Review: La ABEJA Maduro robusto

As readers of this blog will know I am quite a fan of La ABEJA cigars, having given the Corona a rating of 8.5. As you may recall the La ABEJR cigar company was started by the humidor manager from The Party Source, I was pretty convinced that mine was the first UK review of this brand of cigars, and I am relatively confident that this is the first UK review of the new Maduro.

So the question is will the Maduro match or exceed the score of the Corona…..

Appearance 9.0/10

The wrapper is a lovely dark chocolate brown, has a slight oily sheen to it, and is very well constructed with tight seams. The cigar has quite a number of small veins with some tooth. The Cap looks great as you can see from the picture I took of the cigar, one clever touch is that the colours on the bands are reversed so the Maduro is black text on white, as opposed to white text on black.

Construction & Draw 8.5/10

I have to be honest at this point, I have had two of these Maduro’s and the first one I tried had a relatively tight draw for the first inch or so, the second one had an absolutely perfect draw. Bearing in mind all the other La ABEJA cigars I have smoked have had a perfect draw I think this was just a one off, even so I have only dropped the score by 0.5 to reflect the first cigar.

The cigar is well packed with tobacco as with all La ABEJA cigars (which my explain why the draw was tight on one of the Maduro’s), cap construction is excellent and my Palio gave a very clean cut.

The burn line on this cigar was almost perfect and required no corrections or touch ups, I ashed the cigar at around and inch, but I suspect that it would have supported a much longer ash. This cigar produced a large volume of smoke

Flavour 9.0/10

I seriously enjoyed the flavour profile of this cigar, I really like smooth strong cigars with hints of coffee, cocoa, caramel etc, so as you can imagine I do enjoy Maduro’s a lot, and this one had all the flavours that I look for.

The cigar kicked off with a punch of white pepper, this continued for the first few draws, then quickly settled down, the cigar has an earthy flavour with a slight floral hint, the finish on this cigar is quite short to begin with. As I progressed through the first third there was a strong leather note, and any residual pepper backed off into the background, this cigar is very smooth.

In the second third of this cigar as well as the flavours already mentioned, I detected hints of caramel, and an interesting cocoa flavour, the reason I say it was interesting is more than in any other cigar I have smoked it had an actual cocoa powder taste, you could almost imagine the texture of the powder on your tongue.

The final third was as smooth and tasty as the first two thirds, towards the end the pepper picked up a little, but this cigar remained smooth and cool to the finish.

Value 8.5/10

At around 9 dollars per stick, the flavour, construction, and sophistication on offer here seem to match the price well, making this cigar very good value for money. This gets the same value rating as the Corona as although it is around a dollar more expensive, I think its justifies the extra.

Summary 9.0/10

So yet another La ABEJA cigar that really hit the spot, if you cant guess I really enjoyed this cigar, its well constructed, has a great flavour profile. There is not really a lot else to say, I think La ABEJA have a great cigar here, and I will be looking to get some more in my humidor soon..

Humidor: New Cigar Arrivals from the USA – Part 7

This is the last batch of multiple sticks I brought back from one brand. The La Abeja brand was new in 2013, started by Kevin McKenna who my friend in the USA knows through his local cigar merchant The Party Source.

For those of you that remember my review, I was very impressed with this new brand, and wanted to add some more to my humidor. At the moment not only are these cigars not available in the UK, but they are only stocked by a few larger suppliers in the USA, so getting hold of them can be tricky.

Luckily my friend in the USA did me proud again, and I have a few La Abeja cigars (Robusto, Toro, Sultana), my friend also tells me that Kevin has produced a Maduro cigar which is an even better stick, and has kindly put one in the post to me, so as soon as I get it you can expect a review.

La ABEJA – A nice surprise

I just wanted to thank my friend Aaron in the USA for sending me this T-Shirt, you may remember I was most impressed with the La ABEJA cigar I had recently. It a really nice classy looking T-Shirt, just like the cigar.

Review: La ABEJA Corona – A UK First

I am hoping this will be a UK first, I am pretty sure it is, as this cigar is from a new company, and not only is it currently only available in the USA, its only in a few stores. My friend in the US sent me this stick, he shops at The Party Source, and the LaABEJR cigar company has been started by the humidor manager.

Its quite interesting to think I may be the first person in the UK to smoke this cigar, and its really great to see someone start up a new company, I know I probably would not take the risk.

You can read an interview with the owner of LaABEJA cigars here… And below is my review of the corona.

Appearance 9.0/10

The wrapper is a lovely light chocolate brown, has a slight oily sheen to it, and is very well constructed with tight seams. As you can see form the picture there are almost no veins in this cigar. The band is quite interesting, its simple but well printed, and has an almost 1920/30’s look to it, its quite different to many existing bands, and I think adds to the overall feel of quality.

Construction & Draw 9.0/10

The construction of this cigar is absolutely top notch, as mentioned the seams are really tight, and the cap construction is so good that unlike many cigars you cant see where the seams are. The stick is well packed with tobacco, and prior to cutting had a slightly sweet aroma.

Cutting the cap was easy, and I obtained a nice clean cut, the pre-light draw had hints of vanilla and spice. The draw on the cigar is excellent, it has just the correct amount of resistance, the burn line was slightly ragged to start with, but quickly sorted itself out, and was sharp throughout the rest of the cigar requiring no corrections. This cigar easily supported about an inch of ash before it fell.

Flavour 8.0/10

The cigar started out with a nice level of spice, I am not a big fan of really spicy cigars and for me this was perfect, just enough spice on the tongue to be interesting but not overwhelming  The first half of the cigar as my pre-light draw had suggested has a nice slightly sweet vanilla flavour to it, this really complemented the spice, making the whole experience creamy and smooth with just a little zing, very tasty.

During the second half of the cigar the vanilla changed to be a little more like caramel, and I also detected a slight taste of flowers/grass which added another subtle dimension. I would say that this cigar is probably light to medium strength to start, and moves slightly towards medium strength as you get into the second half.

Value 8.5/10

At 8 dollars per stick, the flavour, construction, and sophistication on offer here seem to match the price well, making this cigar very good value for money. Its not at the cheap end of the price range for its size (in the USA you can get some pretty nice cigars for around 6 dollars), but I feel the overall package more than justifies the price. I have to call out the quality of construction, for a new cigar from a new company, this cigar was really well made.

Summary 8.5/10

I really enjoyed this cigar, its well constructed, has a nice flavour profile, just the correct amount of spice for me, excellent draw,and burned really well. Its not a flavour bomb, but its quite a relaxing sophisticated cigar, and I really enjoyed the hour and forty minutes I spent with it. The biggest problem is when will they come to the UK so I can get some more? As I would absolutely have some in my humidor…