The La Gloria Cubana Spirit of the Lady Toro is a brand new portfolio spin off, the same mediocre cigar. This flavor profile is quintessential to how I feel about most cigars from General (especially blended by in house blenders); highly earthy, unbalanced and a bit spiky in nature. No offense to their current blending team(s), as I'm sure the marketing strength of the cigar brands are strong, but I just want better blends.
La Gloria Cubana will debut “Medio Tiempo,” a distinctive, three-cigar collection shipping to retailers on May 4. Medio Tiempo is a full-time addition to the La Gloria Cubana lineup, and comes on the heels of “Spirit of the Lady,’ a limited-edition release that launched in March.
La Gloria Cubana, the original boutique brand, has created a special five-country blend that celebrates the masterful artisans of the El Credito Cigar Factory in Santiago, Dominican Republic. Called “Spirit of the Lady,” the limited edition collection will be available exclusively at U.S. cigar shops beginning on March 2 and includes two box-pressed vitolas made from the finest aged tobaccos.
The La Gloria Cubana Spanish Press Robusto started out interesting with flavors of cedar, pepper, spices, leather, chocolate, citrus and earth. Unfortunately, between the burn issues and the average performance through the middle and last thirds, the overall experience ended up as quite forgettable.
The La Gloria Cubana Esteli Robusto is an interesting cigar with a flavor profile that has distinct evolution through each third. Reaching an overall flavor strength of medium-full at times, you're treated to earth, leather, toasted notes, spices, creme brulee, chocolate and baking spices.
I'm pleasantly surprised by this cigar. Luckily, with the talented blending skills of Ernesto Perez-Carrillo (and Jhonys Diaz), this brand is worth giving a serious look. A definite fly under the radar cigar that I will happily smoke more of in the future.
The upside is, the cigar is very approachable, not being dominant in strength, so especially newer cigar smokers will be able to get through 1.5 hours or so without feeling the need to reach for something to eat.
