Aladino Corojo Reserva Corona No.4 Limitado

For all the things that JRE Tobacco Co. gets right, there’s no attribute I think it does better than the construction of the cigars it makes. I visited the company’s operations in Honduras a handful of years ago, lit up more than 25 cigars during the trip and couldn’t recall a single one with anything worse than “good construction.”

As the company has expanded its offerings and gotten older, there was bound to be an exception and last week I opened up a humidor at home and was reminded of one, the Aladino Corojo Reserva Corona No.4 Limitado.

It debuted in 2019 and has since become an annual release. The 5 x 44 corona is a Honduran puro that is said to use higher priming leaves, meaning the tobaccos come from higher up on the plant. Those leaves tend to be smaller and stronger and are oftentimes referred to as ligero tobaccos.

When I reviewed the cigar three years ago, I liked the flavor but was troubled by an open draw:

I’m not sure how much better this cigar would have been if the draw was where it should have been. There were times in which the flavors showed moments of greatness, but it lacked the dynamic profile I was hoping it could have been. As the score will inevitably indicate, the Aladino Corojo Reserva Corona No.4 Limitado is still a good cigar, just not a great one.

A few months ago, I stumbled across some of these while doing some humidor reorganization and decided to snag one for a redux.

• Cigar Reviewed: Aladino Corojo Reserva Corona No.4 Limitado
• Country of Origin: Honduras
• Factory: Fábrica de Puros Aladino at Las Lomas Jamastran
• Wrapper: Honduras
• Binder: Honduras
• Filler: Honduras
• Length: 5 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 44
• Vitola: Corona
• MSRP: $10 (Box of 20, $200)
• Release Date: Nov. 14, 2019
• Number of Cigars Released: 800 Boxes of 20 Cigars (16,000 Total Cigars)*
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Redux: 3

*There were 16,000 total cigars released for the original 2019 release, there have since been additional shipments.

This particular cigar is still covered in tissue paper, albeit, the paper has come loose and isn’t really touching most of the cylinder of the cigar. Between the bands—which have a design that looks like it’s from a couple of decades ago—and the faded medium brown wrapper, if I didn’t know the backstory of this cigar, I would believe you if you told me this cigar was 20-years-old. Speaking of the wrapper, it’s got some discoloration and mottling, but there aren’t very many veins. This cigar has a weird bump on the side of the cigar, almost like a minor tumor. I’m not really sure what to make of it, but it’s pretty small and I figure it shouldn’t affect the cigar all that much. In what’s becoming a trend of late, I can’t smell much of anything from the wrapper. There are some faint touches of leather and cedar, but the lack of cellophane makes it difficult. The foot is a different story; it’s medium-full and smells like it’s been inside of a Spanish cedar humidor. There’s lot of sweet cedar flavors, some borderline floral flavors and some leather. Resistance-wise, the cold draws feel open for the size. Flavor-wise, it’s medium-full and tastes quite Cuban with Spanish cedar, lots of sweet floral flavors, some sweet ketchup and a touch of harshness.

The first puff of the Aladino Corojo Reserva Corona No.4 Limitado has all sorts of different types of woody flavors—the standout is some freshly-chopped lumber—over honey sweetness, a bit of creaminess, some acidity, and—on my lips—some pepper. The honey and creaminess end up reminding me of a cup of tea, even if that’s not my preferred way to drink tea. I had hoped the draw would tighten up once the cigar was lit, but it does not. Fortunately, it doesn’t get much worse, but there are many puffs where it feels like the cigar is closer to going out than it should. Flavor-wise, a very chewy combination of nuttiness and earthiness lead leather, a mild orange sweetness and some generic harshness. Similarly, there’s harshness in the throat during the finish, but no real pepper to be found. The leather picks up, but the nuttiness is the strongest of the flavors. Retrohales are slightly more intense than just drawing a puff through my mouth. They have walnuts, floral flavors, saltiness, citrus and some tartness—the latter trio combines to remind me of a gose beer. The finish has a more generic nuttiness and some white pepper. Flavor is full and body is medium-plus. The strength starts pretty mild but crosses medium before the halfway mark.

I make a touch-up right around the halfway point of the Aladino Corojo Reserva Corona No.4 Limitado, as while the burn line is very even, I’m concerned about the smoke production, something that seems directly related to the open draw. Flavor-wise, nuttiness continues to be a leading flavor, though the earthiness has been replaced by leather and a half-and-half-like creaminess. Secondary notes include burnt Lay’s potato chips, white pepper and some acidity. The finish continues to have some citrus-like characteristics—tartness, acidity, sweetness, but I don’t find the specific fruity flavors—now joined by campfire flavors, though not with the toastiness I normally find. Secondary notes of the finish include white pepper and a unique peanut flavor that tastes like peanut paste, a more concentrated but less dry peanut flavor. Retrohales are usually led first by floral flavors before they are overtaken by creaminess and nuttiness. Black pepper kicks in at the end and continues into the finish where they are joined by creaminess and then more of the peanut flavors. Flavor is full and body is medium-full. Strength really picks up in the final two inches to the point where I need to lie down after finishing the cigar because of the nicotine, a relatively rare occurrence for me. Unfortunately, once I remove the secondary band, the draw opens up even more. Fortunately for the Aladino, it’s late enough in the cigar that it doesn’t lead to any further construction-related point deductions.