La Aurora ADN Dominicano review by Don José
Hey team, Don José here back with another review.
Today we have the
ADN Dominicano
by La Aurora
If this is your first time here, my reviews rate each cigar on 10 factors and each factor gets a rating out of 10 giving me an overall out of 100. The 10 factors are: Construction, Draw, Burn, Flavour, 1/3 overall, 2/3 overall, 3/3 overall, Journey (how well it flows), Complexity & Value for money.
The most notable thing about this stick, from the surface at least, is that it contains a tobacco known as Andullo into the blend.
Andullo tobacco is something that is more commonly found in chewing tobacco or pipe tobacco and isn’t commonly found in premium cigars.
Andullo tobacco undergoes a very different curing process than traditional cigar tobacco leaves. This involves putting tobacco leaves in palm seed pods. The pods are then wrapped in rope causing the andullo tobacco to compress into a thick bar almost looking like a roll of salami. Working with Andullo is not a new concept for La Aurora as they have done releases for Ventura Cigar Company and Total Flame utilising that tobacco.
ADN Dominicano stands for “Dominican DNA”. While Andullo isn’t very common in a premium hand-made cigar, the use of Andullo tobacco is an old Dominican process and the company pays homage to that process with he ADN Dominicano release.
Details:
Brand: La Aurora
Size: 5 3/4 x 54
Wrapper: Cibao Valley (Dominican Republic)
Binder: Cameroon
Filler: Cibao Valley (Dominican Republic), Pennsylvania, Nicaragua
let's get into the review.
First thoughts
This is a great looking cigar, we’ll other than the band that is. The band doesn’t do it for me with its offset flag shape… but who cares about the look of the band aye?
The wrapper is nice and deep brown, oily with a good amount of teeth. The cold draw gives me wood and green apples… yip.
Construction
Constriction is good, even in shape and density. The wrappers joining edges are very noticeable and there is a little stork etc and something about it has an unusual look.. but overall, its a great sample.
Burn & Draw The burn and draw are both great, La Aurora don’t fuck about.
Flavour & Complexity Flavours are great, not super complex but a nice smooth blend. It’s strong enough to notice but not overpowering by any means. Flavours most noted are cedar, pepper, natural tobacco and some fruit sweetness.
Strength 85%
Enjoyment / Journey What an awesome stick. The weakest point for me is the lack of complexity but its not bothering me like does on some cigars, the flavours are awesome and the smoothness and perfect burning is making this a very enjoyable cigar.
Overall As expected a great stick by La Aurora and an awesome new cigar to land in NZ. Well worth a place in the humidor.
I rate this cigar 90 points.
A look at the numbers.
Construction -- 9/10
Burn -- 10/10
Draw -- 10/10
Flavour -- 9/10
Complexity -- 8/10
First 1/3 -- 8/10
Second 1/3 -- 9/10
Third 1/3 -- 9/10
Journey -- 9/10
Value -- 9/10
About the author
Joe Murdie aka Don José has been reviewing cigars in New Zealand for over 10 years now, originally as a writer for NZBlokes, a mens magazine.
Outside of Cigars Joe is an international award winning film-maker based in Wānaka, OTA.
