Todays review is the Cuban Por Larranaga Belicoso Extra 2008 Regional Edition from Asia Pacific. Por Larranaga is a very overlooked Cuban brand that i havent smoked too many of actually. The brand is best known for the Petite Corona, which is a very tasty little cigar! This cigar measures in at 5.5 inches X 52 ring gauge.
The wrapper has a slightly uneven coloring to it, and is nice and oily. It feels a little soft, but not squishy. It is probably a little on the wet side and should have been dry boxed for a day, but i didnt think about it yesterday so oh well. The cap isnt the prettiest, and is a little sloppy, but held together fine. The bunching at the foot shows a very nicely rolled cigar.
The predraw is a little loose, but not a wind tunnel, and shows nice flavors of citrus, caramel, and a little bit of earthyness. Starting off this is a medium bodied cigar and a bit of a slow starter. The dominant flavors are a creamy caramel and citrus zest with a tiny amount of earthy flavor as well. The burn wasnt as even as i would have liked, which is probably due to a combination of the cigar being slightly wet and the breeze out on my balcony.
At the halfway point i touched up the burn a bit which stayed pretty even after that. A cinnamon like spice flavor showed up with the citrus and was a great adition to the flavor profile. Unfortunately, a bit of gooey tar showed up at the head of the cigar at this point, but a little trim with my Palio cutter got rid of that and it didnt show up again thankfully. In the final third of this smoke, a really pleasant graham cracker like flavor presented itself, with the citrus notes toning down quite a bit. The last inch or so became a bit acrid, probably due to the looser draw and youth of this particular cigar.
I enjoyed this cigar with a Fat Tire Amber Ale, but in the future i think a Hefeweizen would do really well this blend and would really make the citrus flavors pop even more.
Overall, i enjoyed this cigar, but i think if i had more of them i would let them sit for at least another year. More age would probably help round out the flavors towards the end of the smoke and due away with the harshness of the final third of this cigar. I love the belicoso vitola so it was nice to see the Por Larranaga blend in this size. If you are a fan of the Por Larranaga flavor profile, i think you would enjoy this cigar immensely, especially with another year or 2 on it. These have a ton of potential to become a very good cigar!
1 comment:
You are absolutely right. I have recently started on these, and they are now my dailies. I take them without even aging at all, and they're great. Unlike the Robustos, it really doesn't need aging to be a great smoke.
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