Lou Rodriguez

Lou Rodriguez comes from a cigar factory.  Over 50 years ago his father left Cuba and came to the United States seeking a free life.  He was passionate about his roots and loved his new country.  Lou honors both his fathers roots and passion with the wonderful line of cigars.  They are very traditional in look and style.  First made only with a maduro wrapper, the company next brought forth an offering with a Connecticut seed wrapper.  Thsi is avialable in the popular shapes of the sixties and seventies, panatela, corona, and lancero.  Not shapes that are frequently found today, but very retro.  Finally, they came out with a Habano Rosado made mostly in figurado shapes.  To be certain, they have a gordito in this line, a nod to the currently popular size.

When I first selected this cigar from the humidor I was impressed.  It has a beautiful golden brown color topped by a pigtail at the head.  The cigar is very even in appearance.  The cigar was just plain inviting.  It punched and lit without problem and produced a nice smoke.

This is a well built cigar.  It has a nice even light gray ash that held for almost 2 inches.  The draw was open and it burned smooth and cool.

While I like my cigars with stronger flavors, this is a nearly perfect mild or ‘breakfast’ cigar.  The flavors are grassy, with hints of straw and tea throughout, but they blend well together to make for a consistent interesting flavor.  The short after taste is pleasant and reminiscent of the same flavor without any hint of bitterness.

I think there is a lot of value in this cigar.  While it is over the $5.00 point that I like for this size, you might find it closer to that number in box lots.  And, surprisingly, the box quantity is only 10.  Actually, Lou Rodriguez makes no cigar box with more than 20 sticks.  Given the nice construction and flavor, the added curb appeal of the nice color and the pigtail, and I would make this a mainstay of any humidor that includes mild cigars.  As you all know, I much prefer stronger cigars and I would go out of my way to smoke this again.  I’m also hoping to be able to smoke some of the company’s other lines soon, and will be sure to report back.