Perla Del Mar Corojo and a Diamond Crown Cigars

The folks at J.C. Newman recently shared some cigars with me, so I figured I’d smoke some of them. I’ve been a fan of the budget-friendly Perla Del Mar line for a while, and I was quite curious to try the new Corojo they recently released. I can’t say that I’m overly enthralled with what they’ve done with the bands, I thought the old bands were pretty cool, and the new bands with just PDM in the middle bring to mind another brand, and I don’t find it as classy as the old ones. I get it if that’s not what they are going for and it’s none of my business really, and isn’t going to make me like the cigars any less. I looked in my local shop for the Corojo a few times over the last few weeks to no avail, and was thrilled when some showed up in my mailbox. These are made in J.C. Newnan’s PENSA factory in Nicaragua, with a Corojo wrapper, and Nicaraguan binder and fillers. I was fortunate to come in to possession of the Corona Gorda vitola, which would be my second choice after the Toro. After the Toro, I do like the 5½” x 46 size the best, I think. These are box pressed as well. This is a really tasty cigar, with a sweetness like I enjoy in the Sumatra wrapped cigars, with some nuts and leather as well. For about $6, you can hardly go wrong with this one, recommended.

The Diamond Crown is a sentimental favorite of mine. Back in 1998 I was at a cigar event in Vegas that was hosted by, among other people, Steve Saka, before he was actually employed in the cigar industry. He was writing for a website called CigarNexus at the time, and it was a gathering of folks who contributed to the alt.smokers.cigars Usenet newsgroup. At the time, Diamond Crown was only available on the West Coast (Opus X was only available on the east coast), so it was a treat to get to smoke one. My wife and I smoked these large cigars, probably the 7½” x 54 No. 2 size, I don’t think it was the No. 1, but that was a long time ago and memory isn’t what it was. All of the cigars were 54 ring gauge, which was enormous at the time. I always remember this event when I smoke a Diamond Crown. I admit that my preference is for the maduro or the Maximus nowadays, but the Diamond Crown remains a Connecticut Shade cigar that I can always smoke. I smoked the No. 7, a torpedo measuring 6¾” x 54 and found it to be medium bodied and delicious. It has a Connecticut grown shade wrapper, Dominican binder and five fillers from the Caribbean and Central America. It’s made at the Fuente factory in the Dominican Republic.It’s a flavorful cigar, with a nuttiness, and creamy coffee flavor. It’s certainly a great cigar, and will always be special to me.