CoRo El Laguito is it worth the price?

[Uwiik]

Recently I have been smoking some Trinidad and the brand just keeps on impressing me…. Esmeralda, Media Luna, Topes and I literally shed a drop of tear tonight when I tried Reyes. It is best of the best for my taste, zero relights on the whole stick, all recent 2023 productions. I have multiple boxes of the aforementioned Trinidads on the way for long term aging because I just love the brand.

I also have two boxes of 10’ Siglo VI still sealed, resting on my humidor, and a 25’ box of CoRo also resting on my humidor. Just an hour ago one of my go-to dealers offered a 25’ box of El Laguito CoRo for about US$500 more than what I paid for my non El Laguito CoRo. FOMO caught up on me and now I am considering it even before I ever tasted a CoRo ever…Is it worth it?? I have read many times people claiming Trinidad is better than CoRo and I can get almost any Trinidad way cheaper than El Laguito CoRo, but I fear I will regret it if I miss this opportunity to own the infamous El Laguito CoRo.

Please help me to make a decision… the dealer will only hold it over the weekend for me and I don’t want to try my existing CoRo because it only been resting for 3 weeks…

Pictures for reference of what I already collected so far… 

Thanks 🙏 

PS: ignore the high RH reading, keeping everything @62-64 

[BrightonCorgi]

If you're on the fence, it's not worth it IMO.  I'd rather use the extra $500 towards an additional box.  I see some open slots.

[Uwiik]

5 minutes ago, BrightonCorgi said:

If you're on the fence, it's not worth it IMO.  I'd rather use the extra $500 towards an additional box.  I see some open slots.

I can still stuff 10-15 more boxes…LOL…$500 will get me an extra 12’ box of Reyes…

[HailState]

Honestly the only way to find out if it’s worth it to you, is to try them. If you don’t want to commit to the full box, I see Rob has a 3 pack of tubo option right now. I’m sure they’ll pop back up on 24:24 soon enough if you decide you love them and want the full box. 

[MagicalBikeRide]

Regardless of the factory, the days of me buying either Cohiba or Trinidad are over. I’ll smoke what I have, but can’t justify the non EL prices to start. 

[99call]

10 hours ago, Uwiik said:

Trinidad

If you love Trinidad, a blend that manages to provide both class, but also heft and weight of body.   I fear you may find what the best Cohiba has to offer slightly underwhelming. That's just a guess. Ultimately I find Cohiba "over finessed" and a bit of a show pony. If I were you, I would keep those boxes you have, smoke a few high end Cohiba singles (Behikes etc.) and then back engineer your decision. i.e. If you are not impressed, simply move those boxes on for resale, or if they float your boat then simply dig in. 

 

[Uwiik]

10 hours ago, HailState said:

Honestly the only way to find out if it’s worth it to you, is to try them. If you don’t want to commit to the full box, I see Rob has a 3 pack of tubo option right now. I’m sure they’ll pop back up on 24:24 soon enough if you decide you love them and want the full box. 

Not from the US or AUS…much easier for me to just open my unopened CoRo box and give it a try, something that I’ve been trying to avoid.

 

10 hours ago, 99call said:

If you love Trinidad, a blend that manages to provide both class, but also heft and weight of body.   I fear you may find what the best Cohiba has to offer slightly underwhelming.  Thats just a guess.   Ultimately I find Cohiba "over finessed" and a bit of a show pony.   If I were you,  I would keep those boxes you have,  smoke a few high end Cohiba singles (behike's etc) and then back engineer your decision. i.e.    If you are not impressed, simply move those boxes on for resale, or if they float your boat then simply dig in. 

I

I absolutely love Trinidad…

I might perhaps I just open my ‘mere mortal’ CoRo tomorrow morning and see if I like the marque…My CoRo been resting longer than my Trinis, so if tomorrow I don’t like the CoRo then I might just belong to those who prefers Trini over Cohiba… 

[MrBirdman]

There is no way EL is worth a $500 premium over the already outrageous prices. Not even close in my book. Take a look at the actual cigars to see if they’re any good or not - EL is not a guarantee of anything besides maybe slightly better odds of a good box. 

[Fireball]

500$ additional premium for EL seems like a lot. Something like 2k for the box?
 

 Would you actually smoke them?  Or collect them?

[Hammer Smokin']

If you can afford them and will smoke them I say you buy them.

