It is said “blondes have more fun”, and this past year, Dean Parsons, from Epic Cigars, showed just how much fun a blonde can be. Adding to the already successful line of Maduro and Corojo cigars, Dean introduced the La Rubia, his latest creation, at the 2016 IPCPR. La Rubia translates to “The Blonde” in English.
The Epic La Rubia is certainly blonde, but don’t let the outer cover fool you, because it’s what under the covers that intrigues me with her. This is not your average blonde! Dean explains the blend of the La Rubia as:
- Wrapper – Ecuadorian Connecticut
- Binder – Mexican San Andrés
- Filler – Dominican and Nicaraguan
Epic Cigars offers the La Rubia in four vitolas:
- Robusto (5.5 x 52)
- Short Gordo (4 x 60)
- Gordo (6.60)
- Churhill (7 x 50)
Prices are generally in the $8.00 range but I found Atlantic Cigars has them discounted if you can’t find them at your local shop.
The Epic La Rubia comes packaged in 20-count boxes and like other Epic cigars they are manufactured at the Charles Fairmorn Factory in Santiago, Dominican Republic. Actually a little investigative digging shows that Charles Fairmorn Srl merged with family-owned cigar maker Joh. Wilh. von Eicken Company in August of 2015.
For this review I sampled both the Short Gordo and Churchill vitolas of the Epic La Rubia.
Cigar Review Notes
- Velvety smooth tan wrapper
- Practically vein-less
- Sweet hay and fruit on the foot
- Light spice along barrel
- Cold draw is leathery with some spice, pepper, and fruit
- Initial light provides creamy butter with a light pepper back note
- Fruit moves in quickly
- Full volume of smoke
- Ultra smooth smoke after an inch. I would describe this as elegant.
- Sweetness adds to the profile with a toasty aroma.
- Pristine medium grey ash with a pinpoint burn
- Spice picks up midway as does the strength
- Spice maintains through the second third with a hint of white pepper on the throat
- The final third brings subtle notes of bitter coffee and cocoa
- Medium Strength
- Perfect burn cone once the ash falls
- Total smoking time for the Churchill was 1 hour and 40 minutes and the Short Gordo lasted just under an hour.
- I found less pepper on the Short Gordo and a bit more fruit especially midway.
Overall, the Epic Cigars La Rubia was definitely not your average blonde. Flavorful and complex, with very little Connecticut bitterness, this is one fine cigar from Dean Parsons. I certainly enjoyed the short Gordo with a morning dark coffee, though the elegance of this smoke would go very well with a nice aged rum to enhance the fruit.
Epic La Rubia