Pre-light Experience

Seth: The La Aurora Family Creed Series Perseverancia Box-Pressed Robusto is petite in hand, and is heavily pressed. It is very firm in hand, and finished with a decent cap. It has that industrial press look, and is finished with a dark Colorado-Maduro to Maduro wrapper. It is very smooth in texture with medium sized veins. The aromas are that of rich earth, leather, warm spices and pepper.
John: The La Aurora Family Creed Series Perseverancia Box-Pressed Robusto has a Colorado Maduro wrapper and a firm box-pressed shape. It appears to be a Robusto vitola, with a nicely and firmly applied cap. The wrapper has a very smooth appearance with firmly pressed veins. I weighed the cigar at 13.0 grams and measured the humidity at 60.9% using the HumidiMeter Pro. Aromas from the wrapper included aged cedar and mild earth, while the foot offered intense sweet pilóned tobacco with rich hay, earth and some deep woody notes underneath.
Jiunn: The La Aurora Family Creed Series Perseverancia Box-Pressed Robusto wrapper looks like it survived a redwood forest fire given it’s backsplash of Colorado red and darker Colorado Maduro marks. Veins are well pressed, seams tight, bunch and roll even and the head is well wrapped and capped. Pre-light aromas give faint barnyard and cedar.

La Aurora Family Creed Series Perseverancia Box-Pressed Robusto

First Third

Seth: The first third opens up with leather, seasoned wood, damp earth, warm spices and pepper. It is rich and filling. Strong as well. Medium-full to full in strength and body.
John: The first third gets things going with layers of sweet tobacco, with musty wood in the center and medium-minus baking spices underneath. Through the retrohale, the sweet tobacco intensifies, with mild bread sitting underneath and medium-plus strength spices following, while light wood comes through the post draw. The baking spices back off to light-plus strength around an inch in, and some nice creaminess is added to the profile. Reaching the halfway point of the first third, the tobacco sweetness, bread, spices and wood have all reached a balanced equilibrium at just over light-plus strength.
Jiunn: The first third has a nuanced and balanced delivery of flavors. It’s a sweet and creamy cigar with mixed nuts, cedar, mild tannins and minerals. Retrohaling has nose awakening dried red pepper spice. Finish shows cedar and nuts with long lingering mild tannins. Strength and body is medium.

La Aurora Family Creed Series Perseverancia Box-Pressed Robusto

Second Third

Seth: The second third is in line with the first. Nice leather, barnyard, spices and pepper notes. Medium-full to full in strength and body.
John: The cigar leads into the second third with creamy tobacco followed by wood and baking spices. The baking spices take over moving into the post draw, where they’re joined again by wood and linger between each puff. Creaminess intensifies as the second third continues, with the wood defining the post draw and gaining tannic accents. Moving into the bottom half of the second third, cinnamon accents emerge within the baking spices through the retrohale.
Jiunn: The second third has less focus on sweet and creamy but is more minerals and wood driven. Retrohaling is the best as it gives the same intense nostril clearing dried red pepper spice. Strength and body continues to be medium.

La Aurora Family Creed Series Perseverancia Box-Pressed Robusto

Final Third

Seth: The final third delivers the flavor profile from the second, but some mineral notes pick up towards the end. Again, medium-full to full with lots of pepper, leather and barnyard notes.
John: Creamy bread with wood takes things into the last third, with wood continuing to define the post draw. Earth quickly joins the finish as the final third settles in, competing with the wood for control of the post draw. The earth ramps up in strength to medium, with baking spices joining as an accent note. Through the bottom half of the final third, the earth continues to increase in strength, reaching medium-full and taking over the post draw while lingering on the palate between each puff. Bitterness comes through on the finish as the bottom half continues.
Jiunn: The final third is essentially the same as the second third. It’s now becoming monotonous with the same focus on minerals and wood. The flavors also seem thinner, which furthers the boredom. Strength and body finishes the same medium.

La Aurora Family Creed Series Perseverancia Box-Pressed Robusto

Burn

Seth: The burn is great for the first two thirds, and then gets wavy in the final third.
John: The burn was quite straight to start, gaining some unevenness as it continued. That unevenness persisted through the second and last thirds, but no interventions were required.
Jiunn: Burn performance was great, providing an even burn, tight ashes, good smoke production and cool burning temperatures.

La Aurora Family Creed Series Perseverancia Box-Pressed Robusto

Draw

Seth: The draw is perfect from start to finish.
John: The draw measured 38 inches of water on the Cigar Medics draw tester. Subjectively, it was in the perfect zone between open and resistant.
Jiunn: The draw was also great, providing ideal air flow and resistance.

Overall

Seth: The La Aurora Family Creed Series Perseverancia Box-Pressed Robusto is a good little cigar, and I don’t think I would have this blend in another vitola. The cigar would either lose its qualities with a larger ring gauge and/or be too much for me to even smoke. Great flavors of rich earth, leather, warm spices and pepper. Gotta be strong. Gotta be Nicaragua.
John: Blind Cigar #1596 started with a promising combination of sweet tobacco, bread, baking spices and wood that gave the first third a good amount of balance and layering. The sweet tobacco was particularly appealing, and the intense pilón tobacco aroma from the foot seemed to foreshadow the sweeter character that developed once the cigar was lit. As the baking spices settled down, creaminess entered the profile and helped bring the various components together into a balanced combination by the halfway point of the first third. The second third was less dynamic, although the creamy tobacco and wood remained enjoyable. Baking spices continued to provide some character, eventually developing a cinnamon accent through the retrohale, while tannic wood began to make the post draw drier. The cigar was still pleasant, but the balance established early on was beginning to give way to a more wood-driven profile. The final third saw a more significant shift toward earth. What initially appeared as an accent quickly became a competing force against the wood, eventually reaching medium-full strength and dominating the post draw. The addition of bitterness through the finish further reduced the appeal as the cigar approached the end. Construction was excellent where it mattered most. The draw was essentially ideal at 38 inches of water, while the burn became somewhat uneven but never required intervention. Overall, this La Aurora Family Creed Series Perseverancia Box-Pressed Robusto was a cigar with a strong opening and some genuinely enjoyable tobacco sweetness and creaminess, but it gradually lost some of that balance as earth and tannic wood became increasingly dominant. The first third showed the most promise, while the latter half settled into a more ordinary and less nuanced profile, resulting in an Average overall rating. Total smoking time was 1 hour and 52 minutes.
Jiunn: Scratch this La Aurora Family Creed Series Perseverancia Box-Pressed Robusto up to another profile where the first third was good and the remaining was lackluster. The overall feel of minerals and wood was uneventful and made me lose focus by the time the second third came around. This is a pass for me.

Seth Geise

SCORE

6.62

Cost/Point

$2.42

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

6.10

Cost/Point

$2.62

Scoring System

Jiunn Liu

SCORE

6.10

Cost/Point

$2.62

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: La Aurora Family Creed Series Perseverancia Box-Pressed Robusto