La Aurora Preferidos Platinum (Cameroon) review
Cigar: La Aurora Preferidos Platinum
Size: Perfecto 5" x 54
Wrapper: Cameroon
Binder: Corojo
Filler: Dominican/Brazilian Bahia/Cameroon
Price: MSRP ~$20
Initial Impression/Prelight
The cigar had a moderate brown wrapper, and a general smoothness marred by a couple of medium veins. It had little oil, and really wasn't as distinctive visually or to the touch as some of the other wrappers in the Preferidos line. Still, it looked well-rolled and was firm all the way up and down. I got some red pepper and spice from the wrapper. I clipped the end and the prelight draw was pretty loose and mostly flavorless with only a little hint of sweet tobacco.
I had this cigar in the humidor for about 4 months at 65%, and I was pretty excited to smoke it for a couple reasons. For one, I'm a LA junkie, and for another I've really enjoyed Cameroon wrappers since trying my first one about 8 months ago. This also concludes a series of reviews for me on the easily obtainable Preferidos tubos - all that's missing is the Diamond (Connecticut Broadleaf) which I've still not been able to get my mitts on.
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1st Third
The draw was pretty loose, and I had to take looooong slow puffs in order to get a good mouthful of smoke and not heat the cigar up too much. I picked up some of that red pepper from the prelight, and some nice tingly cooking spices as well. On the retrohale I got some faint acidity and tanginess like a lemon or lime. With the slow puffs I did get a lot of nice white smoke, and flavor and strengthwise I'd rate it mild-medium so far.
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2nd Third
The pepper completely disappeared in this section, but some of the spiciness remained. More than that though, the cigar turned to a touch of sweetness to go with a light almond flavor and lots of creaminess. The draw actually improved somewhat to maybe just a hair looser than I'd prefer, and the ash hung on till right around the midway point. Burnline was wavy and needed a retouch. The flavor and strength may have ticked up a bit, but I'd still call it medium- at the most.
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Final Third
The tingly cooking spices remained constant, maybe even a little stronger towards the end. I also got a few hints of Teddy Grahams, er graham cracker. One side wanted to burn faster than the other, and I had to retouch a couple more times. The smoke production was really outstanding though. I tried French inhaling a bit and found a little peppery zing and some woodiness towards the end.
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Overall Impressions
This was not a bad smoke, but when I compare them all this was definitely not my favorite of the Preferidos line.
• To me, this one lacked some of the complexities and nuances of the other Preferidos wrappers. That cooking spice flavor throughout the cigar was good, but it didn't quite match up to say the Connecticut or Corojo wrappers.
• Disappointingly I didn't pick up any cinnamon, which is my favorite flavor that I associate generally with Cameroon wrappers.
• The burnline and multiple retouches sucked and were annoying.
• The smoke output from this cigar beat all the other Preferidos I think. That was a nice plus at least.
So that wraps me on this line of cigars, at least until I manage to snag a Diamond (if you've got one you'd part with, let me know!), and the rankings are thus:
1. Sapphire
2. Gold
3. Emerald
4. Ruby
5. Platinum
In the end for this cigar, the price seems a tad steep. I felt like this cigar shares some characteristics of the Arturo Hemingway series at times, and those are great at about half the price of this one if not less. Overall I enjoyed it a lot, but I'm not in love with it like I am with some of the other ones in this line. At this price, it's gotta be outstanding, not just good.
I wouldn't recommend more than a single to make sure this is worth the price for you.
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