Don Doroteo The Salt of the Earth Piedra Angular

Today, we review Don Doroteo Cigars’ The Salt of the Earth Piedra Angular. Piedra Angular is one of two blends that make up The Salt of the Earth line. Salt of the Earth became the first regular production line for Don Doroteo in 2023. Juan Lugo founded Don Doroteo Cigars, and the name pays homage to his grandfather, Doroteo Fermin Delgado. Back in 1936, at the age of 16, Doroteo decided to follow in his late father’s footsteps by growing tobacco in the heart of Santiago, Dominican Republic. One of the factories Doroteo grew tobacco for was La Aurora. In 2022, Juan Lugo reignited the partnership with La Aurora when he launched Don Doroteo Cigars.

When Don Doroteo launched, Lugo went to market with El Legado. The cigar was rolled in 2008 and had been sitting in the La Aurora factory’s aging room. While El Legado was an existing cigar that was sitting in La Aurora, Salt of the Earth represents the first effort where Don Doroteo would bring its own brand to market. Salt of the Earth has two distinct blends: Piedra Angular (translates to Corner Stone) and Piedra Viva (translates to Living Stone). Piedra Angular is a blend highlighted by a Dominican Corojo wrapper, and Piedra Viva is a blend highlighted by an Ecuadorian-grown Cameroon wrapper. One common denominator of both blends is the use of Andullo tobacco. In addition to paying homage to his family, Don Doroteo Cigars pays homage to Dominican culture. Both Andullo tobacco and the Dominican Corojo wrapper are very much a part of the Dominican tobacco scene.

Let’s break down the Piedra Angular without further ado and see what this cigar brings to the table.

Don Doroteo The Salt of the Earth Piedra Angular – Cigar Review

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend and Origin

In addition to the Dominican Corojo wrapper, Piedra Angular also has a Nicaraguan binder and a mix of Dominican Andullo, Corojo, Criollo ’98, and Nicaraguan Condega Ligero and Condega Viso.

Wrapper: Dominican Corojo
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Dominican (Andullo, Corojo, Criollo ’98), Nicaraguan (Condega Ligero, Condega Viso)
Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
Factory: La Aurora S.A.

As mentioned, Andullo tobacco is a big part of the Dominican tobacco industry. Andullo dates back to the Taino Indians who inhabited the region 500 years ago. It undergoes a very different curing process than traditional cigar tobacco leaves. This involves putting tobacco leaves in palm seed pods. The pods are then wrapped in rope and, in this case, fermented for two years, causing the Andullo tobacco to compress into a thick bar, almost looking like a roll of salami. Once it has hardened, it typically is carved off. It is more common as a pipe or chewing tobacco but has been used in some cigar blends.

Vitolas Offered

The Piedra Angular is offered in one size—a 5 3/4 x 54 Toro. The cigars are presented in ten-count boxes. Piedra Angular’s counterpart in Salt of the Earth, Piedra Viva, is the same size and is also offered in ten-count boxes.

Appearance (*)

The Dominican Corojo wrapper was on the darker side. It was a roasted coffee bean color with a very light sheen of oil. The surface of the wrapper was slightly toothy. There were some visible veins. The darker color of the wrapper did a good job of minimizing any visible wrapper seams.

PERFORMANCE

Pre-Light Draw (*)

After removing the tissue sleeve, a straight cut was used to remove the cap of the Piedra Angular. Once the cap was removed, it was on to the pre-light draw ritual. The cold draw delivered a mix of raisin, cedar, and slight must. Usually, these three notes wouldn’t have me doing handstands, but the mix worked well in this case – delivering a satisfactory pre-light draw. At this point, it was time to toast up the Piedra Angula and move on to the smoking phase.

Tasting Notes

The Piedra Angular picked up where the pre-light draw left off, as there were more raisin, cedar, and must notes. Much like the pre-light draw, I was surprised that this combination of flavor notes was pleasant. There was no dominant note during the early phases of the first third. The raisin eventually broke through as the primary note. The cedar and must notes moved into the background. There was black pepper on the retro-hale. The pepper surfaced in the background by the end of the first third.

The second third of the Piedra Angular saw the raisin notes remain grounded in the forefront. Meanwhile, in the background, were the notes of cedar, must, and pepper. During this third of the smoking experience, the pepper notes slowly increased in intensity.

By the final third, the pepper notes were clearly the dominant secondary note, while the raisin notes remained primary. Meanwhile, the other background notes of cedar and must rounded out the flavor profile. This is how the Piedra Angular came to a close. The resulting nub was soft to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn

The burn of the Piedra Angular was somewhat uneven during the first half, resulting in some frequent touch-ups along the way. The touch-ups did the trick, but there were more touch-ups needed than I prefer. The second half of the cigar saw the number of touch-ups decrease drastically, and the burn straightened out. The ash itself was silver-gray. This ash was somewhat loose with some flaking. As for the burn rate and burn temperature, both maintained ideal levels.

Draw

Both of the samples of the Piedra Angular took a similar pattern. The draw started out tighter than I prefer early on. Later, in the first third, it opened up and became more open than I preferred. Ultimately, the draw couldn’t hit the sweet spot I wanted—one with a slight amount of resistance. But in the end, there were no adverse effects on the flavor.

Strength and Body

The Piedra Angular maintained medium strength and medium-bodied flavors from start to finish. Along the way, the intensity levels of both attributes slightly increased. In terms of strength versus body, both attributes balanced each other nicely, with neither attribute overshadowing the other.

BANDING AND PACKAGING NOTES (*)

My banding and packaging comments on the Piedra Angular are similar to those from the Piedra Viva. The primary band of the Piedra Angular has a “wine label” or “tobacco label” style to it. It has information on the tobacco and when it was harvested and rolled. I like this. There is a secondary Don Doroteo band that sits over a paper sleeve. Unfortunately, the secondary band comes off with the tobacco sleeve. It was also quite difficult to remove the paper sleeve. While I liked the sleeve aesthetically, I didn’t appreciate how difficult it was to remove, and that it took the secondary band with it.

Primary band of the Piedra Angular

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

As I said with the Piedra Viva, Don Doroteo deserves credit for taking a risk with its Salt of the Earth line. Entering the market with two cigars utilizing Andullo tobacco is somewhat of a risk. I find Andullo to be a bit polarizing to many. In the case of the Piedra Angular, I really enjoyed the flavors this cigar delivered. The problem with this cigar was some of the ancillary things that go with a review. The score of the burn and the fact that there weren’t many flavor transitions brought the score down.

In the end, this cigar scored a respectable 87 points. Based on the near $17 price point, I would recommend trying a sample first to make sure you are satisfied with the overall performance. In my book, The Salt of the Earth Piedra Angular is a cigar that I would consider returning to and seeing if “the other factors” score better in the future.

Summary

Key Flavors: Raisin, Natural Tobacco, Must, Pepper
Burn: Good
Draw: Very Good
Complexity: Low to Medium
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium
Finish: Very Good