5.875" x 46 ring gauge, $6.25 (in box of 20)This is a very special cigar in two ways: it is both a rare, limited release cigar and a relative bargain if you can find it. In early 2009, Litto Gomez unleashed the Salamon on the world, what my local LFD rep called, "the fastest-selling $25 cigar I've ever seen." I was lucky enough to smoke one and thoroughly enjoyed it. As it turns out, Litto had a bunch of wrapper left from the Salamon, and pondered what he could use it on. First, he used it on the Small Batch No. 1 (actually removing the wrapper that was already on the finished product and re-wrapping it!), then still had enough left to create 700 boxes of 20 of this Habano Corona. The same rep also told me that the filler blend is the same as that of the Mystery Blend from earlier in the month, but I have not been able to verify that.
The Habano Corona presents well with a medium-brown wrapper that is pretty oily. There are no obvious blemishes or large veins present and the wrap-job seems very well done except for a small unevenness to the cap. The wrapper has a smell of wet hay and barnyard; the foot has chocolate and some compost or wet earth. When I cut the cap, I was presented with a solid piece of tobacco--essentially another cap! This is the first time I've sen that in about 6 of these I've smoked so I don't know what that means. I recut it to get to the filler and the prelight draw was still a little tight. The flavors were chocolate and chili pepper spice. The first few puffs were spicy with some black coffee and bitter cocoa notes. During the rest of the first third, there were flavors of cedar, dried fruit, and black coffee.
The second third had a buildup of the pepper spice but the coffee flavors came through very strongly as well. The construction so far was impeccable--straight burn line and perfect draw.
The final third started off with quite a bit of cedar flavor. The smoke was medium-to-full in body while the cast of flavors ranged from the bitter to the sweet, creating a stick that was quite complex and enjoyable for anyone but the brand-new smoker. Overall, a great smoke--I'm glad I ended up buying a whole box!
Body: 8/10
Strength: 7/10
Complexity: 8/10
AFP Scale:
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/10
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10
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