[Uwiik]

9 hours ago, Fireball said:

500$ additional premium for EL seems like a lot. Something like 2k for the box?
 

 Would you actually smoke them?  Or collect them?

Cigar price over here is similar to Hong Kong and China, bloody expensive. Normal 25’ CoRo is around 1.4-1.5K, 12’ Esmeralda is around 700-800, of course I smoke them, only when I am completely relaxed and into it though, considering how expensive these are here.

I have decided to open my regular CoRo today and judge it for myself.

[Tunkat92]

I personally try to seek out EL Cohibas in the rare chances I buy Cohibas at these prices. I feel like the EL gives a better chance at a good box but I would not pay a $500 premium for them from a retailer.

[Uwiik]

Disappointed is an understatement, if this forum allows profanity I would shoot so many profanities that will make Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels seems like a child friendly movie.

I did my Saturday morning ritual by firstly waking up at 6:00 AM, looked at my room hygrometer and things were perfect at 22C/55% RH, warmed up my La Marzocco Linea Mini, whipped up a strong latte and opened my 6ft tall electric humidor. I was expecting a lot as I took a more careful approach on doing everything, made sure I made a perfect coffee and poured on a double walled cup to accompany me during the expected hour plus long journey.

I made a hole with my Davidoff Duocut with the bigger blade, smelled everything thoroughly and all was heavenly, until I noticed a crack on the foot, thought nothing of it and did an instant repair with Perfect Repair glue. Hope skyrocketed again just to crash terribly when I took a cold draw. All hopes and expectations crashed in an instant, while flavor and aroma has given me a lot of hope, draw was tight!!! I thought to myself to just push through and lit it up anyway and as expected only a whiff of smoke came out of my mouth and nostrils. I had to whip out my perfect draw tool and as expected only marginal improvement were realized. Yes, flavor and aroma was definitely there but not as pronounced or easy to identify as all of the Trinidad I have ever tasted, smoking experience was definitely very, very underwhelming…perhaps I expected too much, but I never felt this disappointed by any Partagas or Trinidad. I don’t think it was too much of me to expect a lot given the price of Cohiba. I only had to relight once indicating there is nothing wrong with the humidity of the cigar.

I just wasted my precious cool and quiet morning, now everybody has woken up and the quiet is gone, whipped up another latte for my beautiful wife with my broken Zen which produced a watery latte. She still complimented it though. God, I love her.

Decision has been made. I’ll pass on the EL CoRo, in fact, I will pass on the brand altogether. Granted, I have only tried three Cohibas in my very young cigar experience but nothing from Cohiba ever impressed me. I will not bat an eye or give any more thought when offered Cohiba in the foreseeable future, even let’s say if the draw was better I will still find the CoRo underwhelming when compared to Esmeralda. I will just keep what Cohibas I already have far behind the humidor to revisit I don’t know when and in the meantime give the whole marque a big red flag pass. The disappointment this morning is just a bit much too bear or repeat. Life is just too precious to waste an hour on a bad cigar.

[Wailbait]

I have a somewhat different perspective. The answer for me is “I have no idea.” I’ve had quite a few younger coro over the years.  But, in my experience,  COHIBAS NEED 5 years to do their thing!  If you’re planning on having it before 5 years, just skip it. If you feel like waiting, then maybe. But at that point you’ll be thanking/bemoaning my 5 year old advice.  

[Uwiik]

5 hours ago, Wailbait said:

I have a somewhat different perspective.  The answer for me is “I have no idea.”  I’ve had quite a few younger coro over the years.  But, in my experience,  COHIBAS NEED 5 years to do their thing!  If you’re planning on having it before 5 years, just skip it.  If you feel like waiting, then maybe.  But at that point you’ll be thanking/bemoaning my 5 year old advice.  

That’s exactly my plan for the near future, just chuck whatever Cohibas I have left to the dark unknown back of my electric humidor and forget about the marque altogether until later when I am a few years older. I have enough cigar stock on hand for at least 2 years so the Cohibas can sleep but I won’t spend anymore dime on a Cohiba in the foreseeable future unless all the stars align and I have the chance to buy Cohiba at normal retail price, then I might still buy just for show and fun.

[vladdraq]

@Uwiik what I do when the cold draw is tight is let them for a couple of days to dry box. Sometimes it works wonders.

