JC Newman

July 28, 2013

La Duena Robusto (5 x 50)







Video review HERE.


(from the Cigar Aficionado website)

Janny Garcia, the daughter in the father-son-daughter team behind My Father Cigars, has a new brand called La Dueña. Spanish for “the female owner,” La Dueña was crafted to her tastes by her brother Jaime and Pete Johnson of Tatuaje cigars.

This wrapper is hearty, dark Connecticut broadleaf, the maduro wrapper tobacco known for earthy, robust flavor and a good amount of sweetness. La Dueñas have broadleaf not only as the wrapper, but also as the binder and as a component in the filler blend, which also has Nicaraguan tobacco.

La Dueñas are rolled at the Garcia’s My Father Cigars S.A. factory in Estelí, Nicaragua, where such brands as My Father, Flor de Las Antillas and Tatuaje Havana VI are rolled.


Well, this cigar is packed with Connecticut Broadleaf tobacco so it should be quite dark in flavor.

As you can see the cigar is triple capped:





Can you pick out the Connecticut Broadleaf in the foot?





The test draw after cutting the cap was great. The initial flavors were coffee, earth tones, sweet dark molasses, charred oak, and pepper at a 7 rating. There are a lot of dark notes in this cigar.


About 1 inch in there are cocoa notes which are very apparent. There are still lots of coffee and earth notes. The sweetness of dark molasses could also be described as a sweet cedar and cream combined with all those other dark notes. The cigar is medium bodied with a finish of a sweet cream and some lingering black pepper.








About 1 1/2 inch in the ash is still intact. There are a lot of charred oak notes at this point. The other dark notes of coffee and earth are still there. The cocoa notes struggle to compete with the other dark notes but somehow they do. They have some sweetness to them which helps.




 
 
 
 
 
Well, the ash made it to this point before it fell off. At least 1 1/2 inches and perhaps closer to 1 3/4.
 
 


At, or just past the midpoint the cedar and cocoa notes have a nice combination going. There is a sweetness to them. The charred oak and coffee notes are very prominent and the earth notes are still around but somewhat toned down. The cigar seems to have moved up to medium to full at this point. The finish is about the same but it's more of a toasted cream now. The lingering pepper is also up.





At the end the semi-sweet cedar is noticeable but the cocoa notes have decreased significantly. There are a lot of coffee and charred oak notes. The earth tones are never far away. The cigar seemed to have moved back to medium bodied over the final third. This cigar has most of the dark notes that a cigar can have. The cigar took one hour to smoke. Janny has a good cigar here. These are on shelves just about anywhere that sells Pepin cigars.


Score: 90

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for the informative post. I'm sort of a beginner when it comes to cigars, but I'm looking to become more of a connoisseur. So far I've only had the cigars you would get at a corner store, like swisher sweets and I've never been to a proper smoke shop. what would you suggest as my first cigar?

Tim Rollins said...

I would suggest starting with something mild. You an always experiment with cigars that are a little stronger. That's the beauty of a cigar shop, there are always plenty to choose from. A good mild cigar would be a Romeo y Julieta. A very flavorful milder cigar is the Perdomo Connecticut Habano. Take a trip to your local cigar shop and ask for those and also ask his suggestions of something mild that he has in stock. There are hundreds to choose from but establish a starting point and then the fun begins; trying different blends and strengths. Eventually you'll settle on something you really like. I like all strengths of cigars. It depends on what time of day, what I've had to eat or drink previously, or what mood I'm in. Have fun with it. Experiment!