La Aurora Preferidos Diamond (Prerelease)
Announced in April and introduced at IPCPR 2012 in August, the La Aurora Preferidos Diamond is the latest expansion in the Preferidos line. Charlie posted the details of this back in July:
La Aurora has confirmed its newest Preferido will be one with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. The cigar, which will be known as Preferidos Diamond, will come in a black tubo and the signature 5 x 54 Preferidos No. 2 vitola. Nestor Miranda, head of Miami Cigar & Co., the U.S. distributor for La Aurora, first announced the new extension in early April.
There are five other Preferidos lines, each with a special edition tubos. All of the special editions are the No. 2 size, which is 5 x 54.
- Platinum — Cameroon
- Emerald — Ecuadorian Sumatra
- Sapphire — Connecticut
- Gold — Corojo
- Ruby — Brazilian Sun Grown
As of now, the Preferidos Diamond will only come in an eight-count box:
- Cigar Reviewed: La Aurora Preferidos 1903 Edition Diamond
- Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
- Factory: E. León Jimenes Tabacalera
- Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
- Binder: Dominican Maduro
- Filler: Dominican Republic
- Size: 5 Inches
- Ring Gauge: 54
- Vitola: Double Perfecto
- MSRP: $20.00 (Boxes of 8, $160.00)
- Release Date: October 2012
- Number of Cigars Released: Regular Production
- Number of Cigars Smoked for Review: 2
The Broadleaf wrapper is a very deep, dark chocolate—almost black. The slightly oily wrapper is a little toothy and has a few blemishes here and there, but nothing distracting. The cigar has a slight give to it, but no soft spots. The pre-draw of the Diamond Edition has a very singularly sweet dark chocolate flavor to it. The aroma off the wrapper however only leaves sweet tobacco notes in my nose.
The first third of the cigar starts out with sweet cocoa, rich earthy espresso notes, and fresh cedar shavings. Soon an extremely distinct hazelnut note develops, pairing wonderfully with the previous flavors. The burn started off a little jagged, but the cigar evened out quite quickly as the cigar burned and the ring gauge expanded. The extremely light gray ash is a stark contrast to the dark wrapper, almost matching the band with its silver and black design. 
The second third continues with a singular, but delicious freshly baked brownie note. Occasionally the woodsy cedar notes come back into play, however the main brownie note dominates. Smoke production on this cigar has been significant, even continuing to billow smoke long after I take a draw from the cigar. The brownie note has died down a little to allow leather and hazelnut notes to shine.
In the final third the burn has gone a little awry, however nothing that couldn’t be touched up easily. The cocoa, espresso, hazelnut, and cedar are all present in the last third, however they are slightly muted by a little bitterness that has crept into the flavor profile. Unfortunately a purge doesn’t take care of the issue, but luckily enough it doesn’t detract from the cigar much either.
Final Notes
- Editor’s Note: Miami Cigar & Co still considers this a prerelease. However, a minute number of non-production boxes (described as far less than 100) were sent to a handful of retailers. Officially—the release date is still described as October 2012.
- According to this Miami Cigar & Co’s blog post, at the moment these will only be available in eight count boxes.
- The bands on the Diamond are the newer version of the Preferidos 1903 Edition bands. The older versions featured “1903” below the lion and the name of the line (Diamond, Sapphire, Ruby, etc) as opposed to the actual type of wrapper. The box features the 1903 underneath the lion and the tubo features 1903 and “Diamond.”
- These were not the only new cigars that La Aurora debuted at the trade show. They also introduced the Fernando León Family Reserve by La Aurora and reintroduced the 100 Años line.
- Previous versions of the Preferidos 1903 line was offered in a special edition Treasure Box. While the prices were slightly higher, the cigars were aged for an additional two years.
- Miami Cigar & Co. expects to begin shipping Preferidos Diamond in mid-October.
- Here’s a video of the wrapper being applied to the Preferidos from Tobacconist University.
- The samples smoked for this review were given to halfwheel at IPCPR 2012.
- Final smoking time for the cigar was one hour and 30 minutes.
I’m a fan of La Aurora cigars, especially the Preferidos line. The Diamond cigar fits right in with the rest as an enjoyable cigar of high quality with a solid flavor profile. Only towards the end did I notice some unpleasant bitterness, but as I stated it wasn’t enough to deter from the strong notes that had persisted throughout the cigar. Overall my only complaint about the cigar is the price point of the Preferidos, which seems steep for the size cigar it is. While you may only pick up one or two for yourself, I can easily recommend picking up a box of these. Whether you want to save them for special occasions or break out these impressive looking tubos to share with friends, you just might find an eight-count box might not be enough.
Brian Burt
I have been smoking cigars since 2005 and reviewing them as a hobby since 2010. Initially, I started out small with a 50-count humidor and only smoking one or two cigars a month. Not knowing anybody else that smoked cigars, it was only an occasional hobby that I took part in. In March of 2010, I joined Nublive and Cigar Asylum, connecting me with many people who also shared an interest in cigars. Reading what they had to say about brands I had never heard of, I quickly immersed myself in the boutique brands of the industry and it was then that cigars transformed from a hobby into a passion.
Related Posts
-
August 14, 2014 -
July 9, 2012
