Video review HERE.
(from the Cigar Aficionado website)
A La Aurora Puro Vintage 2006 wooden chest of cigars was auctioned off at this year's ProCigar charity auction this year in the Dominican Republic. The chest came loaded with 54 Puro Vintage 2006 cigars in three sizes: Preferido, Robusto and Salomon, and it ended up selling for a closing price of $3,500.
While the Robusto and Preferido were only made for the auction chest and its lucky bidder, La Aurora, the oldest premium cigar factory in the Dominican Republic, has decided to commercially release the Salomon, with shipments starting in April. It's a 6 1/2 inch by 60 ring gauge figurado that commemorates La Aurora's 111th year in business, and it contains tobacco all culled from a 2006 harvest.
The cigars come packaged in a period-piece replica of the original La Aurora boxes first designed in 1903. Each Salomon stands upright in the box, which opens from both the top and the front. Only 1,500 boxes of 18 cigars are scheduled for release.
Wrapper: Ecuador Havana
Binder: Dominican
Filler; Brazil, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua
(all tobaccos above from 2006 harvest)
The cigar is beautiful to look at and very well made. It has a nice dense feel in the hand.
The test draw after cutting the minimum from the cap was very good. The initial flavors were sweet cedar, cinnamon, and Ethiopian coffee. There was black pepper rated at a 7.
About one inch in the flavors are as described above but you can add brown sugar and roasted nuts. The finish is cream and roasted nuts with a little lingering pepper. The cigar is medium bodied at this point.
About 2 inches in there is a touch of butter but it may be coming from the roasted nuts. The coffee is still very prominent. The pepper has intensified to an 8 and it is very noticeable on the finish. The cigar is still medium bodied but appears to be moving up. At times I got sweet cherry notes on the front end but they did not last. The cedar and brown sugar are very prominent.
With about 2 1/2 inches remaining there is a lot of cinnamon and brown sugar. The cedar is secondary. The pepper is still good. The roasted nuts are still prominent and I get dry wood at times. The cream on the finish is a little sweeter. The cigar is medium to full bodied. 
The cigar ended with a lot of coffee notes. The sweeter notes were downplayed. The dry wood and roasted nuts were a little more prominent. The pepper remained very good. The finish was pretty much unchanged. The cigar was medium to full bodied. The cigar was good but I wish it had richness and over the top buttery notes to go along with the other front end flavors. However, I found this to be a very good cigar and they should be available at shops that carry La Aurora cigars.
Score: 91
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