La Rosa Especial Nikkoh Review

[craigchilds]

La Rosa Especial Nikkoh
Size: 6.0 x 52
Tobacco: Mexican, Nicaraguan, Costa Rican, Honduran
Price: $1.50

La Rosa Especial cigars were introduced in the early 1990's as "The Strongest Cigar on Earth". They were popular at first, but as the Cigar Boom of the late 90's gave birth to hundreds of brands of cigars that were much stronger, sales of La Rosa Especial suffered until the line was discontinued.

JR Cigars reintroduced the brand in 2006 from Nestor Plasencia, but it never took off. I bought a box of 20 during a closeout sale for less than $1.50 apiece. These cigars sport a dark brown wrapper adorned with a cheaply printed band with a picture of cherubs. Several of my cigars had tiny mold spots on the wrapper and foot. (Fortunately, they wiped off easily. The mold had not penetrated between the tobacco leaves). I almost sent the box back, but...

I really liked the ways these cigars smoked. Excellent value. They are medium-to-full with some spice on the finish. They burn cool and slow, although they don't hold an ash for very long. I would really like to age them, to see what they do, but the presence of the mold bothers me. I have stored them in their original box, sans humidification, to dry them out some and make sure it can't spread to my other sticks. I'll probably consume them in the next few weeks, just to be safe.

[ggainey]

Thanks for the review.