Humidor Archeology: LG Diez 2009

Vitola: Oriental
Size: 4.875” x 40 ring gauge
Price $8.80
Purchased at Burns Tobacconist

Background

It’s a slow time of the year for new cigar releases. Add to that the fact that my home store is prepping for a remodel and the boss stopped getting most new cigars for a bit so we wouldn’t have to move so much around during the remodel process. So I was poking around in the humidor at Burns a bit to see what I may have missed reviewing in previous go-arounds…or maybe find some classic cigars to re-visit. And I came across an open box of LG Diez Orientals. The first one I picked out had “2009” emblazoned on the side…and all the rest I looked at said 2012. So apparently this one stick had made its way through several box turnovers and kept getting put into the new box when it was opened, with no one ever noticing that it was the wrong year. Believe me, if they had noticed, they would have taken it out and smoked it!

As luck would have it, I reviewed a different vitola of this cigar back in January 2010, so I was able to have the heavy-lifting of research done by…me!…four years ago. In 1999, Litto Gomez decided he wanted to produce a cigar made exclusively from tobacco he grew in the LFD farm in the Dominican. It took five years of experimentation to get there, but in 2004 the LG Diez debuted. Deciding that getting a consistent blend year-to-year would be impossible, he soon thereafter decided that each year would purposely be a different blend. The 2009 model was the first time the year was denoted on the label.

Notes

The wrapper was still as I described in 2010: very oily with a slight reddish tinge to it. The aroma from the wrapper was ripe and barnyard-y almost like it had been put into the cellophane last week. The foot had barnyard, too, but also a great sweetness. I carefully clipped the head, leaving a good draw that tasted earthy, vegetal, sweet and peppery.

I fired up this aging beauty and was greeted with an almost floral flavor on the front of the palate, along with earth and citrus toward the middle, and a short finish. There was some cedar and white pepper on the nose.

Moving into the second third, I noted more earth and sweetness, while the citrus ebbed a bit and the floral notes washed away. There was more pepper on the nose and on the palate by this point. At times the draw was a bit tight, but overall, construction seemed to be excellent.

This was a stellar find. Great smoke. Very well made. Aged beautifully. And it goes to show, it pays to poke around a bit in your local B&M’s humidor from time to time. Sometimes sticks get overlooked and just hang out on the shelf, aging in perfect conditions for years. Keep your eyes open while you are prospecting in your tobacconist’s humidor and you may score some gems.

I found a couple other good prospects for “Humidor Gems” while looking around the humidor…look for those posts in coming weeks.