Elogio Serie LSV – New Ecuadorian-grown wrapper version

On 11/18/11, Nabil Sabbah, head of Elogio Cigars paid a visit to Outland Cigars in Charlotte, North Carolina.  As a part of his visit, Sabbah brought a modified version of his popular Elogio Serie LSV.  I can honestly say, those who sampled it were all blown away.

In the past 18 months, Elogio has been slowly building a solid reputation in the solid industry.  The cigars are made  Nicaragua and are blended by Carlos Pereda Robaina.  If you recognize the Robaina name – it is the same one.  Carlos is the grandson of renowned grower and blender Alejandro Robaina.  The unique thing about Elogio is that they are involved in the entire cigar lifecycle – from seed to store.   As a result, their cigars are limited in availability and only made available to select retailers.  Sabbah says their current total annual production is limited to 45,000 cigars.

The Elogio Serie LSV has been the most popular line made by Elogio .The big selling point had been the Nicaraguan Somoto wrapper.   The original Serie LSV was originally an all-Nicaraguan puro.   However, Sabbah told us that there is a slight change to the wrapper.   Instead of the wrapper being grown in Somoto, it is now being grown in Ecuador.  In other words it is using the same exact seed, but just being grown in a different location.

Part of the reason for the change was that is was very difficult to farm the wrapper from Somoto (especially due to rain).  As a result, it was very difficult to yield the right amount of tobacco to keep up production.  Therefore a decision was made to use the same seed, but grow the tobacco for the wrapper in Ecuador.  The binder and filler remain the same on the Serie LSV.

Cigar enthusiasts are aware of the impact of the wrapper on the flavor of a cigar.   The idea of growing the same tobacco in a different location – with different altitude, soil, and climate adds a new parameter to the impact of the wrapper.   I’ve had a chance to sample the Serie LSV with the Ecuadorian wrapper and it gives a whole new dimension.  As you can see from the picture above of the new Serie LSV, the wrapper is slightly darker than the original Serie LSV below (although the pictures below do not do it justice, but the original Serie LSV has a little more reddish color to the wrapper).  The flavors added an additional richness with notes of coffee and chocolate and took this close to a full-bodied smoke.   I will be posting an assessment soon, but I felt the Ecuadorian-grown wrapper took the Serie LSV to the next level.

Original Elogio LSV

Original Elogio Serie LSV (Top), New Elogio LSV (Bottom) – note the darker wrapper

From talking with Sabbah, growing the wrapper in Ecuador will solve many of the challenges he had when the wrapper was being grown in Somoto.   He will not use this to sacrifice quality over quantity and expects his annual production levels to remain about the same.

Blend Profile

As mentioned above, there are no changes to the binder or filler with this blend.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian-grown
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan

Vitolas Available

There are six vitolas for the new Serie LSV:

Churchill: 7 x 52
Torpedo: 6 1/8 x 52
Robusto: 5 x 50
Corona Extra: 6 x 42
Petite Corona: 5 x 32
Lancero: 7 x 38