La Gloria Cubana Medaille D'Or No. 4 ETP OCT 16: Thanksgiving 17 review

[fastkiller13]

Hi Guys and Gals, This will be my first ever review. Hopefully you enjoy it!

La Gloria Cubana Medaille D'Or No. 4 ETP OCT 16

Upon opening the box I was immediately struck by an amazing floral summery scent that sang sweetly "Smoke me, smoke me now" I obliged. But first the cigars themselves. 

They are what I would describe as beautifully ugly. They are lumpy, veiny, there are some sloppy seams and rough caps, but what stands out most is the skill it must have taken to put together such a delicate stick and have it stay together so impressively. I am of the mindset that our flaws are what make us special and to me those flaws are beautiful (most of the time) so I love the rough look these guys have.

They smell very lightly of barnyard, while the foot is all strong floral and light cedar. The draw is perfect and the cold draw taste floral and cedary. The first few puffs gives me a salty caramel and mongrel with a strong and long floral finish, there is a citrus zest on the retrohale. The burn starts off wonky which I contribute to the windy day, but quickly corrects itself and is perfect the rest of the time. The smoke is light but plentiful enough to get the full profile.

The rest of the first half gives me tons of cedar with intermittent pops of sweetness, citrus zest, and mongrel kicks. Halfway through and the flavor and smoke change dramatically. The smoke became chewy and the flavor shifts to heavy floral; I can best describe it as chewing on rose petals.  I also start to get a nice black pepper on the retrohale which quickly calmed down. The cigar was then mostly mongrel, with a few moments of wonderful floral, sweetness, and mild spice, until the final third. 

The final third turned woody and spicy for the first few puffs but then began leaving a slight pepper burn on my lips and a new flavor emerged, spicy wildflower honey with light cedar. This was the dominant flavor but was interspersed with sweet cocoa, the mongrel had completely left but the flavors were a bit muddled and I occasionally received a citrus zest pop.

I thought this was how the cigar would leave me, but she had one more surprise in store. The final inch was magical, the only way I can describe the flavor is Juicy Fruit gum with mild spice it was delicious also included in this wonderful farewell were spiced apple and cedar pops. 

The aroma was molasses and flowers; the finish was floral rose petals neither changed throughout. The ash was strong and white with a few dark streaks throughout.

I smoked this cigar slowly and total time was ~40 minutes. 

Thanks for reading and hopefully it was enjoyable.

[Raskol]

Thanks for the nice review. Happy Thanksgiving!! 

[JohnS]

Great first review!

[fastkiller13]

Thanks guys, glad you enjoyed it.

[Sean3]

Interesting flavor profile for this stick, well done.

[Fatshotbud]

Good job on the review Ted
Your visual description is so true and seems a common look for all LGC to me - not the prettiest stick by far but all have made up by teasing the palate.
B

Sent from my KYOCERA-E6560 using Tapatalk

[Pharmacovigilant]

Thanks for the great review - was fun to read. I LOVE these cigars, and find a lot of the fruity, floral and sweet citrusy notes you describe.  There’s something about these I don’t find in any others.  To me, the long skinnies offer more flavor as maybe there’s more of a wrapper-to-filler ratio. But again, just me. Probably why I’m not a big fan of the big ring gauges.

[NSXCIGAR]

Smoking through an ETP MAR 17 box myself and these are a great stick. I think they need at least 6-12 mos down but they do deliver. Everyone should have some.

[Habana Mike]

Nice review. Great little sticks - love 'em!

[Buck14]

Got a box of exact same code marinating in my OLH Locker.  I LOVE veiny, rough looking, rustic cigars.  Most of them taste great! The ones I worry about and the truly uniform box that looks like a machine made them.

[Danimalia]

Great review, man! I've been sleeping on these, mainly because the Montecarlo has been a wonderful such a wonderful long/skinny. But since I'm almost out of those, I think I need to give these a look. The flavor profile sounds right up my alley, and the presentation is beautiful with the 898 box and classy LGC bands.

For those who have experience with these cigars, how is the draw, usually? 

[Fugu]

8 minutes ago, Danimalia said:

For those who have experience with these cigars, how is the draw, usually?

Mostly perfect. You can get boxes with a higher variability in ring gauge but draw is no issue with these. Adjust your smoking technique in response to the stick if necessary. No duds whatsoever. One of my faves.

[luvdunhill]

I would say the draw is on the loose side. I have seen ULA and ETP boxes, both are excellent.

[Pharmacovigilant]

11 hours ago, luvdunhill said:

I would say the draw is on the loose side. I have seen ULA and ETP boxes, both are excellent.

Same. I have a box of ULA JUL 15 and a box of ETP MAR 16.  My only regret is these are the only two boxes I have right now, but I plan to add more soon...

To the question above - draw has been perfect on every stick so far.  I smoke these very slowly and they last a little over an hour.  I retro nearly every draw on these, which to me affirms how good they are. Rarely need touch up and smoke output has been fantastic. 

[fastkiller13]

On 11/24/2017 at 10:40 AM, Danimalia said:

Great review, man! I've been sleeping on these, mainly because the Montecarlo has been a wonderful such a wonderful long/skinny. But since I'm almost out of those, I think I need to give these a look. The flavor profile sounds right up my alley, and the presentation is beautiful with the 898 box and classy LGC bands.

For those who have experience with these cigars, how is the draw, usually? 

I’ve actually smoked 4 of these so far and gave two away and no problems with draw. It’s not too loose or too tight. It’s Goldie locks just right. For me anyways. 

[FatPete]

Great review, making me add it to my list of must try cigars.