La Aurora 107 Maduro Robusto

While the La Aurora 107 blend commemorating the company’s 107th year in business had a fairly straight forward release in 2010, the Maduro version is another story altogether. Although the 107 Maduro was formally announced in 2010, there were no sightings of it on the market until late 2011 when Cigar King received 49 boxes of a prerelease version in a 7 x 58 Gran 107 vitola.

Our review of that cigar had the details:

The La Aurora 107 Maduro was formally announced shortly after IPCPR 2010. After a fairly successful La Aurora 107 launch, Guillermo León, José Blanco and the Miami Cigar & Co. team sought to capitalize on the line’s popularity. Unfortunately, the cigar continued to remain a mystery through much of 2011, as the delays continued to pile up.

At IPCPR 2011, boxes and cigars were on display, but no samples were given out. Over the next few months, the delays continued amass and by late 2011 it seemed the earliest we could see the cigar would be February of 2012.

However, in November of 2011, Cigar King received 49 boxes of a prerelease version of the La Aurora 107 Maduro, in the 7 x 58 Gran 107 vitola. The cigars had been made to celebrate the launch and for whatever reason, despite none of the rest of the line shipping, Miami Cigar & Co. shipped the Scottsdale, AZ retailer their limited amount.

Through the early parts of 2012, it became clear that February was an optimistic release date and the launch was pushed back to April and then later to IPCPR 2012. Earlier this week, Miami Cigar & Co. confirmed that the blend was changing. The version that Cigar King received actually used the same tobacco as the regular Serie Aniversario 107, but the Ecuadorian Habano wrapper was fermented differently. Rumors surrounding the entire 107 Maduro, not just this size, have always been that the wrapper never burned correctly.

It turned out that it would be another year and a half before the line would ship to retailers and it uses a different wrapper then the first prerelease version that was made. The newest 107 Maduro has shipped to TAA member stores already and a national release is expected after the IPCPR show in July.

“Our goal was to build on the success of the original 107,” stated Guillermo Leon, La Aurora President, “We wanted the blend to be able to stand on its own and at the same time remain true to the cigar that celebrated an important milestone in our history.”

Now a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper sits over a Dominican Corojo binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. The blend is

There are four different vitolas of the La Aurora 107 Maduro at launch. They are:

• Corona (5 1/2 x 42) – $6.65 (Boxes of 21, $139.65)
• Robusto (4 1/2 x 50) – $6.95 (Boxes of 21, $145.95)
• Toro (5 1/2 x 54) – $8.00 (Boxes of 21, $168.00)
• Belicoso (6 1/4 x 52) – $8.80 (Boxes of 21, $184.80)

• Cigar Reviewed: La Aurora Serie Aniversario 107 Maduro Robusto
• Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
• Factory: E. León Jimenes Tabacalera
• Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf
• Binder: Dominican Corojo
• Filler: Dominican Republic & Nicaragua
• Size: 4 1/2 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 50
• Vitola: Robusto
• MSRP: $6.95 (Boxes of 21, $145.95)
• Date Released: April 15, 2013
• Number of Cigars Released: 200 Boxes of 21 Cigars (4,200 Total Cigars)*
• Number of Cigars Smoked for Review: 2

 

The 107 Maduro is quite rough—both in appearance and texture—with a dark coffee bean brown wrapper that has some tooth to it. It is a bit hard when squeezed, but there are no obvious veins and there is evidence of a very slight box-press. The aroma off of the wrapper is very strong barnyard, dark chocolate, espresso and earth.

The La Aurora 107 Maduro Robusto starts off with flavors of earth, dark cocoa, bitter espresso, cedar and hay combine with what can only be described as a plethora of black pepper on the retrohale. There is just a tad bit of spice noticeable on my tongue, but I doubt it is going to get any stronger, and I can taste a small amount of sweetness that I can’t place just yet. While the draw has the perfect amount of resistance, the burn is not as straight as I would like. The ash is black and white pepper, and smoke production is well above average. Overall strength ends the first third firmly in the medium range.

Coming into the second third of the 107 Maduro, and while the black pepper on the retrohale has dissipated a little, it is still strong enough for me not to retrohale every puff. The flavors are all essentially the same: earth, espresso, dark chocolate and wood. However, the hay note has been replaced by leather and the sweetness from the first third is now easily identifiable as a distinct plum flavor that combines very well with the pepper. The draw remains perfect, and thankfully the burn has evened up nicely, while the smoke production continues to impress. Strength-wise, the 107 Maduro has barely budged from the medium mark and does not seem to be getting much stronger as it smokes down.

The final third of the La Aurora 107 Maduro is basically a carbon copy of the second third with the notable differences being a drop in the amount of black pepper and a noticeable rise in the amount of plum like sweetness, especially on the finish. Other flavors of dark chocolate, espresso, oak, earth and leather flit in and out, nothing really staying dominant for too long. Both the burn and draw are hitting on all cylinders, but the strength ends the cigar just north of the medium mark.

Final Notes:

• You may recall that I reviewed a different vitola and blend of the 107 Maduro back in February of 2012 that was one of the worst cigars I have ever smoked, for various reasons. Thankfully, the differences between the two releases are like night and day: where the old blend was harsh and almost flavorless, the new blend is well balanced and full of flavor.
• La Aurora uses Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper on its La Aurora Preferidos Diamond, the wrapper is the same, although processed differently.
• The 107 blend was originally released in 2010 to commemorate La Aurora’s 107th Anniversary.
• La Aurora didn’t just rolled more original 107 Maduros than what they shipped to Cigar King, what happened to those cigars is unclear.
• While I was happy to see a Corona on the list, I really wish they had released a Lancero in this blend. Of course, there was not a Lancero in the original 107 blend either at first, and it was eventually produced, so there is always hope.
• The finish is dry and earthy, with a bit of plum like sweetness added in.
• Noting the above, I have not tasted the same plum like sweetness in many cigars, making this profile somewhat unique.
• The smoke production is awesome, although you can’t see it in the photographs, as I was sitting on a lake in Canada, smoking in 30 mph winds.
• The cigars smoked for this review were sent to halfwheel by Miami Cigar & Co.
• The finals smoking time for both samples averaged right at one hour and 20 minutes.
• While none of our sponsors are TAA members, Atlantic Cigar (1.800.887.7877), BestCigarPrices (1.888.412.4427) and Cigar King (1.800.669.7167) and Superior Cigars are all La Aurora dealers.