Por Larranaga Lonsdales (Exclusivo Alemania) OEB OCT 06

[Claudius]

The Por Larranaga Lonsdales (Exclusivo Alemania) OEB OCT 06 we're going to try to review today come in a beautiful Semi Plain Box with lots of stickers. They appear to have been boxed at La Corona in october 2006. I bought these at the CigarWorld Lounge in Düsseldorf (cigarworld.de) in person. The friendly owner Marc was kind enough to open about 20 boxes of these to let me make my choice. He looked, smelled and felt these cigars, a majority of which were still sealed as is the importer's practice. I noticed that about half the boxes had a wonderful, sweet tobacco aroma, while the other half smelled like nothing. Marc agreed. I chose 2 nice, wonderful smelling boxes.

The chosen box is a beautiful, oily colorado maduro. As you can tell from the picture below, I've smoked a few of these already (a while ago) and thought I'd revisit and review them.

The foot appears to be nicely bunched and rather firm.

The clipped head reveals a very tight looking bunch but draw is resistive yet good. About 50 on the tester.

A sweet leathery aroma on the lips, no discernable flavor in the mouth.

Lighting as usual, soft flame and lots of patience :-)

The first puffs reveal a sweet barnyard aroma. I usually only get that when smelling boxes, not while smoking the cigar. Funny...After about 10 draws, I'm hit with an ammonia taste. I was going to say that the cigar is still young when a soapy taste hits my palate. :-( I take another few draws, but the soap only gets more intense. Rest room soap dispenser type liquid soap. Ugh! I heard this comes from the torcedor washing his hands with soap as required by factory regulations. I'm sure that's true, but they should also require proper rinsing!

I cannot smoke this cigar any further. Oh well, **** happens, better luck next time.

Oh, and Marc: you owe me a Lonsdale! :-P

[jkorp]

Beautiful cigar and great review, I love the pics. Sorry that this cigar was a dissapointment. I hope the rest, with more rest will be of greater enjoyment to you.

I hadn't heard of the soap thing or experienced it yet, but that's pretty crazy. Will that fade with time? I'm guessing maybe not since this box is over a year old.

[Claudius]

» Beautiful cigar and great review, I love the pics. Sorry that this cigar

» was a dissapointment. I hope the rest, with more rest will be of greater

» enjoyment to you.

The ones I've had before have been very good to great. I'm really sorry that I couldnt post a "real" review of a normal cigar. I'll try another soon, though.

» I hadn't heard of the soap thing or experienced it yet, but that's pretty

» crazy. Will that fade with time? I'm guessing maybe not since this box is

» over a year old.

No, that soap taste doesnt go away. All you can do is smoke something else. I've had it in 03 Sir Winstons. Strangely enough, I've had 3 Sir Winstons in my life that were soapy and close to no other vitolas. I get 3 soapy cigars a year out of approx. 1000...

[56Tweed]

Hope the next one is better!

[Claudius]

» Hope the next one is better!

You'd think so... I just lit another... Guess what: it was soapy too, right from the frist draw!!! Unreal...

[kirill]

» » Hope the next one is better!

»

» You'd think so... I just lit another... Guess what: it was soapy too,

» right from the frist draw!!! Unreal...

Well, that is strange. Was there something notable in the pre-lighting smell?

Alas I've had bad experiences with the PLL too. I bought six of them, also from Benden and tried two so far, one just after receiving them and the second six months later: both were very much subdued, really more like a shadow of a cigar. Let's hope they come around.