Founded in 1903, La Aurora Cigar is the oldest cigar factory in the Dominican Republic. In 2018, at Inter-Tabac 2018 in Dortmund, Germany, the namesake brand coming out of La Aurora Cigar factory would unveil a series of cigars to commemorate the 115th anniversary of the factory. The La Aurora 115th Anniversary series would consist of two limited edition cigars and a regular production line. In 2019, La Aurora would roll out the 115th Anniversary Series – first releasing the two limited edition cigars. Later at the 2019 IPCPR Trade Show, the regular production La Aurora 115th Anniversary line made its debut. Today we take a closer look at one of those limited edition cigars, the La Aurora 115th Anniversary Limited Edition Belicoso.

La Aurora is a company well known to commemorate anniversaries. Some of the notable releases to commemorate these milestones commemorated include: the company’s 100th anniversary (La Aurora Cien Años), 107th anniversary (La Aurora 107), 110th anniversary (La Aurora Cameroon and Corojo 110th Anniversary Releases), 111th anniversary ( La Aurora Puro Vintage 2006 Edición Limitada 111 Aniversario), and the La Aurora 115th Anniversary. The company has also had other milestone releases, most recently its Time Capsule Series which commemorates years the La Aurora factory first started working with a particular wrapper).

In the U.S. market, La Aurora is exclusively distributed by Miami Cigar & Company.

Without further ado, let’s turn our attention to the La Aurora 115th Anniversary Limited Edition Belicoso and see what this cigar brings to the table.

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend and Origin

One important note is the two La Aurora 115th Limited Edition cigars are different than the regular production blend. Below are the blend components used for the La Aurora 115th Limited Edition.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Corojo
Binder: Dominican (Cibao Valley)
Filler: Dominican (Cibao Valley), Brazilian
Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
Factory: La Aurora S.A.

Vitolas Offered

In addition to the Belicoso size, the La Aurora 115th Limited Edition is available in a Gran Toro format.

Belicoso: 6 1/4 x 52
Gran Toro: 6 x 58

The packaging for the La Aurora 115th Anniversary Limited Edition cigars is different. The Belicoso was made available in 15-count boxes. A total of 500 boxes were made available for the U.S. market.

Meanwhile, the La Aurora 115th Anniversary Gran Toro was made available as a jar release. There were 30 cigars per jar with a total of 250 jars available for the U.S. market.

Appearance

The Ecuadorian Corojo wrapper of the La Aurora 115th Anniversary Limited Edition Belicoso had a medium brown color to it. There was some oil on the surface of the wrapper. There were some visible veins and some visible wrapper seams. Toward the tip of the belicoso, the cigar had somewhat of sharp taper.

There are two bands on the La Aurora 115th Anniversary Limited Edition Belicoso. The primary band had a black background on the upper portion of the band. There is a gold trim also on the upper portion of the band. The upper portion of the band has a gold lion emblematic as a symbol of La Aurora. Below the lion is the text “LA AURORA” in gold font. On the center of the band is a large “115” with the years “1903” and “2018” flanking it on the left and right respectively – all in gold font. The left and right side of the band contain gold font sketches representing the La Aurora factory. Meanwhile, the lower portion of the band has a holographic-like design with some medallions on it.

Just below the primary band is a secondary band. It is gold in color with the text “LIMITED EDITION” in black font. There are black and white pinstripes above and below the text with a thicker black trim on the edges.

PERFORMANCE

Pre-Light Draw

A straight cut was used to remove a portion of the belicoso tip of the La Aurora 115th Anniversary Limited Edition Belicoso. Once the tip was removed, it was on to the pre-light draw phase. The cold draw delivered a mix of wood, floral, and cocoa notes. This was a satisfactory pre-light draw. At this point, it was time to light up the La Aurora 115th Anniversary Limited Edition Belicoso and see what the smoking experience would have in store.

Tasting Notes

The La Aurora 115th Anniversary Limited Edition Belicoso started out with notes of natural tobacco, classic wood, red pepper, and floral notes. The retro-hale delivered a mix of wood and red pepper. As the cigar burned through the early stages, there was no dominant note. By the middle part of the first third, the 115th Anniversary Limited Edition Belicoso finally saw the wood and the chocolate notes emerge as primary notes with the natural tobacco, red pepper, and floral notes secondary.

During the second third, there was a decrease in the chocolate notes and an increase in the natural tobacco and red pepper notes. The natural tobacco increased and toward the end of the second third, these notes were now prominent as in the forefront along with the wood. The red pepper was a close secondary note, followed by the chocolate and floral notes.

The last third saw the wood and natural tobacco notes remain primary. The profile of the background notes remained the same – the red pepper a close secondary note with the chocolate and floral quite distant. This is the way the La Aurora 115th Anniversary Limited Edition Belicoso came to a close. The resulting nub was slightly soft to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn

The La Aurora 115th Anniversary Limited Edition Belicoso maintained a relatively straight burn path and had a relatively straight burn line – not requiring a lot in the way of interventions in touching up the cigar with my lighter. The resulting ash was skewed toward the firmer side. This was an ash that had a salt and pepper complexion to it. Meanwhile, the burn rate and burn temperature were both ideal.

Draw

The draw of the La Aurora 115th Anniversary Limited Edition Belicoso had a touch of resistance to it – which is something that I like. Another positive is the clipped area of the belicoso tip held up well during the smoking experience. There was also an ample amount of smoke produced throughout the smoking experience.

Strength and Body

The strength and body of the La Aurora 115th Anniversary Limited Edition Belicoso both started out on the upper end of medium. There was a slight increase in strength and body along the way and shortly past the midway point both attributes progressed into medium to full territory. For the most part, the increase in intensity leveled off in the last third.

As for strength versus body, the La Aurora 115th Anniversary Limited Edition Belicoso is a cigar where both attributes balanced each other pretty evenly.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT