Robusto, 5" x 52 ring gauge / $9.35, Burns
After smoking my way through Sean Williams' El Primer Mundo linup a few months ago, I have been anxiously awaiting his newest cigar--Liga Miami. Unveiled at 2010's IPCPR show, this stick is made in Miami at Willy Herrera's El Titan de Bronze factory and features an interesting-sounding blend of Dominican and Nicaraguan Ligero-heavy filler, 2 Nicaraguan binders, and an Ecuadorian Sungrown wrapper leaf. This review is based on my first encounter with this blend.
The Ecuadorian wrapper used here is unlikely to win any beauty contests. It was a dark caramel color with plenty of darker mottling and very visible veins, some of which were bordering on large. There was a nice oily touch to it, though, and it felt neither underfilled nor overfilled. I got an aroma of hay and molasses with a little earth on the wrapper; on the foot I got a stronger sweet molasses note. I put a nice, clean v-cut on the Liga Miami and got a smooth cold draw with a honey-sweetness, natural tobacco and a lingering spicy tingle.
Initial puffs on the cigar gave me flavors of wood and hay on the tongue and a very peppery retrohale. There was not nearly as much sweetness as I would have expected from the prelight aroma and taste, but there was a hint of molasses in there, too. Through the rest of the first third I got mostly cedar and natural tobacco flavors along with a twang I almost, but not quite, wanted to call citrusy. Despite the use of 3 Ligero leaves in the filler I was note getting the sense that this was anything more than medium-bodied, at least at this point. The draw was great and while the burn line was not perfectly straight, it needed no touch-ups, either.
I got an abrupt flavor change as the second third started--and introduction of graham cracker as the cedar notes diminished somewhat. The rest of the middle segment was a very nice mix of sweetness from the graham and a little bitterness of orange peel, which seems to have evolved from that citrus note I detected earlier.
That interesting balance of bitter and sweet continued through the final third. The retrohale had by this point lost virtually all pepper spice and was very nutty. I have to admit that the first third of the Liga Miami did not do a lot for me and it made me wonder if I was going to end up enjoying it. The flavor-changing complexity of this stick turned out to be quite a delight in the end, though. Being made in Miami is probably one reason this stick is a little more expensive than the others in the Primer Mundo lineup, but in the end, I think the experience justified the extra expense. This ended up being a very flavorful medium-bodied cigar.
Body: 6/10
Strength: 7/10
Complexity: 9/10
AFP Scale
Prelight: 1.5/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 8.5/10
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