La Aurora 120 Anniversary Toro

In 1903, the La Aurora brand was founded in the Dominican Republic, meaning that last year was the company’s 120th year in business. Considering La Aurora’s history of releasing cigars to celebrate anniversaries—like the 100 Años, the La Aurora 107 and the La Aurora 115th Anniversary—it was no surprise that the company decided to create a new line to commemorate the occasion, carrying the appropriate name of 120 Anniversary.

In terms of the blend, the La Aurora 120 Anniversary is a Dominican puro with a habano 92 wrapper covering an olor binder from the Cibao Valley and filler tobaccos that include corojo as well as olor and piloto cubano, also from the Cibao Valley. While four regular-production vitolas started shipping to retailers in September 2023, the company also released a limited edition 6 x 58 perfecto with the same blend in November of last year.

“As we commemorate our 120th anniversary, we are proud to mark a milestone that will serve as a reference point for many years to come. Our commitment has always been with creating cigars that embody the rich, distinct flavors of the cigar world,” said Guillermo León, president of La Aurora, in a press release. “The La Aurora 120 blend we have chosen to create is a product of teamwork to a degree we had never accomplished before.

• Cigar Reviewed: La Aurora 120 Anniversary Toro
• Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
• Factory: La Aurora Cigar Factory
• Wrapper: Dominican Republic (Habano 92)
• Binder: Dominican Republic
• Filler: Dominican Republic (Corojo, Olor and Piloto Cubano)
• Length: 5 3/4 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 54
• Vitola: Double Robusto
• MSRP: $16.10 (Box of 20, $322)
• Release Date: September 2023
• Number of Cigars Released: Regular Production
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

Covered in attractive milk chocolate-colored wrappers, the La Aurora 120 Anniversary Toros feature noticeable amounts of oil and large amounts of small bumps running up and down the lengths of all three cigars. The caps on two cigars seem very sloppily applied—the last cigar seems fine in that regard—and while all three cigars are nicely firm when squeezed, two feature very obvious soft spots in the same general area just under their main bands. Aromas from the wrappers are both sweet and creamy, with woodiness leading barnyard, earth, leather and some light breadiness. Barnyard easily outpaces other notes emanating from the feet, followed by sweet cedar, coffee beans, leather tack, gritty earth and milk chocolate sweetness. Finally, after straight cuts, all three cigars feature enormous amounts of leather and peanut shells along with cedar, earth, cocoa nibs and sweet barnyard.

A blast of caramel sauce sweetness is the first thing that greets me after lighting the feet of the cigars, but that note quickly gives way to a combination of earth and cedar that remain the main flavors through the first third. There is a noticeable amount of mineral saltiness on my lips and secondary flavors include leather, creamy peanuts, dry hay, powdery cocoa nibs and slight citrus peel. White pepper is easy to pick out on the retrohale, as is a distinct but light sweetness that reminds me of fresh honeycomb. Flavor hits medium-plus while the body is at mild-plus and the strength ends the first third just under the medium mark. In terms of construction, the burn line on all three cigars runs into issues early—and all three need at least one correction with my lighter—but the draws and smoke production are problem-free through the first third.

While the profile becomes noticeably creamier overall on two of the three cigars, there is not much change in the actual flavors that are present in all three La Aurora 120 Anniversary Toro during the second third. The cedar and earth notes continue to reign supreme, easily beating out flavors of creamy nuts, straw, dark chocolate, generic citrus and leather tack, but my second cigar does include some light anise as well. There is also a bit more white pepper on the retrohale, and while there is also slightly more honeycomb sweetness to match, the latter is still not strong enough to make much of an impact on the profile overall. The flavor remains at medium-plus, but both the body and strength have increased slightly to land at a solid medium and just over medium, respectively. The construction is also pretty much the same compared to the first third: excellent draws and copious amounts of smoke, but extremely wavy burn lines that need attention from my lighter at least once.

The final third of the 120 Anniversary Toro is like a broken record: earth and cedar as the main flavors and burn issues lead to corrections with my lighter. Additional flavors of barnyard, brewed coffee, cocoa nibs, straw and plain white rice are all present at various points, but the combination of honeycomb sweetness and white pepper remains constant on the retrohale until the end of the cigar. Flavor ticks up slightly to end the cigar at medium-full—barely—but the strength stays put at just over medium, and the body holds steady at a solid medium. Unfortunately, burn issues continue to plague all three cigars—one of them needs two corrections to stay on track—but the draws and smoke production continue along their excellent paths until I put the nubs down with about an inch remaining.

Final Notes

• Editor’s Note: The length of this size of cigar has been royally butchered. Previously, we’ve listed it at 5 1/4, which may have been a typo on our end. La Aurora’s press release announcing the cigar said 5 1/2, though its website says “5.75.” We measured the cigars at: 5.69, 5.68 and 5.7 inches — Charlie Minato.
• This is actually the second time that La Aurora has commemorated a major anniversary by releasing a Dominican puro; the first instance was the 100 Años, which was released in 2003 to celebrate the company’s 100th anniversary.

• The back of band on these cigars is printed with a QR code that, when scanned, takes you to a page with a number of different choices, including visiting La Aurora’s website and Instagram account.

• The burn lines on each of my three cigars were not great; in fact, all three cigars needed at least one burn correction with my lighter during every third to keep things from getting out of control. Having said that, the corrections were mostly minor in nature, and they had no major impact on the flavor profile.
• The ash was annoyingly flaky on all three cigars I smoked for this review, and it had a tendency to fall off in small chunks with no almost no provocation at all.
• As noted above, the caps on two of the cigars were not applied well, to the point where I could easily pull them off without using a cutter.
• My maternal grandfather kept beehives on his property as a hobby, so I used to eat honeycomb straight from the hive while visiting his house in North Carolina when I was a child.
• The packaging for the La Aurora 120 Anniversary Limited Edition took 8th place in halfwheel’s 2023 Packaging Awards.
• La Aurora advertises on halfwheel.
• The cigars smoked for this review were purchased by halfwheel. La Aurora sent cigars to us, those were not used for this review and instead are being used for a contest, see below.
• Final smoking time for all three cigars averaged out to one hour and 53 minutes.
• If you would like to purchase any of the La Aurora 120 Anniversary Toros, site sponsors Atlantic Cigar Co. and Corona Cigar Co. have them in stock on their respective websites.

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Win a Five-Pack of La Aurora 120 Anniversary

La Aurora sent us five-packs of each of the different vitolas, so we are giving them away.

Leave a comment on this post between now and March 17, 2024 11:59 P.M. CDT and you’ll be entered to win.

• Must be 21-years-old or older to enter.
• Only open to U.S. residents with a continental United States shipping address.
• Comments must be left on halfwheel.com. 
• Four comments will be selected. Each will receive a different five-pack of La Aurora 120 Anniversary cigars. The vitolas will be selected at random. Shipping to an address in the continental United States is included.
• Four winners will be announced on March 18, 2024. Prize must be claimed by March 19, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. CDT or it will be forfeited.
• Total value is $70-84 depending on the vitola.
• Contest rules are here.

Update (March 18, 2024) — The winners are:

• BB
• Martin C
• Shay Kirkpatrick
• Tad