Cigar Review: La Barba Purple

• Vitola: Magnum
• 6” x 60 ring gauge
• MSRP ~$12
• Purchased from Burns Tobacconist

Background

You know those days where you don’t know what to smoke? I was having one of those. I had several cigars in the “review humidor” (where I put cigars to go rest before I burn them down for your entertainment and edification), but nothing sounded “just right.” Then I remembered one of my customers—Drew—going on a bit last night night about “La Barbra” when he bought more of them. His enthusiasm changed Barba to Barbra, but it occurred to me that there might just be something to this blend so maybe it’s time to fire one up for science…art…whatevs!

After the success of La Barba Red, Tony Bellatto and Craig Rossi set their minds to creating the follow-up. They ended up working with Robert Caldwell (of Caldwell Cigar Company) and Henderson Ventura (son of William Ventura) on a cigar that is put together at the Dominican Tabacalera William Ventura and is made of some interesting leaf choices.

The wrapper is an HVA Ecuadorian leaf. HVA is “Habana Vuelta Abajo” which basically specifies a district in the Pinar del Rio province of Cuba. So it’s basically seed that originated from that place in Cuban, but was grown in Ecuador. The binder is Dominican Corojo, a leaf that Caldwell and Ventura are well acquainted with from their work on Caldwell’s cigars. And the filler uses some of that Corojo and some of that HVA, then adds in a “rare varietal known as Carbonell” (those exact words were used on about 5 different websites…it’s almost like listening to the various media outlets regurgitating the DNC’s talking points memos). I couldn’t find any information about Carbonell leaf on the interwebs. There was a company called “Carbonell Cigars” at one point, and they were reputed to be the largest selling brand in the Dominican Republic, but the also appear to be out of business now. Any relation to this varietal? IDK. There is also actor Nestor Carbonell, who you might recognize from such shows as Lost and Bates Motel and movies such as The Dark Knight Rises and The Lost City…but I’m fairly certain he has nothing to do with this cigar.

Am I rambling a bit? Possibly…it’s hard to fill space when there’s little in the way of actual background information published. And I’m feeling a little punchy…it’s been a long week. Circling back around, this ends up being the first time I’ve smoked this blend, which I purchased at Burns…let’s get into it…

Prelight

The La Barba branding is a good example of tasteful minimalism. Fairly plan wooden boxes with the name and some artwork on them. Nothing fancy. The band has the straight razor on the front and “La Barba” on the arms of the band that reach around to be glued together, but it’s the details that impressed me. The use of just purple, black and metallic gold inks, along with some strategic silver foil and a bit of embossing. The more you look at it, the more you realize that’s it’s not such a simple design after all. It’s well-thought-out and not over-the-top.

The wrapper leaf was a pleasant milk chocolate shade of brown and had a rich aroma of molasses with touches of cedar and earth. The filler bunch smelled a little earthy with additional notes of hay, pepper and graham. After cutting the head, I tested the draw. It was very good and had a sweet, spicy and woody flavor to it.

Flavor

Once lit, the La Barba Purple featured flavors of cedar and earth up front. There was a mix of graham, natural tobacco and char under that, along with a mild peppery note on the retrohale. I also picked up just a touch of leather on the nose. After 10 minutes or so, the flavors fell a bit flat, as all too often happens with large ring gauge sticks.

Into the second third, the flavor picked up a bit with the introduction of raisin and anise notes, along with a white pepper on the tongue. The retrohale continued to mostly be leathery.

In the last third, I got more char notes, some natural tobacco, and just hints of sweetness. There was an increase in pepper spice as I got toward the end.

Construction

I had to make a few minor touch-ups to the burn line, but other than that, there were no negative construction notes.

Value

For me, the experience this fat cigar delivered wasn’t worth the price of admission. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t good enough to justify the price for my palate.

Conclusions

One of my rules of trying out a new blend is “Don’t get the big ring gauge version…unless there is nothing else available.” Unfortunately, that’s all that we received at the shop. Bottom line, it just didn’t hold up for me. That being said, almost two 10-count boxes have disappeared in just a couple weeks, so obviously somebody likes them (later someone told me we did get a smaller ring gauge stick in the first shipment of these cigars…and apparently it disappeared before I got to the store…and I do work there full time now…so obviously someone really liked that smaller size!). And there were enough hints in along the way that this blend might be something special, but for me, it would have to be in a smaller size…so I’ll probably revisit it if we get some in the future. As for recommendations, I would say, if you are a big ring gauge fan, give La Barba Purple a whirl and see what you think; if you’re not a fan of fat stogies already, this one probably won’t change your mind.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 3.5/5
Value: .5/1
Total: 8/10