La Gloria Cubana Retro Especial Habanero

A very long time ago, I used to smoke La Glorias on a regular basis.  We’re talking about 25 years ago, before the cigar boom.  The cigars were made in Miami by Ernie Carrillo and his rollers on 8th street in Little Havana.  Then something good happened for the cigar industry — the boom.  Struggling small businesses all of a sudden couldn’t keep up with the demand for product.  Prices went up and scarcity was common place.  At La Gloria they were shipping cigars as fast as they could make them.  No aging whatsoever resulted in sticks that were almost unsmokable.  But, if you put them down in your humidor for some months they became the cigars that you knew and loved.  Finally, additional production was secured in the DR.  But, by this time I had moved on.

In recent years, I have had the opportunity to rekindle (pun intended) my enjoyment of these cigars.  Previously, I have favorably review the Obelisk and now this Retro.

Upon first glance, this is a beautiful cigar.  It is a very light, almost coffee colored golden brown, rich with subtle veining.  I lit the cigar easily and it drew well.  The first few puffs were harsh but it quickly calmed down.

The cigar is well constructed and shows a very nice dark grey ash which held for almost 2 inches.  While it burned a little unevenly about 10 minutes in it quickly corrected itself.  During the burn there is a nice black line at the edge of the ash which contrasts with the light brown of the wrapper.

The first part of the cigar started with a light pepper tone giving way to chocolate and nutmeg.  Spice returned halfway in but wasn’t overpowering.  I think of this as a medium bodied or ‘lunch’ stick.  As we got to the finish, I wanted more.

$7.25 is not an inexpensive stick so the value is a little less than what I would want for an every day smoke. But, when you by these by the box, you get a wonderful retro era box that the Team La Gloria under the direction of Michael Gianinni worked hard to get.

Enjoy!