La Aroma De Cuba Edicion Especial No. 5

[iota]

La Aroma De Cuba Edicion Especial No. 5 (5.5 x 52). I was expecting a bit of peppery spice before I jumped in to this one, but it surprised me a bit. It was definitely a lot more mellow and smooth than I expected. But I didn't find the flavor especially compelling, honestly. It was definitely consistent through the whole smoke, but just not my thing I think. Not much to fault though, the construction was good, the draw was good, it stayed cool right to the end and the burn was damn near perfect. Except for the ash, which really didn't hold together at all and once it hit the ashtray just exploded into dust. Without being able to articulate this really well, I'll say the problem for me seemed to be that it had a flavor that matched a fuller body more than this milder one, and in the absence of the strength the flavor was a lot more noticeable and just didn't have the right balance (or depth?) to stand on its own.

Related threads:

• Kingantz reviewed the La Aroma De Cuba Edicion Especial No. 4 (Dec 2009) <- He said it had "incredibly rich and delicious flavors with a lasting finish that hit the palate just right" and you know I wonder if that has something to do with the vitola. Maybe the flavors are a lot better concentrated on the thinner ring gauge.
• Bsneed51 reviews the La Aroma de Cuba robusto (Sep 2009) <- He said "It maintained a nice dark coffee flavor with a perfect amount of spice, and just a hint of sweetness", so I guess it's not the ring gauge really. But I didn't get any sweetness at all. I didn't really find the flavor "rich." Maybe more "raw."
• elderboy02 reviews the La Aroma De Cuba Edicion Especial No. 5 (Sep 2009) <- He said of the taste: "This cigar is very rich has a sweet cocoa taste to it. It also has some spice to it." Damn. It's just me. Everyone else seems to love it.
• Q_The_Cop does a dual review and compares the old/regular blend versus the Edicion Especial (Oct 2008) <- At the end of the day, he thought they were very different smokes and preferred the Edicion Especial. This review came from cabaiguan juan's challenge originally (he said he thought the tastes were very similar between the two.)
• MandyPi doesn't review the La Aroma De Cuba Edicion Especial so much as say he didn't like it (Sep 2008) <- He said, "Final verdict: I will not try again." I don't know what he didn't like about it (not much detail there), but I don't feel nearly that strongly about it. I might smoke it again and give it another chance, but I won't go out of my way for it.
• leafandale asks about the "new Pepin version" (June 2008) and brian29 brings it up again (July 2009) when people are able to start getting a hold of them.

 

[sticksnstones]

I like the belicoso in this line (No. 5), but agree that the corona size seems to have better balance. I like these particularly because they are a bit more refined -- less of a powerhouse -- than the typical DPG blend. Anyway, my 2 cents.

BTW, I really like your review format. Nice to have a digest of other/recent reviews for a quick comparison and then further reading. Nicely done.

 

[Bsneed51]

I've been looking at picking up a box of the No. 2s as I find this cigar to be one of the best that Don Pepin makes. Sorry it didn't fit your palate. More for me. :laugh:

 

[Gavin]

I, too, am quite enjoying all your reviews lately. As for the La Aroma, I've found the toro size consistently excellent.

 

[iota]

I like the belicoso in this line (No. 5), but agree that the corona size seems to have better balance. I like these particularly because they are a bit more refined -- less of a powerhouse -- than the typical DPG blend. Anyway, my 2 cents.

I want to give this one a fair shake. I like some of the other Pepin blends generally, so I think I'll definitely pick up one with a smaller ring gauge and see if it pops more for me. That said, I think if someone has a bit of DPG-phobia and doesn't like that pepper smack in the face, this might be a really good one to try out.

BTW, I really like your review format. Nice to have a digest of other/recent reviews for a quick comparison and then further reading. Nicely done.

Thanks! Part of the fun for me is to look around and see what everyone else thought of the same smoke. Sometimes just looking the common perception change is really fascinating too, like this one. I think people were a little bit hesitant at first (especially those that liked the regular/old blend), but then you could see it jump up quickly to a favorite of many. I wonder if there's a chart somewhere that maps popularity of various cigars and blends over time. It be interesting to see the trends and to see how consistently appealing (or not) some blends have been.

I've been looking at picking up a box of the No. 2s as I find this cigar to be one of the best that Don Pepin makes. Sorry it didn't fit your palate. More for me. :laugh:

Well, I think I understand the appeal though. They're definitely high quality smokes. This one just didn't hit the right note for me.