La Hoja Edicion Clasica 1962 Toro – Cigar Review

The other week I met up with a good friend of mine, Jack Smink, at Paradise Cigarz in Rockledge, Florida. For those that don’t know Jack, he was the first to do an Elvis tribute show. Yes Jack is in the house. So what does Elvis have to do with cigars? Simple, Jack is now the Florida representative for La Hoja cigars and he and I sat for an hour or more talking about the newest blends from La Hoja. Jack was very excited to be representing this company and as he explained to me when you have a product that is great it pretty much sells itself and jack is out there opening the doors and getting them La Hoja on the shelves. As you may have read, I wrote a rave review of the La Hoja Auténtico Maduro last year and now I have the opportunity to sampled some of their newest blends that are redefining the company.

As i sat with Jack and discussed the latest from La Hoja we puffed away  on the new Edicion Maduro 1962 and I have to say it was a delightful smoke, but I will reserve another review for that as it is hard to converse and take notes. Jack provided me another sample of the Edicion Maduro 1962 and also the La Hoja Edicion Clasica 1962. Today I am writing about the Clasica. I had heard about the La Hoja Edicion Clasica 1962 early this year when the company sent me the press release. I was looking forward to sampling it  and now Jack has provided me the opportunity.

The La Hoja Edicion Clasica 1962 is described in the press release as:

Created from the same blueprint of La Hoja’s best selling Autentico Maduro, the Edicion Clasica both mimics and transcends the experience of the Autentico Maduro. Edicion Clasica features an Ecuadorian Corojo wrapper and San Victor Dominican filler. The heart of the cigar, however, is the Piloto Cubano filler: one of the rarest and most expensive tobaccos currently in production.

To round off the blend, master blenders added a small amount of carefully selected Nicaraguan leaf to add dimension and strength to the cigar.

 

I really enjoyed the Autentico Maduro, I feel I am going to love this Clasica.

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Examining the  La Hoja Edicion Clasica 1962 the first sensory firing I get is that of touch, I love the silky feel to the wrapper, it is a dark aged Maduro with a slightly marbled look to it and is lightly box pressed. It is finished with a well applied triple cap and a greyish-black footer band. The Primary band is classic La Hoja with the word”Clasica”  imprinted below the La Hoja logo.

The second firing of my synapses happened as I ran the Edicion Clasica 1962 across my nose. I pick up a sweet spice scent and a touch of raisin.  I clipped the cap and gave it a few dry puffs and my lips and tongue perked up with red pepper burn. Not harsh, but just enough to awaken the next set of sensory signals. Not bad, 4 out 5 senses are awakened and I have not even lit the cigar.

I take out my single flame torch and warm the foot, I can hear that gently crackling sound of the tobacco beginning to fire up. There you go, 5 out 5 senses and this baby is ready to rock. I have to play some Elvis as I smoke the Clasica. I cue up some classic Elvis on my Pandora Station and the first song that comes on is Jailhouse Rock. So lets get on with the review.

As I take in the first few mouthfuls of smoke from the perfect draw, I get a decent amount of that red pepper especially on the early retro-hale. The ash is a dark grey color, very similar to a Cuban cigar. The burn is near perfect at this point. After the initial bursts of pepper dies down there is a rich dark coffee flavor that opens up. I have to say it is quite delicious.  The ash is holding tight at 1 inch so far.

The smoke continues to smooth out as the wrapper oils up. A cedar flavor enters int he profile and blends well with the already flavorful dark coffee. Getting close to the 2 inch mark of the burn, the ash finally falls.

Near the start of the second half a delicious hazelnut aroma and flavor comes in. That was a bit of a surprise but a welcome one at that. The flavor stayed consistent down to the final third where a touch of cocoa and pepper emerged. There was a slight wave in the burn as it moved towards the nub, but like i say, hey it’s the nub, the burn was impeccable throughout the journey.  Just as I was about to end the sampling, I was greeted with a final ingredient of toasted bread. Another welcome surprise. I will have to get a another couple of these fine sticks just because they had such wonderful surprises in flavor.  I would say La Hoja has another winner here with the Edicion Clasica 1962.

These are available in 4 vitolas:

1. Edicion Clasica 1: Robusto (5 ¼ x 52)
2. Edicion Clasica 9: Toro (5 ¾ x 56)
3. Edicion Clasica 6: Toro Gordo (6 x 60)
4. Edicion Clasica 2: Belicoso (5 ¼ x 54)

Overall this was a delightful smoking experience that had no major issues. There were delicate transitions and the aromas were very pleasant. Strengthwise I would say this was a Medium on my scale. The Edicion Clasica 1962 can and should be enjoyed by any cigar lover.

~Boston Jimmie