The owner of Bull & Bear (local B&M) went on a business trip to Southern Florida. He visited the Pepin store/factory and right next door was the LGC store/factory. This is where he met the La Gloria Cubana man himself, Ernesto Perez-Carrillo. 'Don't let the picture fool you, he does look mean, but he's a super nice guy and about 5'8"' says the B&M owner.
So he hands me a Pepin blue label stick...a little dry (cap cracked as I whacked it with my Palio) and then some totally new LGC line in a corona size. The LGC label got a re-work. The girl is on there still, but the pose is a bit different. The wrapper was very very light shade of brown;almost a tan, very different from his Serie R maduro and sumatra wrappers. I lit this up to give it a try. I must say, at first I was not at all impressed at what I was tasting, it was a bland smoke to start off. I'm so use to the Serie R 4/7, I was thinking this sucker was going to be heavy bodied. Then about 1/3 down, it really started to pick up. There were some bold tastes of cedar/nutmeg; lots of smoke and very medium bodied. The last third added a sweetness, almost a warm bitter chocolate. I turned to one of the other guys who was also smoking the same sample and commented 'wow did this thing pick up some steam', and he replied 'It sure did get a bit sweeter near the end'.
It was definitely a pleasurable smoke. MUCH MUCH different than the Serie R line. I think Mr. Perez-Carillo has blended himself a possible winner. People expect LGC to be bold in taste, but when they pick up this stick they are going to be suprised that LGC has yet another facet of flavor to enjoy.
I'm not too sure what the name of his new line is going to be. The B&M owner was told to look for it April/May time frame.
So he hands me a Pepin blue label stick...a little dry (cap cracked as I whacked it with my Palio) and then some totally new LGC line in a corona size. The LGC label got a re-work. The girl is on there still, but the pose is a bit different. The wrapper was very very light shade of brown;almost a tan, very different from his Serie R maduro and sumatra wrappers. I lit this up to give it a try. I must say, at first I was not at all impressed at what I was tasting, it was a bland smoke to start off. I'm so use to the Serie R 4/7, I was thinking this sucker was going to be heavy bodied. Then about 1/3 down, it really started to pick up. There were some bold tastes of cedar/nutmeg; lots of smoke and very medium bodied. The last third added a sweetness, almost a warm bitter chocolate. I turned to one of the other guys who was also smoking the same sample and commented 'wow did this thing pick up some steam', and he replied 'It sure did get a bit sweeter near the end'.
It was definitely a pleasurable smoke. MUCH MUCH different than the Serie R line. I think Mr. Perez-Carillo has blended himself a possible winner. People expect LGC to be bold in taste, but when they pick up this stick they are going to be suprised that LGC has yet another facet of flavor to enjoy.
I'm not too sure what the name of his new line is going to be. The B&M owner was told to look for it April/May time frame.