Stogie Reviews: La Gloria Cubana Serie N JSB
22 Nov 2010
In early 2009, Ernesto Perez-Carrillo ended his tenure with General Cigar to establish his own project. The move left La Gloria Cubana, the brand he built from relative obscurity to industry prominence, without its leader of nine years.
La Gloria is now managed by Yuri Guillen, Benji Menendez, Michael Giannini, and Rick Rodriguez. Collectively known as “Team La Gloria Cubana,†the quartet dreamed up the recently-released “Serie N†line to compliment the popular “Serie Râ€â€”an Ecuadoran wrapped blend with full-bodied flavors of black pepper and leather.
“In creating La Gloria Cubana Serie N, our intent was to provide tenured smokers with a flavorful powerhouse of a cigar,†said Debo Mukherjee, vice president of cigars for General Cigar. “We are confident that consumers will respond to the new taste dimension brought forth by the proprietary Nicaraguan tobacco.â€
Serie N marries that proprietary tobacco with an Ecuadoran Sumatra wrapper. Four vitolas are available: JSB (5.5 x 54), 46 (6.5 x 46), 49 (5.75 x 49) and 58 (6.5 x 58). They carry suggested retail prices ranging from $6 to $7.10.
The Serie N JSB is very firm to the touch—so much so, in fact, that I expected the draw to be onerously tight. After clipping the head with my double guillotine cutter, however, I found an effortless pre-light draw.
The cigar, a heavy stick with ample oils and several large veins, starts with a charred taste of peppercorn, espresso, and raisin. The first impression is of a powerful, almost overbearing smoke that’s singular and lacking in balance.
As the taste mellows, notes of black cherry, leather, and dry wood emerge. I’d hesitate to call the JSB complex. Still, at least it develops nuance into the midway point, adding some character to its raw force.
While the Serie N JSB displays construction typical of a General Cigar product—including a straight burn and a solid ash—it never really matures out of its charred, meaty base. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing if you’re enamored with this Nicaraguan’s bold framework.
If that sounds up your alley then, by all means, seek this cigar out. I’m sure many seasoned cigar veterans will be pleased with everything the Serie N has to offer. But I was hoping for a little more depth from the three samples I smoked for this review—depth that, if nothing else, would help counteract the high nicotine voltage. That’s ultimately how I arrived at my rating of two and a half stogies out of five.
[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here.]
photo credit: Stogie Guys
Patrick Ashby
Co-Founder & Editor in Chief
Patrick Semmens
Co-Founder & Publisher
George Edmonson
Tampa Bureau Chief
General really needs to come up with something new that's really good. I always find a different cigar to buy for about the same price when I am even thinking about one of their cigars.
With so many better cigars out there, I wonder how long they can really keep riding the "name train" and continue to survive. By "name train" I mean, Partagas, Cohiba, Punch etc.
As much as I want to love the Artesanos de Miami – especially that new Obelisco – I’ve yet to find a LGC I really enjoy. Different strokes I guess.
I will say that I was pleasantly surprised by the Macanudo Cru Royal. I wouldn't buy a box or a 5-pack of them but I would smoke one on occasion and that's more than I can say for a lot of the General smokes.
I have to disagree with your review. I think Team LGC achieved their goal of providing tenured smokers a flavorful powerhouse of a cigar. They absolutely did that while coming up with an extremely unique flavor profile. I say 4 out of 5 and a must try for full body fans.
The Serie N is a Nicaraguan Puro (hence the "N"). The wrapper on the Serie N is a Nicaraguan Capa Oscuro. It's the Serie R that has a wrapper grown in Ecuador.
nothing totally offensive, but maybe that would have made it more interesting. this "tenured" smoker got the impression of muted stereotypical flavors that simply had me thinking this is a knockoff of a real nicaraguan powerhouse. what strength??? at best, a decent maduro for newbies.
Funny, I have always enjoyed the series R and was looking forward to this cigar after receiving it at Cigar Fest as a freebie. This sat in my humidor was a few weeks before I tried it.
At the risk of sounding negative, I found this cigar to be horrible. Draw was very tight and had to be worked. The taste was more than overly spicy it just tasted bad. I ended up trashing it. Maybe i got a dud, who knows.
I've smoked some expensive well regarded cigars. Smoked two LGC Serie N at the Rocky Mountain Cigar Festival. They were well aged as was evident by the plume on them. Smooth, medium-full and without a doubt the best cigar I've smoked.
Just smoked one (the largest size) and it was damned weak, one-dimensional and totally boring. "Full bodied???" Are you EFFIN' KIDDING??? To be fair, construction was good, burn was nice and even and there was no bitterness. BUT–there wasn't a lot of flavor, either.
IF you want a MILD stick without ANY nicotine buzz, it ain't bad if you can snag it for a discount.
Good for tyros, I guess….