La Aurora 120th Anniversary Preferido Review
When limited Dominican puros are discussed in the cigar world, the first cigar that comes to mind is obviously the Fuente Opus X line. Today, though, we’ll be looking at a cigar that could be just as prestigious and even more limited: the La Aurora 120th Anniversary Preferido.
Founded in 1903, La Aurora is the oldest Dominican cigar producer still in business. With a relatively small output and an equally small but dedicated consumer base, La Aurora is often overshadowed by bigger industry names. However, their cigars tend to be excellent, and they are among the few non-Fuente companies capable of making a high-quality Dominican puro.
This cigar is meant to encapsulate and showcase the company’s history. Just 2,500 10-count boxes of the La Aurora 120th Anniversary Preferido were released, with the cigar priced at $40. The box itself is a gorgeous double-hinged packaging with a black piano finish. Inside, each cigar is contained in a hinged metal coffin that feels incredibly substantial in the hand. Both this coffin and the vitola itself are nods to the company’s earliest days, as the company says both are reminiscent of the cigars it would’ve produced 120 years ago.
I’ve had some limited edition La Auroras before, most notably the 2007 and 2008 Puro Vintage series, both of which I loved. I’m very excited to see what this cigar has to offer, as I’m sure La Aurora has spared no expense when it comes to celebrating its 120th anniversary.
Critical Stats
- Vitola: Perfecto
- Size: 6×58
- Wrapper: Dominican Habano 92
- Binder: Dominican olor del Cibao
- Filler: Domincain olor del Cibao, corojo and piloto Cubano
- Strength: Medium+
- Smoking Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
First Third
The La Aurora 120th Anniversary Preferido begins with an enticing cold draw consisting of cedar, spice, black walnuts and a very prominent raisin sweetness. I have to admit, I took an extra couple pulls on the cigar before I had even lit it to tease out everything that was going on. Top points here when it comes to cold draw complexity.
Upon lighting, I find that the cedar comes out in force, combined with a spicy pepper that rapidly coats the back of my throat. This could be a bit much, but a forward tobacco sweetness is thankfully there to balance it off nicely. This sweetness gradually takes on the character of molasses. An interesting note here, the retrohale at this early point in the cigar is more sweet than peppery.
As one might expect from a cigar with a tapered foot, the draw early on is a touch tight (think akin to an Arturo Fuente Hemingway in its early stages). However, I find no difficulty in smoking. It might be a bit tight, but it’s far from restrictive.
As I get a bit further in, suede leather shows up, at first in a modest fashion but then building as the sweetness that defined the early puffs begins to recede a bit. Other additions to the flavor mix include toasted almonds and, I swear I’m not making this up, the faintest hint of bay leaf herbaceousness.
Continued smoking sees the draw opening up as the cigar tapers toward its wider points. As this happens, the tobacco sweetness seems to move back to center stage, and the nutty note shifts from toasted almond toward something more akin to hazelnut. This is also the point where the raisins that were so prominent on the cold draw begin to finally show up in the smoke.
So far, I’m really enjoying this cigar, but it’s at this point that I find my first minor complaint. A bit past the midpoint of the first third, the draw becomes very uneven and a touch-up I was trying to avoid is required. The ash is holding very firm, though, and the draw is open, so the construction is still fairly good.
By the end of the first third, the cigar has settled into tobacco sweetness, hazelnut, leather, black pepper cinnamon, ginger and cedar. This flavor combination is rich and complex, and I have to say I’m thoroughly enjoying it.
Second Third
While I really enjoy the basic flavors that established themselves at the end of the first third, the strong suit of this cigar so far has been its complexity. Alas, this aspect of the cigar loses a lot of ground in the second third. For much of it, the flavors from the end of the final third remain largely unchanged. The pepper recedes a bit, but otherwise the flavor remains quite stable through the first half of the second third.
One point to note here, nearly halfway through the cigar, I finally have to ash for the first time. Note that I said I ashed the cigar, not that the ash fell off on its own. I was fairly sure it was close, so to avoid coating myself in nearly half a cigar’s worth of ash I decided to play it safe and knock the burned tobacco off. It might have held on even longer on its own. Here, I have to give enormous credit to La Aurora, as the cigar was clearly very well rolled.
