Lusitano, 6" x 54 ring gauge, $12.40The roots of the LG Diez line of cigars go back more than 10 years: in 1999, Litto Gomez challenged himself to produce a cigar made entirely from tobacco grown on the La Flor Dominicana farm in the Dominican Republic. After years of experimentation, aging, and testing, the LG Diez debuted in 2004. It was not long before Litto decided that trying to make the blend the same from year to year would be more than just a challenge, but practically an impossibility, so he announced plans to have each year purposely be a different blend, influenced by the exact conditions for the tobacco harvest used in each vintage. That means, of course, that this cigar will be a different animal from the 2 examples I smoked back in October, which were from the 2008 release. Both of those cigars received 10 out of 10 points in my reviews, which raises the expectations for this cigar to a pretty high level. Also of note, this is the first LG Diez to actually note the vintage year on the label.
On inspection, this was a beautiful, oily wrapper with just a slight reddish tinge to it. There were no obvious flaws or over-large veins. The aroma from the body was barnyard--a little alfalfa, a little manure; from the foot I got a complex and challenging aroma: some barnyard, but also some kind of spicy, sweetness that was hard to nail down. The prelight draw had just a little more resistance than I normally prefer, but it did not make any difference in the draw throughout the cigar. The prelight flavors were of spiced cocoa along with a little leather.
Upon lighting, I got initial impressions of black pepper, earth and leather. As the first third got rolling, though, I found it a difficult cigar to adequately describe; the body was medium-to-full, and the flavors were a bit earthy and a bit floral in nature, along with an undercurrent of chili pepper spice. It did not take long before I was reminded of LFD's El Museo with the herbal and floral flavors, but there were some hints of other LFD products with the earthiness and spice. It was indeed an unusual and unexpected mix.
During the second third the herbal and floral flavors were on top, dominating all others. There was also a bit of a mild coffee flavor that emerged and the pepper spice was there, but diminished throughout this segment. I found the body to be trending toward the medium as things progressed, rather than ramping up as often happens.
The last segment had a spike in the spicy heat which made things more interesting, but was still dominated with floral and herbal flavors. The body settled into strictly middle-of-the-road...dare I say it "creamed out?" Overall, this was quite a disappointment compared to the 2008 LG Diez. While not a bad cigar, it just did not meet the high expectations that the previous year's blend had set, and ended up reminding me in more than one way of El Museo. In fact, I would not be surprised to learn that this stick used the same wrapper leaf employed on that one. Your tastes in cigars may vary, so I would encourage you to try one if you get the opportunity. As for me, I am going to try to get my hands on more 2008 sticks while I can.
Body: 5/10
Strength: 6/10
Complexity: 6/10
AFP Scale:
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 3/5
Value: 0/1
Total: 7/10
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