Pre-light Experience

Aaron: The wrapper on the Outcast Corona Gorda is a marbled medium brown, has some raised veins and some fine tooth. The seams are smooth and the caps well applied. There are two bands, with the primary being yellow, black, white and red with the name of the brand and an image of a cartoon black panther. The brand motto is on the side. The foot has a black ribbon. The aroma from the wrapper is chocolate syrup and crystalized sugar, while the foot brings chocolate ice cream. The pre-light draw brings a light mix of creamy chocolate and coconut along with some sweetness on my lips and tongue from the wrapper.
Seth: The Outcast Corona Gorda is finished with this band that makes me think of nose art on a B-17 Flying Fortress from World War II. It looks awesome on the plane, but the bands are terrible on the cigar. The wrapper has medium sized veins present throughout, and the coloring is that of Colorado-Maduro to Maduro. It has a dark coffee bean coloring. Very strong aromas of chocolate, tobacco, rich earth and sweet spices.
John: The Outcast Corona Gorda comes in cellophane with a UPC sticker that includes the cigar information and an integrated tear space that remains intact when opened. The cigar has a primary Outcast Cigars band along with a black ribbon foot band. I weighed the cigar at 13.7 grams and measured the humidity with the HumidiMeter Pro at 66.7%. Aromas from the wrapper included tobacco, aromatic pipe tobacco and wood. I could also pick out a sweetened cap. From the foot, I detected more intense aromatic pipe tobacco along with wood.
Jiunn: The Outcast Corona Gorda doesn’t have the prettiest wrapper appeal. The wrapper is a dull Colorado. Veins are well pressed, seams tight, bunch and roll even and the head is well wrapped and capped. Pre-light aromas gives an undeniable cherry fudge ice cream sundae.

Outcast Corona Gorda

First Third

Aaron: The cigar begins with lightly toasted cedar, construction paper and light chocolate along with a mild sweetness from the wrapper. At a half inch in, a mild creaminess joins the profile. The retrohale is lightly toasted cedar, construction paper and some creamy chocolate. At an inch and a quarter, the creaminess increases a bit. At an inch and a half in, there’s a bit more chocolate and sweetness. As the third comes to a close, the lightly toasted cedar is up front, with construction paper in the middle and creamy chocolate right behind along with some sweetness still present on my lips from the wrapper. The strength was mild-medium.
Seth: The first third starts out poorly. I can barely get a draw, and when the cigar finally opens it delivers this artificial sweet flavor profile. Coffee, chocolate and brown sugar up front with some musty wood and barnyard notes. Just under medium in strength and body.
John: The first third immediately delivers sweetness from the sweet cap along with wood and hay. The profile overall comes across as quite thin. Bitter wood begins to settle on the post draw. As the first third continues, there’s a combination of aromatic and sweet cap sweetness in the retrohale, with bitter wood and hay combining on the finish.
Jiunn: Immediately, there is cherry cordials. But it’s not synthetic sweetness (btw I hate synthetic sweetness in cigars). There’s also naturally creamy and semi sweet ice cream type of vibe. Aside from the sweetness, there’s cedar and expired dried nuts. Retrohaling introduces spice in the form of spicy cedar and the cherry cordials lingers. The finish is medium in length with cedar wood. Medium strength and body.

Outcast Corona Gorda

Second Third

Aaron: As the second third begins, a mild black pepper joins the profile. At a half inch in, the chocolate mellows a bit. The retrohale is now toasted cedar, creamy chocolate and light construction paper. At an inch in, the toasted cedar becomes a bit fuller and some earth joins the profile. As the third comes to a close, the toasted cedar is up front, with construction paper and earth in the middle of the profile and some black pepper, creamy chocolate and sweetness from the cap in the background. The strength bumped up to slightly below medium.
Seth: The second third is right in line with the first. Artificial coffee, chocolate and brown sugar notes. Musty wood and barnyard qualities. Like before, just under medium in strength and body.
John: The second third brings forward the same flavors of sweet aromatic pipe tobacco and mildly bitter hay in the center. The sweet cap sweetness fades somewhat, while dry hay and wood define the post draw. A medium strength earth joins the post draw and starts to take over after a re-light.
Jiunn: Unfortunately, by this time, the ice cream and cherry cordial dessert like goodness has faded quite a bit. Instead, it’s mainly a monotonous cedar wood driven profile. Strength and body stays the same at medium.