Finally, toward the end of the second third, the flavor begins giving me some action again. The nut note shifts once again, this time from hazelnut to pecan. A dark fruit note once again emerges, and the tobacco sweetness surges as the leather and pepper fall back. Between the sweeter character of the cigar and the dark fruit making an appearance, one gets a distinct impression of fig cookies. Some herbal qualities also make a comeback, this time presenting as almost minty in character.
Final Third
Even with the modest rebalancing at the end of the second third, the flavor still hasn’t changed a great deal. Cedar comes out a bit more at the start of the final third, but I once again feel like I’m commenting on notes becoming more or less prominent than anything really changing.
By the middle of the last third, though, we have some legitimately new entrants to keep things a bit more interesting. To begin with, a distinct note of cream arises seemingly out of nowhere. In conjunction with the pervasive tobacco sweetness, which is by now beginning to take on a bit more of a caramel quality, and the nutty notes, I get something reminiscent of a cream liqueur.
About the last thing to happen before the cigar closes out is the arrival of a cocoa note. It’s interesting to observe that up to now chocolate had been entirely missing from the mix. Coffee notes were also notably absent, which struck me as a bit odd.
Another quick note is that, for all intents and purposes, this cigar only needed to be ashed one time. In truth, I did have to resort of a second ash, but that was entirely my own fault. At one point while performing the La Aurora 120th Anniversary Preferido review, I had to get up and grab a glass of water. Upon returning, I found the cigar had nearly gone out, necessitating my knocking some ash off and giving it a partial relight. If I hadn’t had to do this, I have every confidence that I only would’ve had to ash the cigar a single time in the entire smoking.
La Aurora 120th Aniversary Preferido Review and Final Thoughts
Flavor
The flavor of this cigar was thoroughly enjoyable, and there was never a moment while smoking that I wasn’t savoring it. However, there was a sharp contrast in dynamism between the first third and the last two. During the first third, the flavor that defined the cigar slowly established itself, but I felt like I had something new to latch onto with practically every puff. In the second and final thirds, however, this dynamic quality fell away sharply. I still loved the flavor I got, but the second two-thirds of the cigar were largely just variations on the same theme.
Construction
Construction of this cigar was, on the whole, very, very good. I had a good draw throughout minus the expected tightness at the beginning, and the firmness of the ash was incredible. The only flaw here is that the wrapper had a bad tendency of burning unevenly. In light of the otherwise solid construction, though, this is a fairly modest complaint.
Value
This is where the La Aurora 120th Anniversary Preferido falls apart. Obviously, I thoroughly enjoyed the cigar. However, La Aurora priced it at $40, putting it above even many of my all-time favorites. At this price point, there’s no room for error, and every aspect of the cigar has to be essentially perfect. This is a great smoke, and you’ll never hear me say otherwise, but it just isn’t a $40 cigar.
Final Verdict
6.5/10
The final rating may seem low for how much I enjoyed this cigar (and believe me, I did), but it was value that finally killed it. I’m deducting two points here, because I think $20-25 would’ve been the fairest price range for this cigar. At $40, I just feel like I’m paying a lot for what is, admittedly, very cool packaging. I’m also adding back half a point for construction. If you’re wondering why the cigar couldn’t claw back a full point, it’s because the uneven burning issue was just barely troublesome enough to keep it from getting the complete point.
I want to make it very, very clear that this cigar would’ve gotten an 8.5/10 if I didn’t value adjust my ratings. However, I think it’s also an excellent example of just why I value adjust my ratings. On its own merits, it’s a beautiful cigar with excellent flavor and good construction. To fully capture how cigar smokers really make their purchasing decisions, though, we have to think about what else that $40 could buy. For this price, I could be smoking one of my two or three all-time favorites and have a few dollars left over. I could also buy 3-4 extremely solid and enjoyable everyday cigars.
Should you try this cigar? In my opinion, yes, if you don’t mind going in with the understanding that you’re probably overpaying. La Aurora did a really excellent job putting this together, and it does justice to their prestigious 120th anniversary. I’ll probably buy at least one more myself, just to have it in my aging collection. It’s a wonderful smoke, it just happens to be a bit too expensive.
