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The Warped Experiment: La Colmena Unico Especial

Brickhouse

J.C. Newman owes me royalties.
Joined
Apr 12, 2006
Messages
10,160
The second installment of "The Warped Experiment" is La Colmena Unico Especial.

Once again, many thanks to @Devin Cole for the sampling and recommendations on when/where to smoke.

Devin recommended having this one inside as well, but I have been moving for the past week or so and haven't had much relaxing outside time. Yesterday evening was a beautiful night, so I chose to sit in the garage with the door open to enjoy the neighborhood view but let the smoke slowly linger. Below is my review on the cigar.

Warped La Comena Unico Especial:

Vitola: Belicoso
Wrapper: Ecuadorian DesFlorada
Filler: Dominican Republic & Nicaragua
Binder: Ecuador
Gauge: 48
Length: 5″
Pairing: Nothing, just good company from my trusty dog, Bindi Boo.
Entertainment: Watching the new sod get watered and rescuing a runaway dog...haha!

Prelight:

Great looking cigar with a nice covered foot, reminiscent of a Johnny O'. Nice velvety leather appearance to it and soft to the touch. Not as "symmetrical" as the Lirio Rojo, but a great appearance nonetheless. Color/sheen/squeeze was very cubanesque. Almost like a smaller BBF. Fantastic dry draw after the cut.

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First Third:

Great light up and initial smoke production. I love the covered foot, it just seems to do better when lighting and gets it all nice and even. Draw was great and I was off to a great start. Not a very complicated cigar, and I was picking up on some early spice...though it was very minor. There is a sweetness to this cigar, but nothing like the Lirio Rojo. It's a different kind, I wouldn't say syrupy for this one, I would say more like a vanilla sweet. Prominent floral notes. Just smooth.

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Second Third:

Zero burn issues and zero smoke issues, like the Lirio Rojo, all this cigar wants to do is allow me to enjoy that. I love a cigar I don't have to babysit. It knows what to do and just lets me enjoy it. Surprising because there was a slight breeze and I was in/out of the garage to fix the sprinkler...but still no burn issues. The flavor has not changed for me, though the spice has died down, I'm fine with that. On the Lirio Rojo I wouldn't commit to "Creamy", on this one, I will. It's a nice creamy vanilla profile. No harshness, just good solid smoke. Strength is mild-medium.

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Final Third:

A little bit of festivities arose near this point, as a neighborhood dog was on the loose. The dogs owner, a small boy was trying to catch his dog and very much frantic about it. I grabbed my leash and a dog treat and ran out. Calmly, got the dog to come and got it on the leash. Boy used my phone to call his mom, about 1/2 mile away, and they came and picked him up. Good deed for the day, haha! This kind of distracted me from my last third, but I did all this with cigar in hand. I didn't annotate any changes at this point anyway. When I sat back down, all was still good.

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Final Thoughts:

Thoroughly enjoyed this second installment of The Warped Experiment. Completely different cigar than the Lirio Rojo, yet familiar in quality/construction/performance. I'm noticing a sweetness characteristic in them and am curious if that will stick around. Not as much smoke as in the Lirio Rojo, but above average anyway. I would close this description out by saying it is a smooth, creamy, slightly sweet cigar with a mild spice to kick it off. Strength remained mild-medium and had no play in the review. I thought this was a fantastic stick and probably enjoyed it slightly more than the Lirio Rojo.

Points? Sticking to my high school essay scale, I'm giving this one a 93%.

Next review in a week or so: Don Reynaldo Regalos

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Great review. I still want to try these. Have had the flor de valle and and el oso. Both are good.
 
Thanks for well done review. Very interesting. Are you completely moved in?
 
Great review! I haven't smoked that one, but did buy some of the La Colmena Reinas, which are a slightly longer version of that stick. The smoothness and light body are definitely what stand out for me. I like them, but actually prefer the regular La Colmenas a little more...seem to be sweeter or something.
 
Nice review!

One of my favorite NC morning cigars and the best of the La Colmena line for my tastes. There is a delightful Pineapple/Mango fruit flavor in this cigar that I am unable to find in the No. 36, No. 44 and No. 407.

Please take my recommendations sparingly, as I am very interested in seeing your journey with these cigars.


Looking forward to the next review. :D
 
Great review! I haven't smoked that one, but did buy some of the La Colmena Reinas, which are a slightly longer version of that stick. The smoothness and light body are definitely what stand out for me. I like them, but actually prefer the regular La Colmenas a little more...seem to be sweeter or something.

Unfortunately I didn't find the Reina had as full a flavor as the Unico Especial. I had the same experience with Caldwell Eastern Standard The Silk Road, compared to the Marble House, which is another very good cigar.
 
Are you completely moved in?

Unfortunately no, lots of small things. Probably a few more days of boxes/tubs and what not. Bunch of ankle biter stuff now....and a 600lb gun safe.
 
Sounds like another winner! Well done.

Dog tip: If your dog get's away like that, the first thing to try, if he doesn't immediately come back when called, is to run the opposite direction. His "ball" drive will kick in, and there's a real good chance he'll chase you and come right in for a good chest rub if you praise him. Keep it fun.
 
Unfortunately I didn't find the Reina had as full a flavor as the Unico Especial. I had the same experience with Caldwell Eastern Standard The Silk Road, compared to the Marble House, which is another very good cigar.

I think my favorite La Colmena so far has been the Hawaiian shop special....so of course the least readily available one.
 
Very nice review, I have yet to try this one. That poor kid lol, good thing you were there to save the day. Our little dog likes to be a turd like that sometimes. Also, I enjoyed your dog's name :D
 
Great review. I still want to try these. Have had the flor de valle and and el oso. Both are good.

I had burn issues with the two different Oso's I've tried. But that may have been because they needed more humidor time. Maybe I'll try one again tomorrow night.
 
I remember these being pretty good just not worth the Hawaii price. Maybe see if I can find them cheap at auction.
 
I had burn issues with the two different Oso's I've tried. But that may have been because they needed more humidor time. Maybe I'll try one again tomorrow night.
Yeah I have had draw issues with the flor de valles so I ordered the el oso cub fiver (petite corona). They seem to perform just fine. I figure if anyone ever messes up a petite corona then it may not be worth my time to invest in the product.
 
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