Cigar Review: Goldie Laguito Especial by La Palina

Vitola: Laguito Especial (Lancero)
Size:7” x 40 ring gauge
Price ~$17.50
Purchased at Burns Tobacconist

Background

La Palina’s Goldie line first came about two years ago with the release of the Laguito #2, a Petite Lancero, made by Maria Sierra, a Cuban roller who worked at Villa El Laguito factory during her time in Castrogonia. She works now for El Titan de Bronze in Miami. Goldie is named after the wife of Sam Paley, the founder of La Palina and grandfather of the current owner, Bill Paley. According to the company’s website:

Each cigar is finished in the traditional Laguito style with a fan cap, exclusively taught to rollers at Villa El Laguito. The Goldie is blended with the prized Medio Tiempo leaf, found on only 10% of tobacco plants. The La Palina Collection Goldie embodies the tradition, expertise and passion of women in the cigar industry.

The cigar uses fillers from Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, an Ecuadorian binder and an Ecuador Habano wrapper leaf. I smoked and enjoyed a couple of the original No. 2 Goldies; I smoked on No. 5 and didn’t care for the blend in that vitola; this is my first of the Especial vitola.

Prelight

Admittedly, the construction evident on the La Palina Goldie Especial is on par with anything you would expect to see from one of the upper echelon lines of luxury cigars…say, Davidoff. The seams are smooth, the wrapper is flawless, the fan cap is perfectly shaped. When you pay this much for a cigar, a certain level of appearance is expected, and they definitely reached it here.

The wrapper leaf had a slightly oily feel to it and a rich, sweet hay aroma. The foot smelled more of earth, with touches of cedar and grass. The cold draw was excellent, tasting mostly of mildly sweet hay.

Flavor

The opening puffs of the Goldie Laguito Especial were mild in body, with a pleasant sweetness and faint cedar note. Mostly it was just the flavor of refined, age tobacco, with a smoothness and elegance befitting this upper line from La Palina. As I slowly made my way through the first third, I picked up a little black pepper on the back of the palate and on the nose.

As the second third really got going, I noted that the body increased from a mild-plus to a mild-to-medium place. I started picking up on some citrus zing along with some added earthiness. The pepper and sweet notes held steady during all this.

Toward the end of the cigar, the body had increased to be a solid “medium” and the flavor delivery was going as strong as ever, serving up notes of earth, citrus, natural tobacco, and cedar, with the pepper still holding steady in the background.

Construction

For the price you pay for these sticks and because of the legendary status of the roller, you would expect construction to be excellent…and it was.

Value

Expensive? Yes. Worth it? Yes.

Conclusions

This was truly a fantastic cigar and one that I would deem worth of the steep price tag because it does what a great cigar should: smoke flawless allowing you to just enjoy the goodness exuding from it the entire time. It was complex, taking me on a journey from mild to medium body, light to full flavors…never losing my interest. Very likely the best thing I’ve ever had from La Palina or Titan de Bronze.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 10/10