Aaron Loomis

 John McTavish

Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The wrapper on the La Gloria Cubana Gloriosos Toro is between light and medium brown and carries some thick, raised veins. The seams are smooth and the caps well applied. There are three bands, with the primary being the traditional design for the brand in a baby blue and gold color combination. The secondary band is gold and black and denotes the line while the foot has a burgundy ribbon. The aroma from the wrapper is a musty mix of earth and cedar while the foot brings spice cake. The pre-light draw brings cedar, earth and marshmallow along with a mild spiciness on my lips and the tip of my tongue.
John: The La Gloria Cubana Gloriosos Toro comes in cellophane and does not have a UPC sticker. The cigar is double banded with a La Gloria Cubana primary band and a Los Gloriosos secondary band, along with a red ribbon foot band. I weighed the cigar at 14.0g and measured the humidity with the CigarMedics HumidiMeter Pro at 58.9%. For aromas from the wrapper, I was getting sweet barnyard and wood. From the foot, I was getting faint wood and hay along with a background note of sweet tobacco.

La Gloria Cubana Gloriosos Toro

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with toasted cedar, earth and some black pepper. At a half inch in, the toasted cedar and earth are positioned evenly up front. At three quarters of an inch in, a light mustiness joins the profile. The retrohale is toasted cedar, earth and lightly zingy black pepper. As the third comes to a close, the toasted cedar and earth are even up front, with black pepper in the middle and some mustiness in the back half of the profile. The strength was right at medium.
John: The first third begins with dry wood, musty sweet tobacco and mild pepper with wood to finish. There is some delayed tannic wood in the post draw. On the retrohale, it begins with creamy sweet tobacco with mild mustiness and astringency combining through the center. Earth is joining the post draw as the first third settles in. Sweet and mildly salty tobacco is leading off each puff as the cigar progresses. Milk chocolate and earth are combining through the retrohale as the cigar moves towards the halfway point.

La Gloria Cubana Gloriosos Toro

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, the black pepper mellows a bit. At a half inch in, the black pepper is now very mellow. The retrohale is now toasted cedar and earth with mild black pepper and mustiness. At an inch and a half in, the black pepper picks back up a bit. As the third comes to a close, the toasted cedar and earth are even up front, with black pepper just behind the middle of the profile and some mustiness in the background. The strength remained at medium.
John: The second third gets going with creamy earth as white pepper combines with lingering earth on the finish. Through the center of the retrohale, earth is combining with a dry herbal component. As the cigar progresses towards the halfway point, sweet tobacco and earth are leading off with mildly dry wood in the center and through the post draw.

La Gloria Cubana Gloriosos Toro

Final Third

Aaron: As the final third begins, the black pepper is now back up to the middle of the profile. The retrohale is now toasted cedar, earth and lightly zingy black pepper. At an inch in, the earth takes a slight lead in the profile. At an inch and a quarter, a vegetal mintiness joins the profile. As the cigar wraps up, the earth is just ahead of the toasted cedar, with black pepper in the middle of the profile, vegetal mintiness just behind and some mustiness in the background. The strength bumped up to slightly above medium.
John: Dry earth takes the cigar to the last third with dry wood through the post draw. Pepper and herbal notes are combining through the center of the retrohale. By the halfway point, dry earth and herbal notes are leading off each puff with dry tannic wood defining the post draw.

La Gloria Cubana Gloriosos Toro

Burn

Aaron: The burn was a bit wavy throughout, but never needed any attention. The ash held on in inch and a half increments.
John: The burn was slightly uneven to start but evened out quickly. There was some minor waviness in the second third but nothing that required an intervention.

La Gloria Cubana Gloriosos Toro

Draw

Aaron: The draw was slightly tighter than I prefer, but didn’t cause any issues with the smoking experience.
John: I measured the draw to 41 inches of water with the CigarMedics draw machine. Subjectively, I found the draw to be ½ to 1 notch towards the resistant spectrum, which puts it in the ideal range between open and resistant.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with toasted cedar, earth and some black pepper. Some mustiness joined in a bit later. The second third saw the black pepper mellow a fair amount and then pick up in the second half of the third. The final third saw the earth take a slight lead in the profile and some vegetal mintiness joined in. The La Gloria Cubana Gloriosos Toro had an average flavor profile throughout, focused around the toasted cedar and earth. It was a pretty linear and mundane flavor profile. The price point is very attractive, but the flavor profile just doesn’t interest me at all and I don’t see myself coming back to this cigar.
John: The La Gloria Cubana Gloriosos Toro provided an average smoking experience with a profile focused on dry wood, musty sweet tobacco, earth and occasional sweet or chocolate accents. The retrohale offered some complexity with creamy sweet tobacco early on, later bringing milk chocolate, herbal notes and pepper. While the flavors remained largely linear, the construction was exceptional, with an ideal draw and clean burn that required no touch-ups. This is a cigar where the flawless mechanics outshined the flavor performance. Total smoking time was 2 hours and 10 minutes.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.50

Cost/Point

$1.63

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

5.75

Cost/Point

$1.56

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: La Gloria Cubana Gloriosos Toro