HVC Hot Cake Laguito #4
Wrapper: Mexican San Andreas
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
This week I am smoking the HVC (Havana City Cigars) Hot Cake.
This is a brand that is new to our humidor however it isn’t new to the market. Havana City Cigars is a way for brand owner Reinier Lorenzo to pay tribute to his home country of Cuba by using the finest tobaccos available from Nicaragua. This blend utilizes Corojo 98 from Jalapa and Corojo 99 from Estilli in the fillers complete with a Mexican San Andreas wrapper to produce this fine medium to full bodied smoke.
When I lit up this masterpiece of a cigar I tasted some cedar notes, leather and a little bit of earth and cocoa. After about a quarter in, I got flavor notes that were earthy with a hint of barnyard. After a couple of minutes on those notes I started to taste red pepper which then transitioned into black pepper with more earth in the background. Throughout the entire smoke there was also some natural sweetness that I was getting.
Towards the middle of the cigar it started to taste a little spicy. This cigar is definitely keeping my interest while smoking it, lots of transitions in the smoke is making this quite an enjoyable experience. Another thing to note is that this cigar is burning well which means it is made well.
In the home stretch of the cigar I encountered just a little bit of bitterness but it wasn’t enough to turn me off of the cigar. The bitterness soon stopped and I got some citrus notes and a little bit of earth to end the cigar.