La Aroma de Cuba was always a decent smoke in my humblest of opinions but it lacked that certain something that could take it from simply “decent” to a whole lot more…and then some. The folks at Ashton seemed to agree with this as was evidenced by their recent factory change for production and subsequent re-blending of the La Aroma de Cuba. Now made by Pepin Garcia in his shiny new Nicaraguan factory, La Aroma de Cuba has allegedly taken on a brand new personality. So, without further delay, I’m off to the humidor to grab me a 5-pack of the 6x52 Monarch. Sit tight, I’ll be back in a few…

Alrighty then, I’m back with my Monarchs along with a few other tasty treats I snagged during the trip, but more on those later. As you may recall, the previous blend of La Aroma de Cuba was produced in Honduras with a Cuban-seed wrapper and a blend of Cuban-seed Nicaraguan and Honduran long-fillers. The result was a medium-bodied cigar that was pretty one-dimensional in flavor and yielded a lingering spice on the finish. Take my word for it, I’ve still got a couple boxes of the old blend and am smoking them side by side to compare. The new Pepin Garcia-made La Aroma de Cuba, by comparison is a few shades darker and oily enough to bring a tear to the eye. It literally glistens in the light! Oooooooohhh…..Aaaaaaaaahhh…say it with me now! The new blend boasts a combination of select Nicaraguan long-fillers all brought together with a ruddy and oily Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. The end result is a dramastic (term coined by an excited CI staffer. It is believed to be a combination of the words “drastic” and “dramatic”) improvement over the old blend with the new delivering distinguishable cedary notes up front followed by a host of earthy and nutty flavors throughout as the cigar develops. The spice is still there by the boatload but if you need an extra helping just try blowing the smoke out through your nose! For my palate the new La Aroma is a great smoke and a vast improvement over the old blend. If you haven’t had the new blend yet you should give it a shot right now without delay. If you’ve had the old but not the new, well what are you waiting for? Go on and git some!