Juan Lopez Seleccion #1

Whew! What a day! Wind gusts up to 50 mph, clouds rolling, and I do mean rolling, overhead. Sun in and out. I know earlier this morning it was a little on the warmer side, say mid 60’s (F). However, by the time I grabbed this smoke and headed out the back door this afternoon, the temps had dropped to the low 50’s. With the wind…brrrr.

I was gifted this 5 5/8 x 46 smoke by a great BOTL (thanks Brian!). Construction was a little rough with a number of veins throughout. Firm but yet a little give when squeezed slightly. Triple cap on the head, nice bunching in the foot.







Punched the cap and pre-light was of mild matured tobacco. Draw was a tad bit on the loose side, which was perfect for me. I toasted the foot and then put fire to it. First draw was medium bodied with pepper on the back of the throat. Lots of earth, wood, and spice in this one along with an abundance of smoke. Started out with a nice white ash that quickly turned to dark gray.







On into the first third, still woodiness with tastes of spicy cedar as well as some dark cocoa. Possibly a strong espresso coming through. About the halfway point a flavor of overly toasted Melba came through. Rather good if I may say so. Also, a dark nutty flavor intertwined with the toast. All the while the woody earthiness was there with the perfect amount of spice on the back of the throat (and through the nose).





I had to take it much slower towards the end as the draw really loosened up and the smoke heated up a bit. Still lots of smoke with the melba, wood, and cocoa. Was very good down to the nub.

Oh that does look good!

Nice review! I just smoked an '05 at this Wednesday's herf in Manhattan. That thing started off so peppery, I would have sworn it was Partagas. It quickly settled down and was a very fine smoke.

Thanks for that review. I'd just fired one up last night- 06- and was impressed with leather, aromatic cedar, rounded out tobacco, and great mouthfeel with no back of the throat roughness.

These are almost always a treat, though I have always had younger ones. I cannot believe what a straight burn that kept in 50mph wind gusts! Nice review.

Thanks for the great review! :thumbs:

JLs are my favorite Cuban flavor. I've tried Coronas from '01 that were great and 5 month old #2s that were almost as good, too. But I've never had the pleasure of the #1 and your review indicates it would indeed be time well spent. I bet they are also good young.

Steve

These are definitely one of my favorite mild to medium Cuban cigars. They are great in the morning with coffee or after lunch when I am looking for something on the lighter size. What is also very nice about these is that usually they are good to go after only 5 years, where as most corona gordas take at least 7- 10 before they reach their peak.

Since they are also not on very many peoples radar screens, they can be found with a a few years of age already on them.