La Aurora’s Preferidos Coronas, part 1

Vitola: Corona
Size: 5.5” x 42 ring gauge
Price $8
Samples provided by Miami Cigar & Co.

Background

La Aurora’s Preferidos line has become somewhat legendary in the industry. I first saw them when they started offering them in the colored metal tubes…a different color for each wrapper variety. At the time, I couldn’t justify $15 or so for a stick I knew nothing about (they’ve since increased pretty dramatically) so I never actually had one until I was visiting La Aurora’s factory several years ago…Preferidos were one of the lines they provided for us to sample the day we went to the beach…the day Jerry Cruz was given the nickname “Dirty Bastard”…the day Barry Stein got married…great memories all.

The Preferidos blend is most closely associated with those double-torpedo sticks that now come both in and out of the metal tubes, but they have produced other vitolas from time to time, including now…as part of an initiative by Miami Cigar & Company to give each rep their own exclusive, Christopher Lenzo’s Mid-Atlantic region gets Corona-sized Preferidos. 6 different wrappers available, about $8 apiece.

I had heard about the Diamond Preferido Corona (Broadleaf) when it first came out, and that’s what I was expecting when Miami Cigar asked if I wanted to review these sticks. When I got a bag with all 6 varieties in it, I thought I must be dreaming. So I decided to do this as a 3-part series, doing a short take on two varieties each time, rather than full reviews of all 6 (which could take quite some time to work through). Here we go…

According to the MCC website, the filler and binder blend of the Preferidos is all the same…Dominican, Cameroon, and Brazilian leaf for the fillers and a Dominican binder. The website also mentioned that the rollers that make Preferidos have more than 15 years experience (although this could be just the Perfectos vitolas), that (at least some of) the leaf is aged in rum barrels, and that after rolling, they are allowed to age 6 to 8 months before shipping.

I got news information about the Preferidos Coronas from halfwheel.com 

Cameroon

I decided to start off with what has become, in my mind anyway, the quintessential La Aurora wrapper…Cameroon. Again, it comes back to the trip to the DR. Jose Blanco was still working for La Aurora at the time and during his blending seminar it seemed like all the answers eventually were “Cameroon!” So now when I see Cameroon leaf, I think of La Aurora.

The Cameroon leaf on this doesn’t have that almost gray shade that a lot of Cameroon has. It was a dark tan/light brown color with a nicely oily feel to it and a rich earthy aroma. That aroma was also evident on the foot, along with a touch of woodsiness. The cold draw was very good and tasted of hay and earth.

Once lit I got lot of aged natural tobacco flavor, with a little sweetness and the typically fiery Cameroon retrohale. In the mix there was a bit of honey sweetness and graham cracker, as well. Mostly, though, this stick was just one of the best examples of what La Aurora can do: a mellow, relaxing cigar with a great flavor delivery. As an added bonus, the price point is at a place where just about anyone can afford it.

Corojo

One of the other Dominican leaves of choice is Corojo. La Aurora’s (regular) Corojo in the Corona size is one of my favorite releases in their catalog, so I was particular interested to see how the wrapper stood up to the Preferido filler/binder blend. The wrapper on this looked fairly light in color when I picked it up; it wasn’t until I held up the Connecticut Shade next to it that I was able to get a better gauge of its color. It is a tan color with some red tones, a little bit of a stretched look in places and a couple larger veins. The wrapper smelled of clean earth and cedar, while the foot had a similar mix of earth and cedar, along with some aged tobacco. The cold draw tasted of wood and natural tobacco.

At the outset the Preferido Corojo exhibited a very cedary flavor up front with earthiness a bit buried in the mix. There was a little bit of red pepper on the palate and a little more on the retrohale, but I expected (hoped?) it would ramp up as the cigar burned along, as the other Aurora Corojo I like so much does.

By the halfway point, it seemed my expectation/hope had borne out as I was getting a steadily increasing amount of red pepper on the palate, while the retrohale had attained a low level of constant sear. Besides that I got lots of cedar still with a bit more earth and toast in the mix. In all, very much like the “regular” La Aurora Corojo, but more refined and smoother overall. In other words, a very nice smoke that I wouldn’t mind doing over and over again.