It has been quite sometime since I enjoyed a Cameroon wrapped cigar, so when a little care packaged showed in the mail a few weeks ago with a collection of La Aurora cigars I was chomping at the bit to fire up the Cameroon. For those that are not up on Cameroon, let me say, it is is not the easiest leaf to work with, as it is thinner than most and it is smaller also so there is less area to work with for rolling larger ring cigars. With that said, a good Cameroon wrapped cigar offers some enticing flavors for the palate. My all time favorite Cameroon cigar was the Arturo Fuente Hemingway Short Story – man I used to smoke through boxes of them back in the day, back in the 1980’s. I would say the most recent was the Drew Estate Nirvana and there have been a few that used the Cameroon leaf in the binder but not as the wrapper.
So here I am examining the La Aurora Cameroon. It is a rugged looking cigar with its marbling, tooth, and veins – but that is just fine by me, not all leaf is pristine and not all pristine leaf has flavor. Never judge a book by the cover.
Speaking of covers, lets talk about what is under the Cameroon cover of this specimen:
- Wrapper– Cameroon Seed (Ecuadorian grown)
- Binder– Ecuador
- Filler – Valle del Cibao (República Dominicana) and Nicaragua
La Aurora cigars produces this cigar in 8 vitolas – I suppose there is one in there you would enjoy. I won’t go into the details here, I’ll just invite you to the La Aurora Cigar site to see the sizes yourself.
For this review I sampled the La Aurora Cameroon Robusto
Cigar Review Notes
- Rugged, marbled, and veiny wrapper
- Sweet fruit aroma on foot
- Cold draw is a bit tight with a slight peppery flavor
- Pepper grows as I roll it about for a minute or so
- Once ignited you are greeted with a decent dose of pepper
- The pepper is followed up with a toasty bread note
- Nicely formed medium grey ash develops
- Chocolate sweetness enters firing up my back teeth
- Smoke has a creamy texture to it
- The sweetness continues with some sea salt on the finish
- Smoke smooths out well into the second third
- A fragrant syrupy aroma starts wafting off the foot
- Decent strength – just north of medium
- A bitter cocoa component enters at the start of final third
- Woody and spice notes finish the experience
- Total Smoking Time was 1 hour and 20 minutes
Overall, the La Aurora Cameroon was a fine flavorful smoke with notes of Chocolate, Sweetness, Spice, and Wood delivered through a medium volume of creamy smoke. The burn was trouble-free with a solid ash and perfect char line. I certainly enjoyed the syrupy aroma in the second half. I would describe this as a classic cigar that can be enjoyed anytime of the day.
La Aurora Cameroon