Cohiba Corona Especiales REG MAY 18 - 46 South Review Weekend

[awkwardPause]

Just now seeing this weekend comp and just so happens I’m smoking a “46 south” currently. Sometimes things just work out.

Watching some football intermittently today while enjoying this REG MAY 18 CE on the deck. Beautiful crisp sunny day up here in Seattle and the Hawks will be playing the Cowboys ? just up the road from me. Fortunately I’m here though, in the comfort of my home, with my two dogs and daughter, and not stuck in the cluster that is Seattle stadium event traffic (not to mention a major through route is closed for construction this weekend). Mom is a hospital employee as myself so is stuck working an oncology weekend shift. Anyhow, on to the smoke!

This oily little specimen is the first out of the box purchased from FOH. I’ve had nothing but beautiful boxes of these recently from our host and was lucky enough to grab a couple boxes a while back. Awesome aroma at cold - quality Cohibas are tough to beat in that respect, IMHO. Happy camper here.

This is my freshest box with only a few months age on it, but thought I’d start here since the other box has relatively darker wrappers and which I would expect to take a bit longer to come around. After lighting up, this little fella has very typical but well-defined Cohiba flavors and is just so smooth for only spending a few weeks in the humi since arrival. There’s a fresh ground coffee richness that is dominating this smoke, with some mild green vegetal flavors in the background and especially lingering on the finish (which is quite long). Some yeasty/fresh-baked sourdough bread flavors join the mix as well in the last couple of inches. Not a ton of transition or complexity just yet, but that wouldn’t really be fair to expect until more rest anyway the way I see it. Aroma is just glorious with that rich buttery goodness that comes with a quality tobacco from the island. Combustion/construction are top notch, fortunately, and not a touch up in site. Strength builds to solid medium-full  by the last third. 

Pairing is a fresh hop pale from Colorado’s (I’m a native!) Great Divide brewing. Both with grassy characteristics but the Cohiba is really bringing an awesome richness to balance things out. ?

Thanks to Rob and the FOH team for the comp. Good luck all and enjoy your weekend! 

B

[Optic101]

Nice review