La Gloria Cubana Factory & Store – Little Havana
As a part of my 2008 Florida Cigar Tour, I had to include my first favorite cigar label, La Gloria Cubana. La Gloria does a great job of marketing and appealing to the entry level cigar smoker. When I first started smoking cigars, I was immediately drawn to La Gloria Cubana for several reasons:
- They had beautiful Labels which included the word Cuba
- They had the Pyramid shaped cigars
- They had the fat ring gauges
- They had the great Mild Taste that didn’t go bad in the last 3rd of the cigar
Choosing a La Gloria Cubana to smoke was quite easy.
- What size did you want?
- Natural or Maduro?
Thats it. You were good to go.
Then I found out they had one more option – the more powerful Series R. The Series R is their attempt at competing with the stronger cigars out in the marketplace, and it does a good job in the Mild – Full Bodied Category.
In Little Havana, Miami I was immediately flanked by La Gloria’s.
I found out they have just released a brand new line of La Gloria Cubana entitled Artesanos de Miami.
This new line recently scored #9 in the Top 10 Cigars of 2008 in Cigar Aficionado.
I think I bought at least 1 of every type of cigar in the store, and 2 of each new La Gloria Cubana Artesanos de Miami. I had my own custom box full of factory fresh cigars, and am currently aging them the minimum 3 months at home before I start digging into them. In case you werent aware, the rule of thumb is all cigars should be allowed to age with similar cigars for at least 3 months after production. Smoking them before 3 months doesnt give them enough time to settle down. Waiting 3 months lets the tobacco flavor start to emerge and the harshness a new cigar can have subdue. You can always benefit from aging more than 3 months, up to 3 years even, but at least 3 months is key to have smokable cigars.
Who’s the La Gloria Champion now, huh?
