Pre-light Experience

The box pressed cigar has a marbled medium brown wrapper with well pressed veins. The seams are barely visible and the caps are very nicely applied. There are three bands with the first being cream, gold, blue, red and yellow and denoting the line name. The secondary band is tucked up under the primary and shows the LHB designation. The foot band is a blue ribbon. The aroma from the wrapper is a lightly damp wood while the foot brings a mix of leather and hay. The pre-light draw brings a light leather note.

Pre-light Experience

The Espinosa Las 6 Provincias LHB is a box pressed Toro, with a colorful gold accented band, along with blue ribbon foot band. The wrapper is chocolate brown color, and has aromas of cocoa, cedar and coffee. In the foot, I’m picking up sweet fermented tobacco with raisin notes. Later, as I remove the main band, I find another LHB band underneath.

Pre-light Experience

The Espinosa Las 6 Provincias LHB has a near Colorado Red wrapper showing a slight red hue. The wrapper has great oil content. The aggressively box pressed cigar has good construction as seams are tight, veins well pressed, bunch and roll even and head finished off with a deep cap. Aromas from the wrapper tell cedar, barnyard and a slight white pepper. Aromas from the foot give rich notes of white pepper, cedar and nuts. Cold draw gives aged cedar and mildly sweet nuttiness.

First Third

The cigar begins with a mix of wood, potent baking spice and slight cream. At three quarters of an inch in, the cream has increased, smoothing out the baking spice while the wood is still in the lead. The retrohale carries a slightly fuller version of this profile. As the third comes to a close, the cream has increased to become even with the wood while the baking spice is in the background. The strength in this third was right at medium.

First Third

As I begin smoking, I taste spices, pepper, chocolate, leather and cedar all on the retrohale. The post draw begins to develop light leather and cedar. A few minutes later, a syrupy sweetness comes through on the regular draw as the spices and pepper ramp up aggressively. That pepper begins to carry into the post draw, leaving impressions of chili pepper flakes. As the Las 6 Provincias settles in, the chocolate moves up to medium strength. At the 20 minute mark, the spice backs off, but there is still a medium strength chili pepper flake that harmonizes with the chocolate. The complexity continues to build at the halfway point, as the spices and chili flake fall to light plus allowing more harmonization. At the bottom half of the first third, some caramel sweetness takes over from the post draw leather, and then takes on a malty sweet aspect.

First Third

The first third’s profile, even from the first couple of draws tell me the fair amount of aggression in spice (dry red pepper). The spice does a decent job of being tapered by having flavors of cedar and a slightly sweet and creamy nuttiness. Through retrohaling, the dry red pepper spice shows its power, being full and direct also with dried nuts. The finish has the spice on the back palate with equal amounts of cedar lingering on for minutes on end. Strength is nearing medium-full at about an inch in, while body is medium.

Second Third

As the second third begins, the wood gains a slight char to go along with the cream up front and the baking spice in the background. At an inch in, the profile remains much the same with the charred wood taking a slight lead over the cream. The retrohale carries a very similar profile. As the third comes to a close, the cream has continued to decrease and become even with the baking spice in the background while the charred wood is up front. The strength in this third bumped up to slightly above medium.

Second Third

Cinnamon and earth joins in the flavor medley to start off the middle third. Sweet cedar comes through a few minutes later. The chocolate is still present, but has backed off to a light plus strength level. Once the middle third has established itself, the primary flavor is the light plus chocolate.

Second Third

The second third has a couple of changes. The first, is an introduction of cinnamon that somewhat reminds me cinnamon hard candy. Also, the profile loses out on some of the sweetness of dried nuts, which furthered the spice levels. Strength moves to a consistent medium-full, while body remains medium.

Final Third

As the final third begins, the charred wood is up front with the cream in the background and the baking spice has dropped out. At a half inch in, the cigar warms up a bit bringing some mintiness to replace the cream as the charred wood remains up front. The retrohale maintains the profile of charred wood and cream. As the cigar comes to a close, the profile remains the same. The strength in this third bumped up to slightly above medium.

Final Third

The cedar becomes the flavor leader in the final third. There is also some sweet, malty, stewed fruit on the front of the retrohale palate.

Final Third

The last third brings back the familiarity of the mildly sweet, creamy nuttiness found within the second third while still providing the same dry red pepper spice, cinnamon and cedar. Strength and body finishes medium-full and medium, respectively.

Burn

The burn was slightly wavy throughout. The cigar went out on me multiple times requiring re-lights which I’m sure didn’t help the flavor profile. The ash held on in near one inch increments.

Burn

The burn starts out razor sharp, with a bright white ash. In the second half of the first third, there is a slight waviness, which corrects itself. One touch-up is required in the middle third. The ash holds on in 2 inch plus increments.

Burn

The burn was very good. Only a couple of touch-ups were needed. High remarks for sturdy ashes averaging 2 inches, fairly even burn and good smoke production.

Draw

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

Overall

The flavor profile was centered around wood, baking spice and cream and the wood gained some char as the cigar progressed. The burn was a bit of a challenge with the cigar going out multiple times. Strength went from slightly below medium up to slightly above. This is a good offering from Espinosa and has me looking forward to future iterations of the line. I’d like to revisit this cigar to see if I can get one that burns better and see what effects it has on the flavor profile. If you’re an Espinosa fan, this is definitely a cigar to try to see how it matches up with your palate.

Draw

The draw is in the ideal range, leaning slightly towards open.

Overall

The Espinosa Las 6 Provincias LHB offers some trademark Espinosa spices without overwhelming your palate. The chocolate, cedar and baking spices serve up an enjoyable flavor complexity

Draw

The ideal draw. No issues here.

Overall

The Espinosa Las 6 Provincias LHB is yet another example of the stronger, spicier side of Espinosa’s offerings. While overall I felt the dry red pepper spice was tapered well by the softer notes of sweetness and cream from dried nuts, at times the dry red pepper and cinnamon was too much, throwing off the balance a bit. For me, this is a post (big) dinner smoke as the spice would be better complimented after such. If you enjoy the “typical” Espinosa offering, you will no doubt enjoy this.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

6.37

Cost/Point

$2.59

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

6.72

Cost/Point

$2.46

Scoring System

Jiunn Liu

SCORE

6.72

Cost/Point

$2.46

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Espinosa Las 6 Provincias LHB