the 2003, 2004 and 2005 Puro Vintage releases. Breaking down the name…this release features tobaccos from the 2006 harvest year (“vintage”) although they are using fillers from Nicaragua, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic, a Brazilian binder, and an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper (not quite so “Puro”…which is generally used to indicate that a cigar is all from one country).
Pricing was indicated on this, although the previous Puro Vintage releases have been in the $17 to $20 range, so I’m going to assume this is going to be fairly close. The marketing company that Miami Cigar has been employing recently (Creativas Group) sent me samples of this cigar for this review. This review is of the second of the two cigars. I got some background info above from a big lifestyle magazine’s news account.
Prelight
There’s definitely nothing wrong with the way the Puro Vintage lines look…either now or at any point in the past. The primary band has the La Aurora name and a lion on a rich, textured paper stock. “Puro Vintage” is written under the lion with “2006” written in very small type in a gold banner under that. The secondary band is a high gloss paper stock and looks a little out of place, although I’m guessing we’ll see more of that band on other lines during the year, so maybe they made one band that would work (better in some cases, worse in others) on all their lines. I would have preferred to see this cigar without the “111 anniversary” proclamation, but it’s not a big deal either way.
The wrapper leaf was beautiful and oily to the touch, with the color of milk chocolate and the aroma of earth with a touch of leather. Smelling at the foot of the cigar, I picked up stronger earth notes, along with manure, wood, and a touch of pepper. The prelight draw was very good, featuring flavor notes of earth, leather and graham.
Flavor
Little flame was really needed to get the Puro Vintage 2006 going. Once it was off and burning, I got Dominican bread notes, some leather, a touch of spice and a hint of earth right off the bat. Blowing the smoke out through my nose, I detected more leather and a stronger pepper spice there.
The second third had more earthiness with the Dominican graham notes fading a bit. I got a continued pepper spice that remained a low burn. The balance was excellent the whole way.
The spice heated up through the last third and I got more earth and leathery notes.
Construction
I needed to touch up the burn line quite a few times, but there was no serious canoeing or anything like that. The ash was a touch flaky, but it didn’t continually deposit ash on my lap, so I didn’t count that against it. The draw was pretty much flawless.
Value
This is undoubtedly an expensive cigar, but it is a low production run and it is a very good blend, so I call it “worth it” as far as a “special occasion cigar.”
Conclusions
This was another excellent cigar from the La Aurora factory. The four-country blend had a great balance and complexity that helped the cigar live up to the high admission price. The Puro Vintage 2006 lives up to the name and legacy of the cigars in the line that came before it and is easy to recommend at least once. If history is any indication they should age well, too.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10
Would you suggest resting these for awhile? It sounds amazing but maybe needs some time to correct burn issues.
Nice. I actually have a few of the Puro Vintage 2003, never got around to trying them because of the size and reading unfavorable reviews, just didn’t want to be stuck smoking something for that long. I do need to try them though and this kind of helped me remember it needs to be done. How long did this take to put it down?
Well I spent the time today with the Puro Vintage 2003. It was decent but a monotone profile for a timely smoke. Not worth the price imo.
Sounds like a great blend. Price is a little steep, but may be worth it.
I liked the 107. Can’t wait for the 111.
Well I’ll add it to my special occasion list!
This a great cigar I’m sure,just not in my pocket book.
Sounds pretty good. Nice write up.
I like the description of this cigar! Price is steep tho!
Thx for the write up. I’m sure it was good but at that price point there are just so many others I’d rather smoke.
Looks like the kind of cigars I’d keep for a special ocasión. A promotion on my job or a raise on my paycheck