Cigar review: La Palina Bronze TAA Exclusive
I try to write at least one cigar review a week and was deciding what cigar would be my target this time. My original thought would be to review an older label which has been around so I started to check out my humidor and came across the La Palina Bronze TAA exclusive. I totally forgot I even had this cigar so it made sense in my mind to make this my review.
Exclusive cigars might mean a limited or special production so this would count double as a limited and special production cigar. I am not even sure you can get this smoke anymore. I received the cigar gratis from Clay Roberts of La Palina cigars so I am in fairly heady cigar reviewers company.
As always, how and where I receive the cigar does not impact my subjective judgment so try it yourself if you can get it.
Brand/Name of Cigar: La Palina/Bronze TAA exclusive
Country of Origin; Honduras
Size: 6.5 x 52
Wrapper: Honduran Habano
Binder: Honduras
Filler: Honduran, Nicaragua
Shape: Toro
Price: MSRP, $10.00 part of the 2017 Exclusive series
Where and When Smoked: Los Angeles, Ca. 7/1/2018
Appearance/Construction: With 3 bands enveloping the cigar, it feels like I am part of a cult needing to know the password to start smoking. It takes careful planning to remove the bands before you can think about lighting up.
Medium brown wrapper, oily touch with no visible construction issues. Well crafted , small veins visible.
Flavor/Taste and Aroma:
First third: The initial foray into the blend gave me a powerful spice mix , black pepper/espresso coffee and a dash of citrus. These flavors played off on each other quite nicely.
Second third: Another new taste of rich chocolate reared itself and enhanced the other aforementioned flavors creating a strong bounding of impressive tastes.
Final third: The overall core flavors toned down somewhat but the smoothness of the blend was very pleasant. What started out as powerful became less intense which actually helped the overall cigar.
Smoking Characteristics: Mostly a cool smoke with a slight uneven burn starting in the middle of the cigar. Not really a problem in the construction but you should know it did happen. A dark grey ash kept lit throughout. Total smoke time was app. an hour and 15 minutes.
Conclusion/Overall Impression: I enjoyed this cigar a great deal but not sure how exclusive it is. There are many cigars in this price point which I would rate the same but this is a good product. If you can find it , I suggest pick up several.
Final Thoughts and the Numbers:
La Palina makes a very good cigar and many folks are totally unfamilar with the brand.
As the market is full of good cigars that are not that well known, it might be a good idea and smoke this cigar and other La Palina cigars on the market.
Appearance/Constuction: 4 out of 5
Flavor/Taste and Aroma: 4 out of 5
Smoking Characterisitics: 3.5 out 5
Conclusion/Overall Impression: 3.8 out of 5
Search it out and smoke it.
Keep smoking