Digging the Sound of This Cigar? You Might Also Like...

La Aurora Hors D'Age 2023

Foyle Meteor Hammer

Initial Smoke

Smoking the shaggy foot first means tasting the internals of the tobacco blend before the wrapper or even that rope made from Mexican San Andrés leaf. The three-country concoction starts smooth and creamy, with roasted and salted pistachios, browned butter, and a pinch of black pepper. As it smolders, and the oily wrapper begins to combust, toasted coconut, creamy peanut butter, and milk chocolate come to the front, whereas retrohales favor a more grounded take, with soil, leather, and peppercorn being the top three. The draw requires little work, even for such a slim cap, and the smoke formation feels appropriate for the vitola.

1st Half

In a matter of moments, the whole pistachio note shifts into all-out macadamia madness, and the creaminess of the smoke increases. Both milk and white chocolate toy with the tongue, with that grounded mixture of earth and peppercorn remaining heaviest on the finish. Some delightful shots of tropical fruits and the sweetness they embody make much of the first third a real treat, and for the life of me, I cannot recall encountering a more fun-filled first third while on camera.

Not wanting to be left out, the Pennsylvania leaf inside keeps the airborne aromatics peppery, leather-like, and a touch earthy without going too funky. These notes are amplified by that rope around the outside of the vitola, which adds an extra smack of the same, but this time it is more for the tongue than the open air. Retrohales, however, are still a magical macadamia wonderland, and the creaminess that is felt is second to none. 

2nd Half

Burn past the fattest section of the stick, and things grow spicier, stronger, darker, more leather-heavy. There is also a sizable bump in body so that full status can be achieved, and the sweet, medicinal taste of black licorice begins to play a part in the overall cigar flavor profile. Milk and white chocolate have given way to bittersweet chocolate chunks, and as the barrel of the blend gradually begins to grow slim, the first wave of nicotine washes over me.

By the time the final third has warmed up, everything about the cigar has become bold and quite full. Earth and pepper are more powerful than ever, licorice is stickier and damn near everywhere, and the dark, sappy sweetness of the sugars within the tobacco blend has become its own side profile. It is within this section that hazelnuts make a brief appearance, which I found makes the darkness of the cigar feel less intense. 

Parting Puffs

Although it proved to be nothing more than an oilier, sweeter, and stronger version of the final third, I could not detect any off-flavors of char, bitterness, or astringency within parting puffs. However, due to the shape of the vitola, you don't have much time to appreciate what is left in your hand, especially with all that nicotine influencing things.

Ash / Burn / Smoke / Draw

It is hard to look at something so multilayered and not expect it to have some combustion issues along the way, which, low and behold, this blend did suffer from at times. But it wasn't nearly as much of a smoldering mess as I had predicted, and outside, some ash flake on occasion, and a jagged run in the second third, this crazy little perfecto combusted commendably well. Burn temps were never a concern, touch-ups never took place, the draw was superb, and smoke form and feel were phenomenal. I also found myself marveling at how that tobacco rope merged with the rest of the ash as it combusted, leaving a corkscrew outer spiral on the cone.

Final Thoughts

One must set aside all expectations when smoking something as rare, vintage-grade, and bizarrely shaped as the La Aurora Small Batch Lot 006 Ambassador. While this mindset should be applied to pretty much any new premium cigar blend that you smoke, all the rulebooks seemed to fly out the window with this one, and to be completely honest, I fucking loved it.

Yes, the repetitions within the final third and parting puffs were a bit one-track, and the sweet black licorice notes eventually predominated much of the playing field in the second half. Alright, so the band was a bitch to remove and nearly caused me to crack the wrapper. But I am willing to forgive all of these things purely for the mouthwatering mashup that was the first third of this cigar. If the blend had been able to hold onto this macadamia and milk chocolate mixture through more of the second third instead of eventually dumping it for the licorice, soil, leather, and earth mixture, we might have seen the first five-star cigar ever reviewed at Klaro. 

But the blend did what it did, and I cannot fault it too harshly for making some transitions, even when I felt that they may have been best reserved for the final third. And so I am left looking at my photos from the other evening, and an uncontrollable urge to smoke another one of these crazy little perfectos comes over me once more. Maybe I should. Hell, maybe you should too. Just don't try to compare it to anything else out there, because there really isn't anything else quite like it.

Overall Balance & Repeatability