La Aroma De Cuba Monarch
La Aroma De Cuba is an old Cuban brand that was a favorite of Sir Winston Churchill. The Cuban brand has been long gone, but thanks to Ashton Cigars, La Aroma De Cuba was reintroduced in 2002. No longer made in Cuba, this cigar is made in Honduras using Cuban-seed Honduran wrapper, Honduran binder and Nicaraguan/Honduran fillers.
The cigar comes in 9 sizes:
- Corona – 5.5 x 44
- Churchill – 6.75 x 48
- Monarch – 6 x 50
- Double Corona – 7.5 x 52
- Robusto – 5 x 54
- Cetro – 6.5 x 44
- Corona Minor- 4.5 x 44
- Pyramid – 6.125 x 50
- Marquis – 5.75 x 48
I got a fiver of these from Cigarbid.com after seeing these going for a steal. Let’s see how it is.
Appearance
The cigar is a dark chocolate brown with a smooth wrapper. Small veins run through the cigar. You can see light and medium brown tobacco leaves in the foot showing that it doesn’t seem to have any ligero leaves in there. The cap looks a little rough, but it’s not too bad. The band is very ornate. It’s pretty large with vibrant colors and gold foil.
Pre-Light Draw
The cap cut nicely with my Xikar Xi3. The tastes on the draw are a slight earthiness, leather and toasty tobacco. The draw is a little on the loose side, but it’s not too bad. The cigar has just a little give to it as I feel the length of the cigar. No soft spots at all. The smell on the foot has a heavier leather notes to it. The wrapper has a musty hay smell to it. Almost makes me want to sneeze!
First Third
Great first flavors with a nutty sweetness on the palate. You can tell the filler has some Nicaraguan leaf in it as it leaves the spicy note on the back of the throat. Leather is also present as a major base note with the sweetness filling in. It’s a nice merging of sweetness and spices.
Second Third
The spices seem to have intensified a lot in the second third. The sweetness is still there, but it’s prevalent as in the first third. The leather is also coming on strong. The burn is pretty atrocious. I’ve had to touch it up 3 times so far. It’s irritating. The flavor is still pretty damn good though, so, meh.
Last Third
The last third has pretty much the same flavor, but on the retrohale (Thanks Doc Stogie Fresh!), I get a strong amaretto note. I HATE amaretto, but….this is pretty nice. There is also a nice nutmeg note on the finish as well. The finish is strong with this cigar and it ends on a high note. The leather, sweetness, nutmeg and amaretto mix well to form a nice symphony of flavor.
Overall Impression
This is a top notch cigar. The flavors are amazing and give a great smoke experience. The burn wasn’t very good and the cigar put out little smoke. It is humid outside here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast though, so that might have contributed to the bad burn and low smoke output. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed this cigar. With a price point of about $5, you just can’t go wrong. Treat yourself and get some of these cigars.
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Comments
I have numerous burn issues with this cigar and I’m not in ahumid climate. Love the taste. I’ve let them sit in the humidor for almost a year – will break them out soon. Hopefully the burn issue doesn’t arise again.
Great review Ben. Looks like I need to head over to CigarBid and watch some lots. Sounds like a great stick at a great price. Thanks.
Nice review Ben! I really enjoy the Corona & have one of the Monarchs waiting in the humidor now. Looking forward to it!
I’ve smoked several of these and for the most part have enjoyed them. However, the last one I had the roller must have been half asleep when he/she rolled it. It had ALOT of soft spots and burned crazy. Still the flavor was OK, but, I was greatly disappointed in the construction. One out of several is not bad. Glad that one wasn’t my first.
Bugs
Ben I’ve had two of these this past week and really enjoyed them both. Great flavor with a nice spice but smooth. My only complaint is on the first one in the last third the wrapper exploded, though it still tasted and burned fine. On the last one I had when I was in the last third, it just went out, I tried re lighting but could never get it to produce enough smoke to enjoy and it got bitter so I put it down.
Ben,
Great assessment these are one of my favorite smokes and at this price point they’re a steal!
Matt M.