La Palina Goldie Laguito Especial

By Tony Casas | December 15, 2014

I couldn’t close out the year without squeezing in the La Palina Goldie Laguito Especial. The Goldie series has been one of my favorite annual releases over the last three years. Also, sorry about my lack of post last week. Had a real bad gout attack and didn’t get a whole lot of anything done. Feeling great now though. Also, sorry about the quality of the focus in some of the shots. I left the lens I usually use for my reviews at work.

 

The Good Stuff:

The La Palina Goldie is a series of cigars celebrating Goldie Drell Paley who is the wife of Samuel Paley, La Palina’s founder and grandfather to Bill Paley, the current owner. The Goldie is rolled by a single, extremely talented cigar roller at the El Titan de Bronze factory in Miami, Florida. That roller is Maria Sierra. In 1967 Sierra launched her lasting career in the cigar world in Cuba working under Avelino Lara rolling Cohibas at Laguito. Sine this was before Cohibas public brand release the cigars Sierra was rolling were enjoyed exclusively by Fidel Castro and his government, friends, and guests.

The La Palina Goldie Laguito Especial is the third installment in the annual Goldie series. The first release of the Laguito No. 2 (6 x 38) was one of my favorite cigars during it’s debut in 2012. Only 1,000 boxes were ever produced of the No. 2. Last year, La Palina released the Laguito No. 5 (5 5/8 x 54) as La Palina upped their box production to 2,500. This year, La Palina carried the trend by releasing 2,500 boxes of the Laguito Especial. Much like the rest of the Goldie series the Laguito Especial carries an Ecuadorian Habano Wrapper, Ecuadorian Binder, and fillers from the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. The La Palina Goldie Laguito Especial will run you $16.50 a stick and are pretty much already depleted unless you happen to stumble across them in a random shop. I picked up a box of these from our great friends and Smoke Inn.

Size: 7 x 40
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Ecuador
Filler: Dominican Republic / Nicaraguan
Body: Medium/Full
Strength: Medium
Price: $16.50
Pairing: Dupont Avec Les Bons Voeux (Saison 9.5% ABV)

Prelight

I said it before, and I will say it again the Goldie series is one of the absolutely most perfect looking cigars out there. Maria Sierra is a badass and her craft really shows with how flawless the construction are in these cigars. The La Palina Goldie Laguito Especial starts with an incredibly consistent, medium brown, thin wrapper. The wrapper carries some soft oils over its silky smooth exterior. There are only a few smaller webs in the body of the cigar and some very minor veins. Each level of the wrapper is laid seamlessly over the next making it difficult to detect where one layer ends and the other begins. The body of the cigar is very slender and long leading up to a beautiful round, triple cap polished off with a nice fantail that we have grown to expect in all the formats in the Goldie series. The cigar is very firm and lightly compacted while the wrapper feels incredibly thin and delicate. There are no soft spots at all throughout the entire body of the La Palina Laguito Especial.

The wrapper of the La Palina Laguito Especial gives off some soft cedar and natural tobacco aromas while the foot sports some soft spice and pepper over more natural flavors. The cap cut clean and easily using my double bladed Palio cutter. The cold draw gives off some strong cashew and malt flavors with a bit of spice.

First Third:

The La Palina Goldie Laguito Especial starts off with some subtle spice and pepper over some strong cedar, malt, cashew and honey. It’s a great fall-time mixture especially in combination with the beer. The draw on the Goldie is spot on, each little puff kicks out a thick cloud of smoke which is a good thing, cause as with all the Goldie selections this is a cigar that you really want to take your time and enjoy. Smoking it too fast will really hurt the experience. The cigar gives off almost no stationary smoke as it sits in my ashtray. The burn line is razor thin with some slight waves, but nothing really concerning leaving behind a trail of bright white ash which held on for about 3/4 of a inch before falling into my lap.

Second Third:

I’ve noticed a good amount of pine starting to creep in as I venture into the second third of the La Palina Goldie Laguito Especial. Along with the pine the cedar has really started to take over with the honey and spice as strong backing flavors as well as some light malt, citrus, clove and cashew. The pepper was gone after only a few puffs. The retrohale is incredible as it coats my nasal passage with a whole ton of sweet cedar adding a lot of sweetness to the experience that I would have not otherwise picked up. The burn line still has some slight waves, but they aren’t affecting the experience at all. I closed out the second third with absolutely no nicotine hit at all.

Finish:

As I enter the final third of the La Palina Goldie Laguito Especial the cedar became much more of a sweet oak/woodiness providing some excellent flavor paired with the strong honey that has been consistent throughout the experience. The spice is really be drawn out of the flavor profile as well while the pine, malt and cashew are all still there, but quite subtle. The burn line has some slight waves as it had he entire experience but I never once had to reach for my lighter to touch up or relight the cigar. I really took my time on this one so I wasn’t shocked by how awesomely smooth, creamy, and cold it finished, and I smoked out down to the absolute nub. It took just under an hour and a half and I left the Goldie feeling absolutely nothing in the nicotine department.

Overview:

It’s easy to see just want I love the Goldie series. They are incredible cigars from the packaging and construction down to the burn experience and the amazing flavor profile. In comparison to the No. 2 I’d say the Laguito Especial is rather similar. If anything I think the flavors were slightly more pronounced in the No. 2, but other than that they preformed the same and that’s a good thing cause the Laguito Especial lasted quite a while longer than the fast burning No. 2. As I stated earlier in the review, you really need to take your time with this cigar. It’s easy to puff away on it and ruin the experience with char and burn. Let it simmer and you’ll be alright. I’d be shocked if this cigar wasn’t included in my top list of 2014. Even with the very high price tag this is a cigar that I love having around for special occasions, or when you’re just really in the mood for something extraordinary. Box worthy for sure and if you ever do stumble across these I urge you to buy as many as you can carry.

Pairing:

Dupont’s Avec Les Bons Voeux is one of the Belgian winter season beers that are always on my list. Dupont is the king of Saison style beers and Les Bons Voeux is one of their best. Brew at the Brasserie Dupont in Belgium this saison comes in at a whopping 9.5%. The Les Bons Voeux sports strong banana, clove, thyme, citrus, and soft hop notes with a very light mouthfeel before finishing very smooth with creamy spice and sweetness which create an ideal pairing for the La Palina Goldie Laguito Especial. The citrus, clove, and spice all paired perfectly with the Laguito Especial while the sweetness in the beer added an extra level to the cigar experience. This cigar’s ideal pairings would include black coffee, a strong Marzen, a Belgian Dubble, or a Belgian Tripel.