La Gloria Cubana Serie R No. 5

Purchased: 3 X 10-pack (5.5 X 54)
Price: $28/10-pack / $2.80/stick
Store: CigarBid.com
Buy Again: This is already a buy-again
Box Worthy: Well, I got 30 this time, so yeah.

I’m surprised I haven’t written about these before because I love ’em. I just finished my last batch of LGC Serie R Maduro, and decided to get the regular Serie R for a change of pace. I’m not normally into Sumatran wrappers, but the Ecuador Sumatra wrapper on this stick is so very tasty!

Like most LGC cigars, this stick has a rustic look to it. No visible seams, but the wrapper is veiny. The stick is mostly solid with just a little give. The draw is just a little tight, but not enough to warrant doing any excavating with my PerfecDraw. That will change because in my experience as a cigar loads with tar and moisture, it will plug. But no worries, that’s not a negative mark.

Like the Serie R Maduro, this stick won’t win awards for complexity and transitions. But I don’t think it’s meant to rival a super high-end stick. But it has a rich flavor profile that just hits right. It has a subtle sweetness, marizpan, leather, cedar, coffee, roasted cacao nibs, toast, floral notes, malt, cream, white pepper, and baking spices. The aroma off the end of the stick has vanilla, caramel, and stone fruit. Yeah, I know that seems like a lot, but that’s all there is. The flavors come in after the first couple of minutes and stay there, only growing in intensity as the smoke progresses.

It’s only the last third that black and cayenne pepper show themselves, but other than that, there are no flavor transitions to speak of. But that is NOT a negative mark. The flavors are so pleasing to me that I could smoke these every day and never get tired of them. This is a great companion with a sweet rum or corn-heavy bourbon like Makers Mark. I’ve also had it with wheated bourbon and that was a great pairing as well. I also love smoking this with cognac like ABK6. I’ve mostly paired it with midrange spirits and wines and pair much higher end sticks with more expensive libations.

But most of the time, I love smoking this stick on its own. It’s one of my favorite Zoom meeting smokes because it doesn’t make stop and contemplate. It’s just enjoyable. And lest I forget, this is a solid medium+ cigar. There’s a bit of nicotine hit, but it’s not strong enough to make you go comatose.