La Vieja Habana - Corojo Celbracion National Review

[MTUCache]

Today was my birthday, so naturally it was filled with many cigar experiences. The only NEW one was a LVH (by Drew Estate), which I was excited to review.

Specs:
La Vieja Habana - Drew Estate
- Celebracion National (7" x 52) - Churchill
- Natural Corojo Wrapper (Cuban Seed... country of origin?)
- Mixed Nicaraguan Filler
- Nicaraguan Binder
- Nicaraguan Construction




Purchased 3/2/07 from Stag Tobacconist (Colorado Springs, CO). Approximately $3.50 retail (seen as low as $2.50/stick online, or under $50/box of 20)
Stored at 60% RH, in cellophane, until 3/4/07.

Beverage: None. However, this cigar followed a long day of cigars and drinks.

Pre-light Aroma: Tobacco. Nothing special or surprising here.

Cut: Cheapo Guilliotine Cutter. No damage to the wrapper.

Pre-light Draw: Tight Draw. I'm hoping that this was just an individual cigar problem, rather than with the entire line. I'd be interested to hear of any other experiences with tight draws on these. I usually prefer a rather loose draw (around a 3/10 or 4/10, and I'd put this up around a 7/10).

Light: Colibri Butane.

First Impressions: Again, nothing outstanding here, just a very solid tobacco taste. Definitely not as spicy or tongue-stomping as I've come to expect from a Corojo wrapper.

Flavor: I'm not sure if it's because of the mixed filler in this cigar, but I seemed to get very quick bursts of several different flavors, ranging from nuttiness, to spice, to leather, to one unsavory puff of ammonia. In between these quick bursts though, it was as I said above, a smooth, medium tobacco taste.

Strength: Not a whole lot of strength on this one. As stated above, this had been a long day of cigars, drinking, and eating, so the fact that this one didn't make my head spin wasn't surprising. But, even so, I don't think this one is going to be rivalling an OpusX anytime soon when it comes to knee-buckling.

Smoke: Very dissapointing here. Mostly because of the draw-factor above, but I just couldn't get this thing to give me a mouthful of smoke. The small amounts of smoke I did get were wispy and thin, rather than the billowy clouds that make cigars so much fun. I'm guessing that if the draw on this cigar was looser, it'd be a lot more impressive.

Ash: Very impressive. A nice dark ash, consistant in color. You'd never guess that this was a mixed filler cigar based on how well it held an ash. Each time I ashed it, it was at or near a solid inch. The cherry was a nice smooth cone.

Construction: Again, very impressive (apart from the draw). No wrapper issues whatsoever, throughout. Burned very evenly. Even the band was a pleasure, moving easily across the wrapper and coming off with very minimal effort. (A very nice looking band as well.)

Size: This size is truly a triple corona size... a monster of a cigar. I smoked this for just under an hour, and truthfully got only about halfway through it. You could easily stretch this cigar out to a two-hour smoke, given the right conversation and comfort. Unfortunately for me, smoking outside on Colorado, an hour is about all I can stand after the sun goes down.

Finish: Short finish around the mouth, although there is some lingering on the tongue. Not at all unpleasant, but I wouldn't expect my wife to be sticking her tongue down my throat anytime tonight (birthday festivities were taken care of earlier in the weekend. )

Quick Rundown:
Easily the best "value" cigar I've ever had. The only thing that said "value" about this stick was the price. I've had numerous cigars at twice this price that I've had similar or worse experiences with.

I'd rate this one at a 6.5/10, with the only real demerits coming from the draw (again, I'd love to hear some other experiences with this). With that corrected, I'd bump it up to a 7.5.

I'm extremely curious to try the rest of this line. Corojo wrappers have never really been tops in my flavor pallete, falling well behind Cameroon, Connecticut, and Maduro, all of which happen to be in the LVH line.

I will most definitely be purchasing more of these cigars, likely by the box. In fact, if I were pushed, I'd say that this cigar is the perfect cigar for taking to weddings, passing out among non-herfing friends, or smoking in large volumes. With a very impressive presentation inside the colorful box, an intricate wrapper, and an average to above-average smoke, these look MUCH more expensive than they really are (especially when you see the cedar tubos included in some of the sizes), especially to those unfortunate enough to not be experienced cigar smokers.

I'm already planning on buying two boxes of these for my friends' wedding in August, probably one in Cameroon and one in the Connecticut shade, depending on how my experiences with those particular sticks go over the next few weeks. At $50/box, you seriously can't go wrong with these.

Certainly not a New Years/Superbowl caliber smoke, but I could see this very easily fitting into an "everyday" type category, if not a "favorite" type smoke for the budget-concious.

[Big D]

Ahhh..the LVH, my first box purchase...
I smoked my way through almost 3 boxes of these in about 3-4 months.
I like the Roxchild Luxo and the Belisico D.
You will have mixed results with the draw on these(from my exper.)but mostly good.
After a short nap of 1-3months these get alot smoother.
Smokin through a box of the African Cammie now, around 3 months old,
talk about smooth....
I've had the Connie chruchills in the glass tubes..pretty mild, but really flavorful.
You should try the Early Years next

[JCole311]

Recently I have been smoking the LVH Brazilian Maduro Bombero (6" by 54) which have been excellent. As for aging I have some different wrappers aging and I have been pulling them out at different intervals to see how they change. No draw problems lately.

[MTUCache]

Thanks guys... I was starting to wonder if anyone had any experiences with these.

I'm actually getting ready for a move at the end of this month, so I've been keeping the humidor bare-bones for the timebeing. No more than a couple sticks in there at a time, and usually they get smoked within the week. But, as soon as I get settled back in, and set back up, I'm definitely planning on getting a box or two of these.

Between now and then I'm hoping to get some singles of each wrapper.

I'll take a look for the Early Years. Thanks guys.

[Big D]

Drop me a PM.....

[SteveDMatt]

Bestcigarprices has these at the best price I've seen. Nothing over $40. The Gordito Rico (6x60) are $38 and the Celebration Nacional (7x52) are $35.

I prefer the corojos and connecticuts in the rothchild luxo (robusto) size. Have not had any draw problems. And for around $1.60 a stick, I wouldn't care if I had a bad one.

[keithsan]

cigar monster today. 30 a box for the churchills.

[Bones]

Originally Posted by keithsan

cigar monster today. 30 a box for the churchills.

$30 for a box?
Wow, it sounds like I should be picking some of these up.