Saint Luis Rey Serie A

Measures: 141 mm x 17,5 mm

Age: The cigar is my first of a fiver bought in August, 2006. It is probably of a fairly recent make.

Setting: The uncharacteristically warm weather Finns have enjoyed this year is finally starting to cool down. Is is still possible to smoke outside, but one needs proper clothes for it, and something to keep warm. No problem: I went through these preparations, and picked one of the five SLR Serie A's that I received some time ago, judging that this would be a good time to finally try one.

The corona gorda looks awesome. Its strongly box pressed so that its cross section would have a racetrack shape. The wrapper is luxuriously dark and feels almost skin-like to my fingers. The cigar is quite supple to touch, making we wonder if it still is too humid. I clip it anyway and try the draw: it feels just right, so I decide to go on.

Bang! The cigar starts with an explosion of flavours, telling that this probably is a young cigar. Soon they settle down to somewhat more moderate level. The overriding impression is exotic sweetness, reminding me of honey and liquorice, on top of quite intensive salty tobacco taste. The wrapper adds to the sweetness, and I also sense a bit of nicotine tingle on my lips. The cigar is drawing well, but the burn is a bit lopsided, probably due to limited humidor time. A couple of corrections are necessary. Later on, cedary tones also started to appear in the quite decadent composite of flavours. The intensity increased again, and I had to purge the cigar to continue smoking. I nubbed the cigar after some 90 minutes of smoking.

This was my first encounter with the Serie A, so I should not draw hard conclusions on the basis of just this try. Nevertheless, the cigar delivered a quite unique experience, quite unlike the few SLR Regios and Lonsdales that constitute my past experience with this marca. Even though the cigar clearly was too young and restless, I enjoyed its decadence and richness. Time will tell how the cigar will appeal to me after it has settled down a bit: I think I will not touch the others until next summer.