Pelo de Oro (Felipe Gregorio) Corona Gorda Review

[erictheobscure]

I hadn't planned on lighting up today because I wasn't feeling 100% well (due to excessive at a party last night), but I was reading A Long Day's Journey into Night, in which James Tyrone declares that there's nothing better than a post-breakfast cigar, especially if the smoke is a good one. That clinched the decision for me, so I took the book outside and grabbed this cigar from my humidor. It'd been resting for about a month and a half since I got it (as a single, $3.00) from CBid.

Construction/Appearance: A good looking cigar, medium-brown with a understated gold band and a fun pigtail cap. (Sadly, the pigtail got mangled as I was removing the cigar from the cello.)

First impressions: The cigar had a pretty rich aroma, musty/dank but in a pleasant way. The initial lighting produced a toasty smell that raised my expectations.

Draw/Burn: The draw was a bit tight throughout much of the cigar, but about halfway through, I clipped off some more of the (by then soggy) foot, and the cigar opened up dramatically. Still, there wasn't a ton of smoke. The burn wasn't razor sharp but I never had to correct it.

Taste/Aroma: My first few puffs were pretty nice--nothing out of the ordinary, but the deep tobacco flavor made me think the cigar was made of fairly high quality stuff. However, the next few draws introduced a bitter/tannic aftertaste that lingered on and off throughout most of the cigar. Not overwhelming, but just enough to taint my smoking experience a little bit. The second third of the cigar brought some earthier flavors. I smoked it past the band a little before letting it die a natural death.

Final thoughts: I'm by no means knowledgeable about aging cigars, but I have a strong hunch that this cigar would improve a lot over time. I wouldn't mind burying a few in my humidor for an extendend rest, but I'm not in any rush to get my hands on more.