Last week, I took a look at two of four available blends sold under the Rosalila brand. Quick review: Rosalila is a Honduran cigar line blended by Oscar Valladares (probably best known for his “Leaf by Oscar” cigars) and distributed in the U.S. by Puros de Ballard. The name “Rosalila” comes from Mayan culture in Western Honduras. All the cigars are made in a single Toro (6” x 50) vitola.
All four varieties of Rosalila are Honduran puros, which for me has not always been a great thing. When I think of Honduran puro, my mind tends to go straight for the Humo Jaguar, which won “Best Honduran Puro” at some cigar festival a few years ago…but I never found it all that great. Maybe it was just me, but I found that blend to just be plain boring. Other “Honduran-heavy” blends by famous makers of cigars I have found somewhat interesting, but with muted flavors…as if something was holding them back. I found the opposite to be true of the Connecticut-Shade wrapped Rosalila (called Mundo Celestial), as it had a flavor coming through loud and clear. The Corojo-wrapped Mundo Presente wasn’t quite as bright flavor-wise, but was still quite good. Along with the re-blends and re-releases from Camacho, this month I am seeing quite the different side of Honduran leaf.
Today, I’m turning my attention to the Maduro and special “lost treasure” of the Rosalila line.
INFRAMUNDO
Google Translate says “Inframundo” is Spanish for “underworld.”
From the Puros de Ballard website:
This impeccably constructed Honduran Maduro puro delivers medium to full-bodied flavor. The cigar transitions from cedar, leather and spice through vanilla-honey notes, and finishes with a spicy rock candy flavor profile. This is a finely balanced smoke.
The dark chocolate brown wrapper made the extravagant gold foil of the band stand out even more than usual. The wrapper was so dark and evenly-colored that I have to admit to doing the “lick a finger and rub the wrapper” test to try to determine if it was dyed. Admittedly, this is not a proof-positive of dying or not…tobacco leaves have a lot of natural oils and if you watch rollers in a factory very long, you’ll see that their hands are always very dirty-looking…but it is one strong indicator. My finger came away with just a slight discoloration smudge that you might expect from an oily leaf, not the yellow-ish brown look that some obviously dyed leaves have left. Giving the cigar a good sniff, I picked up notes of anise and cedar
The cold draw of the Inframundo had notes of earth and cocoa powder, along with a touch of cedar. Once lit, I got a heavy earthiness right up from, then some dark roast coffee and anise, followed by a moderately peppery retrohale. During the second third, notes of anise came on much stronger, while the coffee notes took a lesser role in the flavor profile. At this point, I got more of a woody note on the nose, although there was still a bit of pepper spice. There was some dark fruit sweetness in there to balance the profile, as well.
Toward the end I did get more sweet mixed with the sweetness, making for a very nice balance of flavors. As with the Shade-wrapped variety of Rosalila, I didn’t find this to have muted flavors; everything was bright and up-front, making for a very nice Maduro experience.
“LOST TREASURE”
Lost Treasure isn’t actually the name for this blend…in truth, it has no name. And there is no reference to it on the Puros de Ballard website. So I asked Kevin Ballard directly about it and he let me know a few facts:
This gold-banded Rosalila is “Chicha infused”
It is a “solitary treasure placed in each box as a reward for the person who explores Rosalila.”
While it has no name, they “affectionately started calling it the ‘lost treasure’”
If you look at the pictures on the company website, you’ll see this cigar make an appearance in all the photos of Rosalila cigars. As Kevin noted, one is included in each box for those who are willing to spring for the box.
So my first (and most important) question was: what the heck is chicha? Off to Wikipedia for the answer:
Chicha is a term used in some regions of South and Central America for several varieties of fermented and non-fermented beverages, many derived from maize,[1] including corn beer known as chicha de jora and non-alcoholic beverages such as chicha morada. Chichas can also be made from manioc root (also called yuca or cassava), grape, apple or various other fruits. Chicha may also be corn juice beer.
Following that is a long, long description of various chicha practices in various countries, detailing alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions of the beverage. Since we are talking about Honduran puros here I decided that the most likely chicha reference would be the Honduran variety, which is described thusly:
In Honduras there is a chicha made from roots (raiz) of a tree.
In Honduras there is a strong tradition of Chicha consumption especially when made from Pineapple. This fermented drink is a strong tradition that denotes the consistent respect of indigenous traditions. The Chicha is prepared mostly for the “Las Feries” or the days of worship, and “Semana Santa” also known as Easter in the American Continent. Chicha is dispensed among family members and it is rarely bought not because of prohibition but because it is considered a noble drink prepared by family members. While the process is similar, each family has its own signature Chicha.
Chicha is not sold in Honduras, it is a “family dish” similar to a Thanksgiving turkey family dinner, a traditional event, shared with visiting friends and family. Chicha in Honduras is considered more than just a drink, it is considered an alcoholic brew. Many men find fascination in reaching the state of intoxication while among loving members of the family. Often the Chicha drink is an excuse by men to participate in traditional dances, celebration, singing and happy family times. Men fall asleep after a long hard day of feast. Chicha is not known to leave a lasting after effect nor addiction.
That all leaves the big questions of “What does chicha taste like?” and “Will I like this?” And I will attempt to answer them now…
First off, I have to remark on the band. It’s very interesting the way they took the multi-colored band from the regular Rosalila releases, stripped out all color and replaced it with gold foil and embossing, plus some black in the non-embossed parts to better define the shapes. It is very cool. The wrapper leaf was darker than the Shade wrapper version, and lighter than the Corojo…sort of a dark tan color with darker mottling in it. There were several large veins that almost made it seem like the leaf was applied inside out and the wrapper really smelled of nothing more than straight natural tobacco. The foot had a little more complexity to it…more tobacco, some hay and cedar, and a little something that was hard to identify…a little grainy, perhaps? I guess that would be the chicha.
The cold draw was good and had a faintly sweet, bready flavor mostly, although with additional notes of hay and natural tobacco. It was still hard to figure out what this cigar was about, so I lit it up to continue my search for answers. It probably took longer to get this Rosalila evenly lit than any of the others. Why…I could not say. Once going, though, I got more of that bready flavor and a richer natural tobacco flavor than I had expected. There were lesser notes of cedar, citrus and nuts, along with just a shake of black pepper on the retrohale.
So…I don’t know what chicha is supposed to taste like, so I don’t know what the effects are on this cigar. What I do know is that the cigar was pretty tasty. By the time I had finished the first third, the flavor hadn’t moved much from where it had started, but I was enjoying it, and that’s always the most important thing. In the end, this cigar truly was a treasure and I’m glad I found it. It was medium-bodied, but very full-flavored. I think I enjoyed it the most of all the Rosalila blends.
