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Saint Luis Rey Lonsdales
Size: 165 x 42 ? Cervantes
Smoke time: 1hour 40mins
Box date: REC EP00 11 Source: C.Gars
Appearance: Oily, toothy textured, mid brown wrapper with some prominent veining. Not the prettiest of the Lonsdales but more than compensated for by the oils that were covering my fingers. Standard band ?A? (Embossed [looks like a blob]).
Construction: The cigar was packed nicely and had sufficient yield along the length. The wrapper spiral appeared almost seamless and the triple cap was neatly applied. The pre-draw was nicely resistive and the smoking draw excellent, until a point some way into the final third when for some inexplicable reason it tightened from being very comfortable to just manageable. The burn was reasonably straight and the grey ash held well despite having a slighty ragged appearance. No re-lights, no corrections.
Flavour: The pre-draw aroma was animal and hay and remarkably pungent. The initial flavour was superb, berries slightly honeyed and sodalike. This taste was quickly supplemented with a sour ?twang? edge as citric flavours arrived along with wood and some leathery notes. The flavour strength was medium and balance I thought spot on. The first third pasted along beautifully in this leisurely dry/sweet and sour way except for one small passage where the tastes became muffled and slightly confused. The second third was remarkable, all the fruit/berry tastes became richer and deeper and whilst the honeylike sweetness was still very much retained there was also a hint of bitterness that I found most acceptable. There were passages when sodalike wood would come to the fore causing the overall taste sensation to become much dryer but somehow the smoke always maintained a refreshment in the mouth. Getting towards the final third and subtle cocoa notes and a little spice pepper could be detected through the sweeter flavours. Delicious. Generally I find the last third to be a little disappointing in comparison to the priors, but if you look at my final picture you?ll be right in guessing that this one wasn?t! Imagine a Terry?s Chocolate Orange, sweet dark chocolate, slightly bitter but instead of orange the honey/fruit I was getting was something not in my memory bank, because if it was I?d be out buying some this afternoon. The smoke drawn into my mouth was coming in as fruit and leaving as chocolate. Amazing. And it got better, the chocolate taste became deeper and richer, then sometimes to be joined by wood, which disappeared to be replaced by leather and all the while retaining the fruit base. Exceptional.
Overall: Something of an un-sung hero, discontinued 2003 but still with reasonable EMS availability, this is a fresh, clean and fruitily mellow cigar and very much to my taste. The medium flavours are nicely balanced with an outstanding honey sweetness on supporting shifts of wood, leather and delicious notes of chocolate/cocoa. Tobacco stength, unusually for an SLR was almost non-existant, and most likely attributable to the cigars 12 year age.
Marks. I really liked this cigar, it?s flavours are refined and ?laid back? rather than spectacular but extremely delicious and pleasurable. On this smoking, I?m giving the SLR Lonsdale a high 7.6, which keeps the Partagas 898 still in the lead .... but the pressure is starting to build.
Next. La Gloria Cubana Medaille d?Or No 2.
Size: 165 x 42 ? Cervantes
Smoke time: 1hour 40mins
Box date: REC EP00 11 Source: C.Gars
Appearance: Oily, toothy textured, mid brown wrapper with some prominent veining. Not the prettiest of the Lonsdales but more than compensated for by the oils that were covering my fingers. Standard band ?A? (Embossed [looks like a blob]).
Construction: The cigar was packed nicely and had sufficient yield along the length. The wrapper spiral appeared almost seamless and the triple cap was neatly applied. The pre-draw was nicely resistive and the smoking draw excellent, until a point some way into the final third when for some inexplicable reason it tightened from being very comfortable to just manageable. The burn was reasonably straight and the grey ash held well despite having a slighty ragged appearance. No re-lights, no corrections.
Flavour: The pre-draw aroma was animal and hay and remarkably pungent. The initial flavour was superb, berries slightly honeyed and sodalike. This taste was quickly supplemented with a sour ?twang? edge as citric flavours arrived along with wood and some leathery notes. The flavour strength was medium and balance I thought spot on. The first third pasted along beautifully in this leisurely dry/sweet and sour way except for one small passage where the tastes became muffled and slightly confused. The second third was remarkable, all the fruit/berry tastes became richer and deeper and whilst the honeylike sweetness was still very much retained there was also a hint of bitterness that I found most acceptable. There were passages when sodalike wood would come to the fore causing the overall taste sensation to become much dryer but somehow the smoke always maintained a refreshment in the mouth. Getting towards the final third and subtle cocoa notes and a little spice pepper could be detected through the sweeter flavours. Delicious. Generally I find the last third to be a little disappointing in comparison to the priors, but if you look at my final picture you?ll be right in guessing that this one wasn?t! Imagine a Terry?s Chocolate Orange, sweet dark chocolate, slightly bitter but instead of orange the honey/fruit I was getting was something not in my memory bank, because if it was I?d be out buying some this afternoon. The smoke drawn into my mouth was coming in as fruit and leaving as chocolate. Amazing. And it got better, the chocolate taste became deeper and richer, then sometimes to be joined by wood, which disappeared to be replaced by leather and all the while retaining the fruit base. Exceptional.
Overall: Something of an un-sung hero, discontinued 2003 but still with reasonable EMS availability, this is a fresh, clean and fruitily mellow cigar and very much to my taste. The medium flavours are nicely balanced with an outstanding honey sweetness on supporting shifts of wood, leather and delicious notes of chocolate/cocoa. Tobacco stength, unusually for an SLR was almost non-existant, and most likely attributable to the cigars 12 year age.
Marks. I really liked this cigar, it?s flavours are refined and ?laid back? rather than spectacular but extremely delicious and pleasurable. On this smoking, I?m giving the SLR Lonsdale a high 7.6, which keeps the Partagas 898 still in the lead .... but the pressure is starting to build.
Next. La Gloria Cubana Medaille d?Or No 2.
I remember really enjoying a couple of SLR Series A that I had a few months ago and based on your description it sounds like I'd like the Lonsdale too.
Looking forward to your next review of the La Gloria Cubana Medaille d'Or No. 1. Our own Don 
TJ has a 2001 box of these beautiful long, skinny sticks resting comfortably in his massive unit. I'll save my own thoughts on this puro until your review.
Perro, el Perro
don TJ and the 
Coros
H
(Ahem!) Hey el P! I think maybe a "Dalias" 
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