La Hermandad by Primer Mundo Cigars

Prior to the 2012 IPCPR Trade Show, Primer Mundo Cigars announced a new cigar called La Hermandad.  Primer Mundo cigars is run by Sean Williams – one of the rising stars in the cigar business.  Williams has been collaborating with some of the best cigar factories in the business to produce his blends.  For La Hermandad (which means “brotherhood”), Primer Mundo would turn to Abe Flores and the PDR Cigars factory to produce this cigar.  This would join the Plasencia (for El Primer Mundo Select line) and El Titan de Bronze (for the Little Havana Series) as production partners with Primer Mundo Cigars.  La Hermandad was one of two new cigars launched in 2012 by Primer Mundo – joining the limited edition Clase Reserva (from the Little Havana Series – and our #18 Cigar for 2012).  Overall the collaboration with PDR Cigars proves to be successful as this is another very good addition to the Primer Mundo portfolio.

It was in 2011 that  Flores opened his new expanded operation in the Dominican Republic by opening the PDR Cigars factory.  Not only has this new operation payed dividends for PDR Cigars (We rated the Flores y Rodriguez and the Pinar Del Rio Small Batch Reserve lines highly in 2012), but it has produced some great releases for other companies such as Gurkha Cigars (Gurkha 125th Anniversary and Gurkha Ghost) and La Palina (La Palina Classic).

Let’s take a closer look at the La Hermandad and see what this cigar brings to the table:

Blend Profile

Primer Mundo Cigars has been known for making some very creative multi-national brands.  La Hermandad consists of Nicaraguan tobaccos with a Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper.  This is the first Primer Mundo blend to leverage Brazilian tobacco.

Wrapper: Brazilian Arapiraca
Binder: Nicaragaun
Filler: Nicaraguan

Vitolas Available

La Hermandad is available in three sizes.  The cigars are packaged in boxes of 24.

Caballito (Little Horse): 5 x 50
Embajador (Ambassador): 6 x 52
Consejero (Counselor): 6 x 60

Appearance

For this cigar experience, I smoked the Embajador (Toro) vitola. The Brazilian Arapiraca wrapper of La Hermandad has a nice dark chocolate color.  The wrapper has a slight amount of oil and almost has a silky complexion to it.  There are some visible veins, and the wrapper seams are well-hidden due to the wrapper’s darker color.

When La Hermandad shipped late in 2012, the initial cigars were shipped unbanded.  Later shipments did include a large black paper wrapper.  On the Embajador, this paper wrapper covers more than half of the cigar itself from the footer upward.  The paper wrapper is black in color with silver for the font.  This is the first Primer Mundo cigar to not feature the “globe logo” that adorns other Primer Mundo cigar bands.  Instead, it features the La Hermandad logo which pretty much is an eagle-like creature with a crown over it.  Below the logo is the text “LA” and below that is “HERMANDAD” (in a much larger font).  Below the name are some tobacco leaves.  Below the leaves is the text “SEAN WILLIAMS” and “PRIMER MUNDO CIGAR CO.” in smaller text.

Preparation for the Cigar Experience

Prior to starting the pre-light ritual, I removed the paper band from the footer of the cigar.  I then proceeded to use a straight cut to remove the cap.   I then proceeded with the pre-light draw.  The dry draw notes yielded a combination of chocolate, leather, and some light floral notes.  Overall I considered the pre-light draw experience of La Hermandad to be satisfactory.  At this point, I was ready to light up La Hermandad and see what the overall cigar experience would deliver.

Flavor Profile

The start to La Hermandad yielded a slight blast of white pepper.  Once the pepper subsdied, some chocolate notes kicked in slowly.  The chocolate would join the pepper in the forefront.  Some nut flavors would then kick in.  By the five percent point, the nut flavors became primary while the chocolate and pepper became secondary.  The pepper seemed more prominent on the after-draw.

As the La Hermandad progressed through the first half, the nut notes remained primary and the pepper notes were secondary.  The chocolate notes were also secondary, but from time to time varied in intensity – and at times became primary.

By the middle of the cigar, the pepper notes joined the nut flavors as primary flavors.  The pepper was also really kicking up through the retro-hale.  The chocolate notes were still secondary and now were joined by some earth notes.   This flavor profile of the La Hermandad got spicy toward the end.  The cigar had a little harshness at the end.  The resulting nub was soft to the touch and slightly lukewarm.  The warmer nub might have resulted in some of the harshness at the end.

Burn and Draw

The burn line to La Hermandad did not require much maintenance to keep it straight.  The resulting ash was almost a salt and pepper color.  There were a couple of points where the ash had a little bit of flowering, but this was nothing major.  The burn rate was ideal.

While not a major issues, there were a couple of points where the burn seemed to be a little warmer than I preferred.  By easing up on the draw, I was able to prevent the cigar from burning too hot (although I did get a warmer nub). I still thought the draw on the cigar was very good – not too loose and not too tight.

Strength and Body

From a strength perspective, I did find La Hermandad to have a nice kick to it.  I found it had enough strength to fall into the medium to full range of the spectrum.  As for the flavors, I found them to be rich and have some nice depth.  The La Hermandad was advertised as a full-bodied cigar experience – and that is exactly how the flavors are delivered.  Overall, when looking at the balance between the strength and body of La Hermandad, I gave the edge to the body here.

Final Thoughts

The collaboration between Williams and Flores proves to be good one here.  La Hermandad delivers a very flavorful cigar experience and really showcases some of the nice flavors that can be produced from a Brazilian Arapiraca cigar.   The good news is that there is more in the works between Williams and Flores as plans are to release another blend (Costa Fuerte) in 2013.  I found La Hermandad to be a nice cigar for both novice and experienced cigar enthusiasts.  Experienced cigar enthusiasts who like robust, full-bodied flavors with some spice will appreciate this cigar.  Novice cigar enthusiasts who want to graduate to something a little stronger with rich flavors will like this cigar.  As for myself, this is a cigar that is a nice smoke – and one I would definitely smoke again.

Summary

Burn: Good
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium to Full
Body: Full
Finish: Good
Assessment: Nice to Have
Score: 90

Source: The cigars for this assessment were purchased from the Pipe and Pint in Greensboro, NC and Tobacco World in Marietta, Georgia.