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The Cigar Agency is fairly well-known for producing great stogies with extravagant packaging (Hammer + Sickle, Second Growth, and ORTSAC1962-Bulletproof are all prime examples). While I’m all for cool packaging, I’m definitely not alone in thinking that the important part about a cigar is, well, the cigar. I wanted to put the blending talents of the guys at Cigar Agency to the test, so rather than breaking open an etched crystal box of Hammer + Sickle, I decided to open a box of the more understated, more modestly-priced La Mezcla Cubana.
According to the company’s website, these stogies are made with 5-year-aged Nicaraguan wrapper leaves and an all-Nicaraguan interior blend. That said, this wrapper looked more like a Connecticut than any Nicaraguan leaf I’d seen before. It was very silky with no teeth and very few veins, and it was also very light. Upon further inspection, the construction of the stick was excellent with no soft spots, cracks, or ragged seams. The draw, once I clipped the cap, was fluid with just the right amount of resistance, and exhibited nice, clean flavors of cedar, cream, butter, and a little bit of earth.
Lighting up this stogie was fairly easy, despite its formidable 56 ring gauge. The smoke flowed through the stogie with ease and right away I picked up flavors of sweet cream, butter, and cedar with a faint hint of pepper on the finish. The woodiness started to come through about an inch in, and along with it came a little more pepper.
About halfway through, this cigar peaked in strength, evening out around medium-bodied. The flavors were mostly the same, though the wood/pepper combo note ramped up quite a bit. The ash fell off at around an inch and a half, and I have to say I was fairly surprised at how long it held on, considering how light and fluffy it was. By light and fluffy, I mean that once it hit the ground, it basically disintegrated into dust.
Anyway, from here on in, the cigar coasted at around medium-bodied. The flavors were similar to how they had been in the first two thirds, though I also tasted a little bit of oak and vanilla, as opposed to the spicy cedar I tasted earlier. On the retrohale, I tasted a little bit of cinnamon, but on the whole, the cigar stayed creamy, buttery, and just the slightest bit spicy all the way down to the nub, which was just over an inch long when I put it down.
This was by far the mellowest Nicaraguan puro I’ve ever had. While it’s easy to dismiss a cigar company because the presentation they use is too lavish, the folks at Cigar Agency clearly know what they’re doing, and La Mezcla Cubana is a legitimately tasty smoke. It perfectly combined creamy sweetness and Nicaraguan earthiness, and its construction made it a maintenance-free smoke from start to finish. Pick up a few of these whenever you can—it might not be the flashiest smoke, but it was damn good nonetheless. And judging from how good the La Mezcla Cubana Triangulare was, I think it’s safe to say that anything in Cigar Agency’s lineup is a good bet.