La Palina Black Label

They (whoever “they” are) say you should smoke 3 cigars before passing judgment and writing a review. I fired up two Black Labels several nights apart and each experience couldn’t be more different. I wasn’t expecting much since I picked the stick up on a pretty sweet deal. And after smoking the first one, my expectations were about what I anticipated.

The La Palina Black Label robusto turned out to be a righteous stick. There is an array of flavors that make up this cigar – pepper, spice, oak, dark coffee/expresso and even hints of chocolate and cherry every so often. I have rarely tasted cherry but it was there on a few puffs.

The pepper really ratcheted up during the final third of the first Black Label I smoked. I blame the waiter at dinner Friday night. A few too many twists of the pepper mill on my salad. All I know is I tasted way too much pepper in my smokes since that evening until recently.

There’s a rather mild retrohale, not too peppery, more like mild spice and wood. There was even a hint of sweetness to the retrohale.

The draw was very tight on the first one I tried. The cigar reamer helped a little but the draw stayed tight until the final third when it finally opened up. Success on the second stick. A perfect draw start to finish.

Burn line fairly even until the last third on the first cigar. The draw got hot. Opening the draw with the reamer perhaps caused this. It became a pepper bomb and had some wrapper unraveling The second one I smoked the construction was perfect. One retouch. The burn line was even throughout the smoke. How can the same cigar behave so differently one stick to the next? It happens. Glad I gave the La Palina Black Label a second chance.

This is a very nice full bodied cigar with several of those Oh Wow moments we live for in a fine cigar And no nicotine buzz whatsoever.

I didn't think I'd be singing (or writing) the praises for this cigar, but that's part of the adventure of smoking. You never know when you'll run into a surprise.

Join The Lounge