Cigar Review: LG Diez

Chisel Puro, 5.5" x 54 ring gauge, $11.36
For the second time in less than a week, I got the pleasure of smoking an LG Diez from the 2008 vintage. This time around it's Litto's signature Chisel vitola. As with all LG Diez cigars, this is a limited release stick comprised entirely from Dominican tobaccos in an effort to prove that a Dominican puro can be a world-class, full-bodied, full-flavored cigar.

This stick is a light-medium brown color and the wrapper is very good-looking. There are a couple places where it has wrinkled and a little discoloration near the head, but it is smooth with an oily touch and a very light oily sheen. The aroma from the body is barnyard; the same comes from the foot, although there's also chocolate there.

The prelight draw was great and the flavor was spicy with notes of coffee and chocolate. I lit up this cigar on the last full weekend in October and fall has finally taken a firm grip here at my Dayton, TN home. While the colors of autumn have been widespread and very evident for several weeks at higher elevations and higher latitudes, it is only now that the change is coming up to its peak here in the lower parts of the Tennessee River Valley. On this dry, chilly, breezy day, I can see the yellows, gold, blushes and reds all from my front porch. It is about 57 outside this afternoon and there is another frost advisory for tonight.

Getting a mostly-ligero cigar to light on a day like today is never fast, but once I got it going, it was immediately very tasty. There was plenty of chili pepper in the early going, as well as black coffee and leather. The first third was mainly characterized by the flavor of black coffee along with some sweet spice--nutmeg, maybe--underpinned by a strong current of chili pepper spiciness.

The second third featured a steady increase in mouth burn due to the unrelenting spice in the LG. The coffee flavor was complemented by some cedar notes, as well.

There was no end to the spice in the final third of this stogie. Flavors of coffee and cedar were still there, but the spice kept right along until it was practically the only thing I tasted. This cigar was great, though, all the way to the point that it became too hot to hold anymore. While there was a lot of pepper and spice, it was not overwhelming. Neither was the body or strength; the LG proved to be a medium-to-full bodied smoke with just a little nicotine kick near the end. Truly a great way to spend a quiet Saturday afternoon--and a great way to end LFD month.

Body: 8/10
Strength: 7/10
Complexity: 8/10

AFP Scale:
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 10/10