Today’s review was requested by a listener of the show in Pennsylvania, and when he asked if I ever smoked one, my answer was no and that I never heard of it. So thankfully Vince Hillenbrand was nice enough to send me a few samples.
So without knowing much about the company, today we take look at the cigar.
Cigar: La Pluma Origin of Species
Size: 5 x 50 (Robusto)
Wrapper: Nicaragua Jalapa
Binder: Dual: San Andreas & Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Strength: Medium
Source: Vince Hillenbrand
The Look: The black and gold band of the cigar stands out as clean and well done with it not being traditional in terms of the shape. The tobacco leaf gets a new spin as a quill. The medium brown chocolate color wrapper is oily with some thin veins. The cigar is well rolled with a nice weight to it.
The Notes: Once the cigar is clipped there is a wonderful sweetness that reminds me of chocolate covered jelly rings. I’ll be honest, I am quite impressed with the cigar at before even lighting it up, but as we know from past experience this doesn’t always translate to the lit stick. The aroma off the foot is fig like.
Once the cigar is lit it serves up some subtle Jalapa spice which is much different then Esteli. Its black pepper vs white pepper if you need to break it down. As we progress into the first third of the cigar there are notes of figs and chocolate over a base of spice.
The second third sees the spice tone back for the beginning then ramp back up toward the end, there is core notes of coffee with a sweetness of chocolate that fades away and transitions into leather by the end of the second third.
The last third of the La Pluma becomes more bitter than sweet, with notes of coffee, leather and a warm toasty finish with some white pepper through the nose.
The Burn: The La Pluma produces thick luscious volumes of smoke and the burn line while jagged never needed to be touched up. The light-colored ash held on firm for more than a third at a time. The draw was perfect and the cigar remained lit from first light to last puff.
The Finish: A tale of two cities is how I would label this smoke as the first half was sweet, complex and enjoyable. This isn’t to say the second half wasn’t enjoyable but the notes were darker. This cigar was a nice surprise and I’m thankful Vince sent me a few to try.
Score: 91
Price: $7.50
La Pluma
La Pluma Foot
La Pluma Burn
