Robusto, 5" x 55 ring gauge / approx. $6.25
La Caridad del Cobre is a small cigar company started by Frank Herrera, also a lawyer and proprietor of the Cigar Law website. He is also a frequent Twitter presence under both @LCDCcigars and @CigarLaw names and attended the ATL TweetUp at Buckhead Cigars last December where I got the sample I am using for my review today. Information on these cigars is somewhat scarce but I believe this is the cigar I have seen described as using Dominican and Nicaraguan filer, Dominican binder and an Ecuadorian wrapper. For those curious about the name, La Caridad del Cobre literally means "Copper Charity" and is a reference to the Virgin of La Caridad del Cobre, the patron saint of Cuba.
This chubby robusto had an almost golden wrapper that was not entirely free of flaws. There was some greenish discoloration in a couple places and the leaf looked over-stretched making some of the veins look like keloid "Frankenstein" scars. It had a fairly oily feel and was decently firm from head to foot. The aroma from the wrapper had notes of hay and earth; from the foot I got more earth along with chocolate. The prelight draw was slightly tight but seemed manageable. The cold flavor had a nice sweetness to it--almost honey-like--as well as a grassy/hay-like quality.
Light up was easily accomplished with a soft flame and I got plenty of smoke through the cigar so the slight worry I had about the draw proved unfounded. Early puffs featured a nice caramel sweetness, hay and a touch of cedar on the palate; the retrohale had even more cedar and a nice peppery bite. It was difficult to say in the early going if this would remain a fairly mild cigar or ramp up into that mild-to-medium zone so many of the Shade-grown cigars occupy now days. By the end of the third, though, it was more clear that it would be the latter: a mixture of mild, creamy flavors along with a more medium-bodied earthiness.
As I started the second third I removed the band and it removed a large chunk of wrapper. Ten minutes later it looked like I might have a big problem on my hands. The flavors continued to be very nice, though, as the body ramped up into nearly dead-on medium range. It was becoming more earthy and nutty with only hints of the caramel sweetness and creamy coffee flavors. Despite the wrapper damage I was really enjoying this stogie.
Surprisingly, the wrapper did not give me any real trouble despite the gaping hole ripped in it. The last third concluded the push toward a more earthy medium-bodied profile, leaving only hints of the mild cigar that I experienced at the beginning. I liked this cigar a lot. While it is not my favorite in this category, I could see myself picking them up quite often...if a store near me carried them, anyway. I could easily recommend it to novice smokers as there was not any real nicotine kick, but I think more experienced smokers might enjoy it for a morning or mid-day smoke, too. To me, it was a tasty, elegant cigar that easily outperformed its MSRP price tag.
Body: 5/10
Strength: 4/10
Complexity: 7/10
AFP Scale
Prelight: 1.5/2
Construction: 1.5/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 8.5/10
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