My first Lusitania - an hour and a half of love/hate

[DX1185]

I had been looking forward to experiencing one of these sticks for a while, and I finally had the time to relax and enjoy the time commitment last night. The Lusi in question came from a TopCubans sampler from 2020, which had been gracefully resting in my Audew thermoelectric humidor at 63/66 for the past two years. I dry boxed it for about 2 hours prior to lighting up.
 

The trouble started right out of the gate - the wrapper had a couple of breaks in inopportune places, and the entire foot of the cigar up through about the first inch and a half was plugged. Through all the draw and burn issues, however, came the legendary flavors and mouthfeel that makes these such coveted smokes.

Not to be deterred, I soldiered on, touching up as I went to attempt to even out the burn. The first third was, for lack of a better term, a battle, but I persevered because the flavors (cocoa, cream, a hint of allspice) were absolutely heavenly.

This thing’s wrapper really had seen better days, and I’m hoping that it’s not emblematic of the marque or the stick, because I really want to like these. The second third brought some relief to the plugs and she finally began to settle in and added a wonderful woody note to the cocoa and cream with an absolutely perfect medium strength and moderate smoke. I could absolutely start to understand why so many Habanos collectors love these.

After the first ash and some more touching up, we’re finally getting past the disintegrated wrapper and it’s settling into a more well-behaved burn.

The second half of the stick finally sold me on the hype about these. Absolutely perfect medium strength and Partagas flavor profile. The final third added some white pepper heat to the mix and was absolutely heavenly down to about an inch and a half.

Verdict? Laborious, but with an absolutely legendary cigar screaming to get out. I have 10 of these aging, and I desperately hope that this single example was a victim of subpar construction and the exception rather than the rule with these.

[jakebarnes]

I'd recommend dry boxing a bit longer next time. Not sure what climate you are in, but acclimating a bit prior to lighting up might help as well. Sorry it was a rough experience though--they really do have a special flavor profile!

[shokao]

I've always wanted to try one but these days they're impossible to find. Last time it was on 24:24 I missed in a matter of minutes. Thanks for sharing your experience. As @jakebarnes already stated above, I would recommend to dry box for a day or two and see how it smokes. It should resolve the wrapper issue.