La Vieja Havana Leather Patch w. Pics

[ShaulWolf]

I've had a pretty good day, so I decided to end it by trying out a new cigar. I remember having a Leather Patch by Drew Estates long ago, and I remember enjoying it, so I decided to give another one from that line a try. This time a pyramid shaped cigar that goes by #6 Belicoso. Here are the specs on it:

Shape: Pyramid
Length: 6.5 in
Gauge: 54
Wrapper: Cameroon (Adobo)
Filler: Nicaraguan
Strength: Medium



Now my humidor has been a little high with the humidity, around 72-73, but it's been manageable. I dry boxed this cigar for a day and took it out this evening. It smells strongly of tobacco and leather. The wrapper is a nice dark brown with a few visible veins and a light oily sheen. It feels very nice and smooth, and though it feels a little loose the overall construction is very well made. Now for the real test...

I toasted the foot with my torch before clipping it and lighting up. The first thing that nailed me was a mouthful of peppery spice. A lot of peppery spice. It wasn't at all how I remember the Habanos 54 I had smoked a while ago, and was wondering if this was from the Leather Patch line or maybe I had lit it up too early and it hadn't mellowed out. I kept going, though, taking a sip from my Cuban coffee every few puffs and noting other things about the cigar. The draw felt a little loose, but didn't faze me. There was a decent volume of smoke, and the narrowing end where I snipped the pyramid concentrated the smoke a lot. Another nice thing was how the cigar was burning fairly evenly; seemed the dry boxing helped it out.



About an inch in the spice subsided a lot, and the smoke mellowed out some. It turned from a strong spice to a more medium bodied smoke that had some really nice flavors. Now I'm used to maduros and find that I like them the most, but this was a great change for me. I was getting cedar, leather, cream, and spice. The leather and cream were the two more noticeable flavors, but they weren't overpowering. Actually, they blended fairly well for a fresh stick, and the aftertaste left more cedar and spice on my tongue.

Now the burn started to uneven a little about two inches down. I think part of it may have been not letting it sit in the dry box long enough and partly because I was taking a long break between puffs zoning and relaxing. Despite the long pauses it never went out on me and only needed one minor touch up. Something that can easily be avoided by keeping it at a better RH for a while or keeping it in a dry box for a day and a half or two days. Not a big deal, though.

Halfway in the cedar started picking up a little more and made the taste very well balanced. This would last up until the last inch and a half where the leather came to the front with a peppery finish. Again, the burn was fairly even, and when it started to get uneven it corrected itself with a second short followup puff.



Overall this was a pretty good cigar and rates a solid 8/10. It had some nice complexity without being overly complex, was very well made, and tasted good. It'd be a good change up cigar for me, but for anyone who likes leather/cream/cedar/spice it'd be a great go to cigar for them.

[gnukfu]

Where's the leather patch?! All I see is a cigar? GRRRRRR!

Thanks for the great review.

[borndead1]

The Leather Patch are some tastey smokes. Apparently they have been discontinued because they can't get any more of the wrapper.

[ShaulWolf]

Originally Posted by borndead1

The Leather Patch are some tastey smokes. Apparently they have been discontinued because they can't get any more of the wrapper.

Well now that's a shame... guess I better get what I can on the devil's site while I can.

[rx2010]

I've had one of these and found it very enjoyable

[MarkinCA]

[SIZE=3]It sounds like you really enjoyed that smoke SW. Very nice review and photographs...[/SIZE]

[Ratters]

Haven't had a leather patch, but I've found the Early Years to be pretty decent smokes.