#5 La Palina Family Series (Core) – Babe picture

The cream rises to the crop.   We have now entered the Top 5 part of “30 Cigars in 31 Days” – my review of the Top 30 Cigars for 2010.

At #5 is the La Palina Family Series (Core).  You might be saying, that the La Palina Family Series came in at #7.   This is true, but at #7 was the “Ligero” edition of the La Palina Family Series.   This cigar has a slightly modified blend, thus is eligible for a separate spot on the list.   There is a great story around La Palina – you can read the details of the story on the web-site in detail.

As I’ve mentioned, the La Palina Family Series actually consists of two different blends.   There is the “Core” (that I am naming it for this review) blend and the “Ligero” blend.  The Core blend consists of a Costa Rican wrapper, Costa Rica binder, and a blend of fillers from Honduras and Nicaragua.   The “Ligero” blend (denoted with a “Ligero” sub-band) is similar to the core blend, but it has an Ecuadorian wrapper combined with the Costa Rican binder and ligero from Honduras and Nicaragua.

While I’d categorize all of the cigars in the La Palina Family Series (both Core and Ligero) as medium-bodied, it is in the strength where the cigars differ.  The Core is going to be a mild to medium-bodied cigar, while the Ligero version is a medium bodied.   Under most circumstances, I would usually gravitate toward the cigar with stronger strength and more body, but there was something special about the Core version.  I found this to be one of the most smooth and satisfying smokes I’ve had this year.   My theory is that there is nothing wrong with a mild to medium bodied cigar – as long as it has flavor.

The Core will still provide some complexity.  There is a similar flavor profile to the “Ligero”.   Flavor notes of herb, cream, wood, nuts, cedar spice, and blackberry will be the found in this stick. 

A full review is available here for more details on my experience with this cigar. In this case it is the “Babe” vitola of this blend.


Recommended Vitola: Babe ( 5 1/4 x 50)