In November of this year, La Gloria Cubana released its latest regional edition, the Piramide Supra. La Glora, alongside fellow General Cigar brand CAO, has become a fixture in the growing U.S. regional released market, and the Piramide Supra was the company’s biggest entry into the market, literally, to date.

We covered most of the details in a news story from last month:

What was described by Michael Giannini as “other special things” that he and Yuri Guillen were working on has resulted in a second limited run of La Gloria Cubana cigars, this time for the northeastern portion of the United States, a region that includes Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland and Delaware among other states.

The La Gloria Cubana Piramide Supra is a 7 1/4 x 62 cigar, a longer and slightly less girthy release than the 6 1/2 x 64 Gorda Gorda that was released for the western U.S. in late June. Production is being limited to 777 boxes of 10 cigars, for a total production of 7,770 cigars, notably more than the 500 boxes of 10 that were produced for the Gorda Gorda, which was reviewed here. The cigars were rolled in 2009 for another project that Giannini had been working on but never made their way out of the escaparte.

The Piramide Supra comes in a pyramid shaped box to deepen the connection between the packaging and the cigars. It features a sliding lid and red and white pinstripe design that is a bit of a departure from the company’s standard packaging. While the connection to the red pinstripes on the side of the La Gloria Cubana brand is fairly obvious, Giannini says there’s an additional purpose. “It was a shout out to the Phillies,” the Philadelphia native said.

The blend between the two limited batches is different, as the Piramide Supra is based off the La Gloria Cubana “white box” blend with an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper over Dominican broadleaf binder and filler but with the addition of a different type of ligero. Giannini and Team La Gloria were experimenting with different versions of the company’s existing blends in 2009, with this being one of the results.

For comparison, the Gorda Gorda uses an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and filler from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.

“To be able to go down to the factory and work on projects like this is incredibly fun,” Giannini said. “You’re going to see some really fun things come out — including a cigar for the the Southeastern region around the first of December.”

Price for the Piramide Supra is $8.00 per cigar before taxes, which is comparable to the Gorda Gorda’s price.

La Gloria Cubana also released the Innovation 538 in late June, a limited run of their Artesanos de Tabaqueros line that came in a 5 x 38 vitola and was limited to 5,000 cigars.

The boxes of the Piramide Supra look like this:

 

La Gloria Cubana Piramide Supra Box 1

La Gloria Cubana Piramide Supra Box 2


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And the particulars.

 

La Gloria Cubana Piramide Supra 1

  • Cigar Reviewed: La Gloria Cubana Piramide Supra
  • Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
  • Factory: El Credito
  • Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra
  • Binder: Dominican Broadleaf
  • Filler: Dominican Republic
  • Size: 6 1/2 Inches
  • Ring Gauge: 64
  • Vitola: Piramide Gordo
  • MSRP: $8.00 (Boxes of 10, $80.00)
  • Date Released: November 2012
  • Number of Cigars Released: 777 Boxes of 10 Cigars (7,770 Total Cigars)
  • Number of Cigars Smoked for Review: 3

For such a big cigar, the wrapper looks great. It’s incredible how little the veins are and how clean the seams are, something that could be overlooked given the size. Off of the Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper is a mixture of leather and earth with some fading barnyard. The cold draw of the Piramide Supra is open with cedar, leather, earth and hints of vanilla. Smooth with a touch of sourness to it.


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The first third takes forever to light, but eventually some smooth Dominican cedar, sweet vanilla, a touch of leather and a tingle of pepper. It’s developed, but I wouldn’t call it complex. There’s a few changes, mostly a creaminess infused into the cedar and some nuttiness, but by the end of the first third, the Piramide Supra isn’t delivering flavor much different from the initial. Strength-wise, it’s a bit south of medium. The noticeable feature of the La Gloria Cubana is the smoke production, which is astounding likely because of the size.

La Gloria Cubana Piramide Supra 2

Into the second third and I get a bit of grassiness with an added pepper, but it’s hard to say what changed and where it changed. The retrohale of the La Gloria gives a nice sweet cocoa, something that has me going back to it more than usual. Much like the profile, the rest of the Piramide Supra is relatively unchanged. Regardless, I’m not going to complain about two inches of ash.

La Gloria Cubana Piramide Supra 3

Honestly, by the time the final third comes around I’m just waiting for the end of the cigar or a dramatic change. Unfortunately, the Piramide Supra doesn’t deliver the latter. The retrohale has gone bland, but for about an inch the vanilla and the cedar ramp up;, a big improvement. Unfortunately, as the last inch nears, the flavor becomes harsh and I call it a day.

La Gloria Cubana Piramide Supra 4


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Final Notes:

  • If I’m going to have to smoke a 64 RG, I’d much prefer it in Piramides form.
  • The boxes—while not so fun to photograph—are impressive looking. General Cigar Co.’s packaging has been quite good, particularly with the La Gloria Cubana brand. It’s fresh, yet still classic.
  • I can’t help but think a secondary band or something would have been a good idea, the cigar is massive.
  • This is a lot of cigar for $8.00.
  • It’s important to note how beautiful the wrapper looks. It’s a gigantic piece of leaf and one that probably is not easy to source, unless your of course General Cigar Co.
  • The smoke production is great, not Liga Privada great, but nothing worth diminishing.
  • Strength never ventures out of the medium range, I wouldn’t describe it as any venture from the La Gloria Cubana line, at least from my experience.
  • Draw was shockingly normal, I was really expecting something open, or at least slight open at the very least.
  • This is no longer the largest General Cigar Co. regional edition, that award goes to the 6 3/4 x 72 CAO Left Coast.
  • I love the concept of regional editions, it definitely helps to alleviate some of the negatives of single store releases.
  • Cigars for this review were provided by Nice Ash/cigarsatyourprice.
  • Final smoking time was two hours and 40 minutes on average.


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The Bottom Line: Before we go any further, it’s important to note, at no time was I actually upset with the flavor, just the lack of change. It’s not bad, but it’s hard to say this is any better than a regular La Gloria Cubana. Anytime there’s a size like this, one that clearly becomes part of the cigar’s marketing, branding and selling point at the expense of what would likely be an easier smoking experience for most smokers, I wonder one thing: does the size make this a better cigar? In the case of the Piramide Supra, other than the smoke production, I’m not sure it matters. I’d rather get a regular La Gloria Cubana and another cigar and use my two and a half hours that way. For what it’s worth, the Piramide Supra is probably my favorite 64 RG cigar, also probably the fourth one I’ve smoked.



Final Score: 84

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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.