Outcast Corona Gorda

Final Third

Aaron: As the final third begins, the chocolate and sweetness notes have become very mellow and the construction paper note has lighted up a bit. At a quarter inch in, the earth increases to right behind the toasted cedar. At a half inch in, the toast level increases a bit. The retrohale is now toasted cedar and earth, with some black pepper. At an inch in, the chocolate and sweetness have departed. As the cigar wraps up, the toasted cedar is a bit ahead of the earth, with the construction paper and black pepper in the back half of the profile. The strength remained at slightly below medium.
Seth: Although it did not seem possible, the cigar went downhill in the final third. It had that musty earth and wood with artificial sweetness profile from before. It is not as defined in this third, and much more muddled. Like before, just under medium in strength and body.
John: The last third begins with mild sweetness that combines with dry hay. The finish transitions to a medium strength dry hay and wood combination, with a delayed loamy earth on the post draw. An acrid note joins the post draw as the cigar moves to the halfway point.
Jiunn: The final third is unchanged from the second third. Still a one note boredom of cedar wood. Strength and body finishes the same medium.

Outcast Corona Gorda

Burn

Aaron: The burn was straight throughout and the ash held on in inch and three quarter increments.
Seth: The burn was decent from start to finish.
John: The burn felt like it was stalling out of the gate, but the burn line was straight. The cigar went out in the second third, requiring a re-light, then went out again later in the same third requiring another re-light. In the final third, the cigar went out twice more, requiring two additional re-lights. Four re-lights were required in total.
Jiunn: Burn performance was good but could have used some help. The cigar completely went out within the second third.

Outcast Corona Gorda

Draw

Aaron: The draw was perfect, with just the right amount of resistance that I prefer.
Seth: The draw was poor throughout. The first third was nearly impossible before it slightly opened up. Went downhill again in the final third.
John: I measured the draw at 44 inches of water with the CigarMedics draw machine. Subjectively, I found the draw to be at most one notch towards the resistant spectrum, which puts it in the ideal range between open and resistant.
Jiunn: Draw performance was great, giving the ideal balance of air flow and resistance.

Overall

Aaron: The cigar began with lightly toasted cedar, construction paper and light chocolate along with a mild sweetness from the wrapper. Some mild creaminess joined a bit later. Later, the chocolate and sweetness increased a bit. The second third saw some mild black pepper join in and the chocolate mellowed a bit. Later, some earth joined in. The final third saw the chocolate and sweetness become very mellow and later depart. The earth then increased as well as the toast level. The construction was absolutely perfect. The Outcast Corona Gorda had an average flavor profile throughout. The core components of toasted cedar, earth and construction paper were aided by some chocolate and creaminess. I’d say that this is a pretty decent cigar in the flavored/infused space. While it isn’t a cigar I’d come back to with any frequency, it’s a great gateway cigar for those that smoke in this space to transition to traditional cigars, or a great beginner cigar due to the mellow non-traditional flavors.
Seth: The Outcast Corona Gorda was a bad cigar. Besides the fact that the draw was terrible, I did not care for the flavor profile or the entire smoking experience. It had this artificial sweetness of coffee, cream, brown sugar and chocolate that masked this poor musty wood, tobacco and earth profile. I am not sure what direction they were going for with this cigar, but I highly doubt that it is going to speak to any smoker. La Aurora fans are not going to head this direction, and I don’t see it speaking to those Tatiana Groovy Blue fans either. I really don’t see Miami Cigars picking up new smokers as well with a cigar of this nature. Would never smoke again or recommend.
John: The Outcast Corona Gorda opened with thin flavors of sweet cap sweetness, hay and wood, which never managed to develop much depth. The profile struggled with balance, as bitterness and acrid earth settled into the post draw in the latter half. Burn performance was poor with four re-lights required, though the draw was excellent. While the cigar delivered some moments of sweetness and aromatic quality, the overall experience was held back by construction issues and a lack of complexity. Total smoking time 1 hour and 41 minutes.
Jiunn: Although the overall experience was average, I need to hand it to La Aurora for providing a fantastic first third experience. In infused/non-traditional cigars like this, I typically find the infusion to be too strong or too meek. But the Outcast Corona Gorda struck the perfect mix of tasting the infusion and bringing in the traditional flavors. I just wish it could have maintained it for the majority of the smoke.

Aaron Loomis

SCORE

5.75

Cost/Point

$2.00

Scoring System

Seth Geise

SCORE

2.92

Cost/Point

$3.94

Scoring System

John McTavish

SCORE

4.90

Cost/Point

$2.35

Scoring System

Jiunn Liu

SCORE

5.90

Cost/Point

$1.95

Scoring System

Team Cigar Review: Outcast Corona Gorda