Pre-light Experience

The wrapper on the Platinum Nova Personal Reserve Leo 11 is medium brown and has some darker marbling along with a network of lightly raised veins. The seams are smooth and the single cap is finished off with a tightly wound pigtail. There are two bands, both with a Tiffany blue, black and silver color combination. The primary band is the traditional design for the brand. The secondary band denotes Leo 11. The aroma from the wrapper is a mix of lightly damp wood and earth. The foot brings wood and stewed fruit. The pre-light draw brings musty, aged cedar along with a mild spiciness on my lips.

First Third

The cigar begins with toasted wood and light amounts of earth and black pepper. At a quarter inch in, the toasted wood has become a bit dry. The retrohale is toasted oak and mild black pepper. At an inch in, the wood is more defined as oak while the earth has picked up a little and the black pepper remains in the background. As the third comes to a close, the toasted oak is up front with dry earth a bit behind and the black pepper now just a bit behind the earth. The strength in this third was right at medium.

Second Third

As the second third begins, the toast level and black pepper both increase a bit. The retrohale is now lightly musty, toasted oak and light black pepper. At an inch in, the toast level is now pretty heavy and a light mustiness has joined the profile. At an inch and a half in, a light vegetal note joins the profile. The third wraps up with musty, heavily toasted oak with dry earth and black pepper a bit behind and a light vegetal note in the background. The strength bumped up to slightly above medium.

Final Third

As the final third begins, the black pepper is now even with the musty, heavily toasted oak. At a half inch in, the black pepper is tingling the back of my throat. The retrohale remains lightly musty, toasted oak and light black pepper. At an inch in, the vegetal note picks up a bit. As the cigar wraps up, the musty, heavily toasted oak and black pepper were even with the dry earth right behind and the vegetal note right behind that. The strength in this third bumped up to medium-full.

Burn

The burn was a bit wavy through the first half, but the cigar went out four times, requiring re-lights.

Draw

The draw was slightly tighter than I prefer, but didn’t seem to cause any issues with the smoking experience.

Overall

The cigar began with toasted wood and light amounts of earth and black pepper. The wood later became defined as oak. The toast level increased in the second third and a light vegetal note joined in. The final third saw the vegetal note pick up a bit. The burn was an issue with four re-lights. Overall, the Platinum Nova Personal Reserve Leo 11 had a pretty basic flavor profile that just had slight transitions in fullness of the components. The burn issues didn’t seem to effect the flavor profile, but did put a damper on the overall smoking experience. An interesting limited cigar to smoke, but not something I see myself returning to.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.10

Cost/Point

$4.10

Scoring System

Personal Cigar Review: Platinum Nova Personal Reserve Leo 11