You have talent to write mate. Keep it up!

[Uwiik]

3 hours ago, vladdraq said:

@Uwiik what I do when the cold draw is tight is let them for a couple of days to dry box. Sometimes it work wonders.

You have talent to write mate. Keep it up!

All the Cohibas are banished to the rear corner of the humidor, I won’t be dry boxing any for at least another year until my trauma from this morning is forgotten. Maybe sooner after I tell my shrink next week. 😁

[Adisaputra]

Be careful with the condensation at the back of your electric humidor 😄. 
 

In my experience, Cohiba will be worth the money if you enjoy it after few period of time, preferably for long term aging. As a fresh cigar, I don’t think they are worth it. You can get better experience with many other less expensive Robustos   

Edited November 5, 2023 by Adisaputra

[BrightonCorgi]

You're better off buying Juan Lopez No. 2 instead of Cohiba Robustos and leave it at that.

[Rhinoww]

I pretty much only have Cohiba as gifts for others who need that sort of thing. For me, I have found many other cigars that not only meet but exceed my needs quite well. 
For a few years I was buying and just didn’t think I had the sophisticated pallet. Now I know what I like and cohibas generally are for me not worth the money anymore. 

[Arabian]

27 minutes ago, Rhinoww said:

. Now I know what I like and cohibas generally are for me not worth the money anymore. 

Same here with me, even before the price increase I wasn’t a big fan of the grassy-ish flavor that Cohiba brings. 

[Tunkat92]

5 hours ago, BrightonCorgi said:

 

You're better off buying Juan Lopez No. 2 instead of Cohiba Robustos and leave it at that.

 

Amen to that…great fresh, better in 3-4 years. Out of the 5 boxes 22-23 boxes Ive sampled, none have disappointed. Cannot say the same about CoRos but I didn’t try one of GES CoRos yet though. 

[RDB]

I think a key thing to recognise is that Cohiba is no more reliable than any other marca in terms of quality control. So you have to price in 10-20% poor experiences from bad rolling or poor tobacco. Sometimes Cohiba is brilliant, and I’ve had good ones that were very full flavoured as well as some that were very refined. But that failure rate is just totally unacceptable for a USD50-100 smoke. 

[Uwiik]

On 11/4/2023 at 7:05 PM, Adisaputra said:

Be careful with the condensation at the back of your electric humidor 😄. 
 

In my experience, Cohiba will be worth the money if you enjoy it after few period of time, preferably for long term aging. As a fresh cigar, I don’t think they are worth it. You can get better experience with many other less expensive Robustos   

Hello there fellow Indonesian smoker…. Salam 🙏 I use Tomori electric humidor, you should be familiar with the brand if you also live here in wonderful Indonesia. I found the brand to be totally reliable after proper verification of the built in hygrometer vs well calibrated one, both of mine had to be set at 70 to get 62-64 actual RH. No condensation whatsoever that I can find.

I have been collecting more and more Trinidad (15 boxes and counting), some recent production 2023 and some a bit older 20-21. These are great both fresh and aged, totally worth the money even at inflated resellers price. I will be going to Dubai next month and I will still buy rare Cohibas if I can find these at retail price, just for the sake of it, but surely I will not buy another one at inflated resellers price.

 

21 hours ago, BrightonCorgi said:

You're better off buying Juan Lopez No. 2 instead of Cohiba Robustos and leave it at that.

Got two 25’ cabinets waiting at the back section of my humidor. Tried to smoke one fresh and it tasted like burnt wood shaving. I still bought two cabinets because nobody ever said it’s not awesome, you know FOMO is real.

[BrightonCorgi]

10 hours ago, Uwiik said:

 I will be going to Dubai next month and I will still buy rare Cohibas if I can find these at retail price, just for the sake of it, but surely I will not buy another one at inflated resellers price.

Never had good luck in UAE searching for cigars.  The Ritz in Abu Dhabi has a cigar lounge, but the cigars are quite humid.  Dubai Duty Free use to have amazing cigars and they'd open the boxes for you.  I heard there's next to nothing.  Abu Dhabi cigar Duty Free is a joke.

A cousin of mine went to Beirut this summer and even that Duty Free was down to nothing.  They don't even offer a free lighter or cutter when buying a box without asking.

I've mentioned this before on threads, I can really see Dufry et al closing their walk-in's globally.