Well well, here we go again! This time I have a selection that’s not only pleasing to the palate, but also to the wallet! I, along with a few of my fellow colleagues were recently on a trip to Nicaragua. While there, we visited many factories where we worked on new blends and sampled blends already in production for quality control purposes. While visiting one particular factory, a blend stood out head and shoulders above the rest. One that a member of our group touted as “the best cigar of the trip!” That cigar would be the La Perla Habana Morado. Some may recognize this 93-rated cigar from a few years back when it hit the market with over-the-top packaging comprised of a heavy cedar chest that, when opened revealed individual slots that housed each cigar. Expensive packaging often means an expensive price tag, and that was in a pre-SCHIP world! Now with a 52.75% federal tax on all cigars it has become very difficult to bring our cigar lunatics a deal worth writin’ home about!

                With this new legislation in place, just about everything is taxable including the packaging! Some manufacturers have had to come up with ways to tighten the old belt in order to keep their cigars reasonably priced. One such way is to scale back the ‘grandioseness’ (yes, that’s a word I just made up) of the boxes. One such example of this is the recent facelift that the La Perla Habana line has received. The fine folks at La Perla scaled back their packaging to a simple yet elegant box and in doing so have been able to save you mucho dinero (that’s lots of duckets to you gringos). 

                But rest assured my friends, everything about the cigar itself remains the same: same African Cameroon wrapper, same binder, and same fillers – it’s even produced in the SAME Nicaraguan-based factory that’s always made this fine smoke.

                I’ll tell you what – after enjoying literally dozens of these beauties, this cigar is spot on. A full-flavored, medium bodied cigar that exudes a pleasing aroma. The blend itself is extremely complex with a strong underlying tobacco flavor that will keep you coming back for more.