For the past couple of years I have been on some sort of blogger marketing list for Famous Smoke Shop. Every once in a while I receive a surprise package with a couple Famous exclusive cigars. This time around my package contained a five pack of La Floridita Gold.

Up until the package arrived, I wasn’t aware that the brand existed. Coming off a Connecticut kick as a result from the outstanding EP Carrillo New Wave, I was eager to give this new budget friendly line a try. A quick look on the Famous website shows this cigar being available in three sizes; Churchill (50 x 7.00 @ $27.99 per 5 pack), Robusto (50 x 5.00 @ $15.75 per 5 pack), and Toro (50 x 6.00 @ $19.95 per 5 pack).

When the time became available to smoke my La Floridita Gold as a morning cigar, I poured myself a cup of coffee and got down to business. Being marketed as value line, I didn’t pay much attention to the dull band and skipped right to inspecting the wrapper. The shade was a darker variety of Ecuadorian Connecticut Shade with medium sized veins. Coloring was consistent from head to foot and the cap was neatly applied. When pinched, the cigar felt a little soft overall.

I discovered a crack in the cap, however, it was removed after clipping. The pre light draw was free with little resistance. The flavor on the cold draw, for lack of a better term, was horrific. This pungent flavor made me think of feet and I seriously considered not lighting it. Because I had decent luck with earlier samples and the camera was running, I soldiered on and set flame to foot.

Fortunately, the pungent pre-light flavor did not carry over into the smoke. Once the cigar settled and hit its stride, the flavor profile consisted of a sweetness that reminded me of the old Worthers Originals candies. The core flavor was mostly a natural tabaco taste with a buttery texture. In the later stages of the cigar I began to notice a harshness that became more apparent beyond the band.

The finish was smooth and easy on the palate. The interesting thing about this cigar was that just a few seconds after the smoke left the palate, all flavor ceased. The absence of flavor left my palate feeling clean and ready for the next puff. Body was medium throughout the entire cigar, as was the flavor intensity.

In the burn department, the La Floridita Gold was very impressive. The ash was light grey in color and held a compacted shape. Despite the ash being rather weak, I didn’t have any accidental drops in to my lap. The burn line was thick after ashing but thinned out as the ash developed.

While this cigar was nothing to rave about, it wasn’t bad. For the price, I think this would be a good buy to work into the rotation as a morning commute cigar. I found that it went great with a cup of coffee. The straightforward flavor profile and final third harshness were aspects that I think could easily be overlooked if you were doing something other than focusing only on the cigar.