La Gloria Cubana Serie R Esteli No. Fifty-Four (6 x 54)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video review HERE.

 

 

The new La Gloria Cubana Serie R Esteli is available ONLY at brick and mortar shops, not online. These are all Nicaraguan and utilize a top priming Jalapa Sol wrapper and rounded out by a combination of visos and ligeros.

 

 

Given that all of its tobaccos are grown in Nicaragua, it was decided to hand roll Serie R® Estelí in the town that bears its name, Estelí, Nicaragua.

 

Presented in an 18-count box, Serie R® Estelí comes in three sizes:

No. Fifty-Four (6 x 54, SRP $6.49)

No. Sixty (6 x 60, SRP $6.99)

No. Sixty-Four (6 ¼ x 64, SRP $7.49)

 

 

The cigar is a very dark brown and well made. It has a nice oily wrapper. The cigar feels very dense. It has that nice heavy feel in the hand.

 

Here is a shot of the foot showing the density.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The test draw after cutting the cap was firm but workable. The initial flavors were a sweet orange citrus and leather. The split is about 40% citrus and 60% leather. There is also some earthiness in the cigar. The pepper is pretty good and rated between a 7 and 8. I would call it a black pepper.

 

 

About 1/2 inch in the cigar is burning evenly. The sweet notes are  now more of a sweet cedar with hints of cherry. The leather is still prominent and has some richness in the form of a buttery flavor. The pepper has ticked up to an 8. The finish is a sweet cream with a ton of black pepper. The cigar is medium bodied and moving rapidly toward medium to full bodied.

At 1 1/2 inch in the ash is intact and starting to droop. The flavors are becoming more balanced. The sweet cedar and cherry notes are about even with the buttery leather notes. The cigar is medium to full bodied and burning evenly. The cigar is very nice at this point.








At the band the cedar notes still have some sweetness but they are once again overpowered by the leather notes. There are also quite a bit of earth notes now. The buttery notes on the leather are gone. The cigar is very close to full bodied. The heavy pepper on the finish has also become subdued. The finish is still one of a sweet cream but it has some leathery characteristics to it now.







At the end the cigar had a lot of the same notes as the previous post. This cigar is really the story of two cigars. The first half was very nice with the sweet citrus, transitioning into sweet cedar and cherry with buttery leather notes. The second half was heavy leather and earth with some sweetness on the cedar. When the cigar transitioned to one of heavy leather with limited cedar notes it lost me. There is no secret that I am not an overly leather-type guy but my reviews are less about what I like and more about what I taste. You leather lovers should try this cigar. It will probably be right up your alley. For me, not so much. The cigar took about an hour and a half to smoke.

Score: 88