May 1st, 2017

I’ve never been a fan of La Aurora Cigars, with the exception of the 1492 series, which is no longer being made. Even though the 1492 series was taken out of production years ago, cigars in the line are still available, and I can usually get a box of them for around $50 on sale. My favorite sizes in the 1492 series are the Churchill and the Corona. The other La Aurora cigars that I’ve sampled, while usually very well constructed, have never quite satisfied me.

The cigar profiled in this review was my first of the newer La Aurora cigars. The La Aurora Preferido Corona Broadleaf was a beautiful cigar. It was dark brown with an elegant band, and extremely well-constructed. I couldn’t find anything wrong with it. It almost looked good enough to eat. As I ran the unlit cigar under my nose, it smelled earthy yet sweet – almost like a chocolate bar.

The cigar clipped easily, but the pre-light draw seemed a bit tight. Fortunately, upon lighting, the cigar’s draw was almost perfect. I could sense the earthy flavors and chocolate, but also pepper. In fact, the pepper was quite strong – almost too strong for my tastes. The La Aurora wasn’t harsh, and I didn’t get a burning sensation in my throat. However, blowing the smoke out my nose was a little too much for this reviewer to handle.

This cigar burned simply beautifully, forming a tight grayish-white ash, which was about as straight and even as I’ve seen. The strength of the cigar persisted and, to me, the pepper flavor became the most prominent aspect. For those who like strong cigars, this might be a good thing. But for others like myself, who prefer a medium cigar, it was a little too much in the power department.

One of the things I have noticed about small ring gauge cigars such as this, which has a ring gauge of 42, is that they tend to extinguish themselves rather quickly, requiring frequent relights. (That happens quite often when I smoke the similarly sized 1492 Corona.) But with the La Aurora Preferido Corona Broadleaf, I only had to relight once during the entire hour it took to consume this beauty. Given the fact that this occurred when I took a small ‘nature break’, and left the cigar resting in the ashtray unattended for several minutes, I can hardly blame the need for a relight on the cigar.

Overall, the construction was superb, with a very good draw and an ash with excellent staying power – especially given the small ring gauge. But the strength of the cigar, which noticeably affected the flavor profile, was more than I prefer. Certainly, if stronger cigars are your thing, then you may want to give this one a try.

Rating / Analysis

Pre-light – 9
Light – 8
Draw – 9
Construction – 10
Flavor – 7
Power – 10
Average – 8.6 (average does not include power)
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Rob Geyer (Rob G) hails from Syracuse, NY. His man-cave is the envy of all of us.