A few weeks ago, I was hanging out at West Coast Cigars and chatting with Father Bob (he’s a retired priest in my diocese), one of the owners of West Coast Cigars. As usual, our conversation turned to discussing the world of cigars. In this case, it was the impending UTL bullshit that’s coming down the pike. But that’s another discussion altogether. Anyway, during a pause in our conversation, out of the blue, Father Bob said that a recent cigar that he thought came close to perfection was the La Aroma de Cuba Noblesse.
Father Bob’s palate is wildly different from mine and though we sometimes like similar cigars, I’ve learned over the years to be prepared to not like what he recommends. But I had heard good things about the Noblesse so his suggestion intrigued me. But by the time he had made his recommendation, I had already had three cigars, and I didn’t want to smoke a new cigar on a ruined palate. So I resolved to try it at a later date.
That date came last night when I took my son who’s visiting from Texas to West Coast Cigars after dinner. I helped him pick out a nice Tatuaje, and since we had a limited amount of time to spend at the lounge, I picked out the Regency vitola which is a soft box-pressed robusto (5.5 X 50).
To make a long story short, that cigar blew me away, completely taking me by surprise at the burst of nuts, sourdough, and cedar at light up, to the rich, deep, chocolaty and earthy foundation throughout the smoke. It was a total flavor bomb and super-complex with frequent transitions.
I was enjoying it so thoroughly that at one point my son turned to me and said, “Dad, you look like you’re in your happy place.” I just smiled even more and replied, “Yup. This is one special cigar. But here’s the thing: It is SO good now, but I can tell that with a bit of age, it’ll get even better. But I can’t believe how enjoyable it is, even this young.”
And that about sums it up for me. This cigar has so much to offer right out of the box, but it is one of those sticks where I just know that it’ll get better with a rest of at least a few months or more. What’s amazing to me is that many of the reviews from the professional sites rated this cigar between 88 and 92. And when I saw those scores, I harkened back to Katman’s questioning of just how long did those guys let their cigars rest before doing a review. Now I realize everyone has a different palate, but it can’t just be me that sees the potential this cigar has.
Granted, I could be totally wrong about my assessment, but after many years of smoking cigars, my hunches are usually correct. With that in mind, I will be buying a small pack to put away for awhile to test my theory.
Unco B's Stogie Diary 