The Cigar Sasquatch

Retro. There’s something innately appealing about bygone eras. It’s well known that fashions resurface every 20 or 25 years, but what often appears the second time around are merely caricatures of iconic themes, from the fluorescent colors of the mid 1980s to the bell bottoms of the 1970s to the tie-dye of the late 1960s. And then there’s Steam Punk, aviator caps, and ironic handlebar moustaches which find their way into modern beer commercials.

There’s a reason these retro styles have an appeal beyond what’s in and what’s out of fashion. They call to mind a “simpler” time, the “good old days,” when things were different, when things were better.

This is, of course, a load of utter bull shit.

I’m no modernist by any means. I’m particularly nostalgic for the Golden Age of American manufacturing, the post war period when American workers did pretty much everything that much better. I distinctly remember a toaster from the 1950s on my grandmother’s counter that must have weighed 30 pounds, and went on producing perfectly toasted bread well into the 21^st century. I’m also fond of the fine craftsmen in wood who were active around the turn of the 20^th century, into the early 1920s. Such artists as Gustav Stickley and his contemporaries Greene and Greene, for whom there was literally no such thing as MDF. With no power tools, there was no doing things the “easy” way. And if you’re going to do it hard, you might as well do it well.

There are some fine examples of what was actually good about the “good old days,” but for the most part, I wouldn’t give up our modern conveniences, the technologies, the time-savers, and the comforts of contemporary life for any throw-back era.

Nostalgia is a slippery slope. It’s easy to think back fondly on years past, on “simpler” times, and not realize that they were simpler because we had fewer cares when we were younger. Our first times experiencing life’s special moments become archetypal in our memories; they’re the standard against which other experiences are compared. And the later ones seldom shine like our firsts. Holidays as a child, early days at school, our first kiss, even our first cigar. Those are the ones imprinted on our memories, and they’re hard to live up to as years go by. We’re never a good as we were.

But the truth is, the future really is brighter than the past. There will always be those who see it differently, but as long as we continue learning from the past, we can continue improving on it. No, not every development is an improvement, but none is ever really final, either.

The La Gloria Cubana Artesanos Retro Especialé is NOT a throw-back cigar. It is not meant to recall the tastes and smells of the pre-embargo era. There’s a lot of that going around these days, so let’s be clear about it: this is a thoroughly modern blend. The cigar is indented to recognize the artisans who created the vistas and bands that adorned the historic cigars from the legendary El Credito factory.

Each frontmark has unique styling, inspired by an antique humidor discovered at the old factory. It acknowledges the beauty of the retro styling, but the blend is altogether new. And an interesting blend it is, something of a “Pan Am” tour de force. I chose the “Club,” a 5¾ x 47 large Corona. General Cigar’s literature describes a hybridized Connecticut-seed leaf grown in Honduras as the wrapper. The leaf itself is a gorgeous tawny color, with a meaty, almost juicy texture, but not what you would call oily. Throw in a double binder, one Nicaraguan, the other Mexican, and wind it around a core of Nicaraguan and Dominican ligeros, married to an additional pair of proprietary Nicaraguan and Dominican leaves. Boutique, indeed.

The first flavors are rich and woody, with some light spice, and a fresh tobacco background. There’s also an intriguingly tangy, chewy quality oscillating between roasted meats and baked pecans. The roll is supple, and the draw is light  (+1) from a cap cut, producing a superior smoke volume (+2) of moderate strength (3).

The second act evolves to show a tangy taste of roasted red peppers. The spice is there, but it’s remarkably subtle, tending more towards a smooth character, finely balance against a diverse palate. The salt and pepper ash is nicely scaled, holding to under an inch, and slightly flat, though never tunneling or even coming close. The burn is flawless, cool and ring-straight throughout. There was one pronounced vein, but it had absolutely no effect on anything, whatsoever.

By the end, the flavors develop an earthy richness, and the peppery spice ramps up considerably, but it deftly avoids the bitter plunge until the very end, smoking to an inch and a half nub in in about an hour. Overall I rate this cigar 9.1. This is the fourth in the Artesanos line, and it exemplifies the boutique ethic that La Gloria Cubana has been known for since its founding. It’s a pleasure to discover that General Cigar allows the La Gloria team sufficient autonomy to continue its long history of innovation and experimentation, producing gourmet blends with diverse tobaccos, appealing to unique tastes with broad-ranging palates. See, isn’t the future a beautiful time?

Until next time, this is the Cigar Sasquatch saying, “Love what you smoke, and smoke what you love.”