Vitola: Magicos - 5.5” x 54 ring gauge
- $12
- Purchased from Small Batch Cigar
Background
2020 has played havoc with shipping schedules of many cigar companies. Noticing this, I was sure to run out of new review material sometime this year. I thought about how to deal with the issue and decided that I would start looking at some of the cigars I missed over the last few years, especially if I could get sampler packs and try out several, presenting them in a short format, perhaps paired with a favorite beverage. With that in mind, I am happy to present the next few weeks as “HVC Cigars Month.” I will be featuring short takes on 5 different HVC blends from Small Batch’s sampler pack. If I like any of them well enough, I may revisit them in the future with a full review.
This is probably the most “mysterious” cigar I got in the HVC sampler. La Rosa 520 doesn’t appear on the HVC website and it is very low in stock at Small Batch. It was named after the street that company founder, Lorenzo Reinier, was raised on in Havana and he blended it to taste like the classic Cuban cigars he grew up with…at least in the natural version. This is a Maduro wrapped expression of La Rosa 520, using a Mexican San Andres leaf over Nicaraguan fillers and binders from Aganorsa’s farms.
This is the first time I’ve smoked this blend and I got it in a sampler from Small Batch Cigar.
Notes
The band on this is like a modern version of a classic Cuban band…red, white and gold in color, but more shiny and updated in shape and font. I had to inspect this one carefully because I wasn’t sure it was a Maduro wrapper until I read the secondary band which says “Magicos 54 Capa Madura.” The wrapper was slightly darker than medium brown with a touch of oiliness and an aroma of tea, hay, and wood. The foot of the ciga had rich earth, cocoa powder, and cedar.
After clipping, I had a good prelight draw that had flavors of tea and cedar up front, with a little earth and sweetness coming in behind that. Once burning, I got pepper and cinnamon spice coming through loud and clear, followed by cedar, earth, and sweeter notes. I paired this cigar with a pour of Basil Hayden’s Bourbon, a birthday gift from a friend.
The La Rosa 520 had a bit of a tight draw throughout which may have contributed to a slight deadening of flavor, but regardless, that’s what I got…fairly dead flavor. It had the expected earth and cedar, along with a slight sweetness and a persistent mild spiciness, but nothing earthshattering or demanding me to get more. Honestly, this was probably the most disappointing of the 5-pack…I definitely didn’t save the best for last on this one…at least for me. The bourbon was very good, as always, but it didn’t really add much to the proceedings.
So, in the end, I found definite “gotta do it again” qualities in the 500th Anniversary and Serie A, as well as “I would smoke them again, but wouldn’t go out of my way to find them” with the Hot Cake and San Isidro.
