Not a new smoke, but I cannot get over how good these are. While the #1 is my favorite due to extra complexity, the #2 I just finished was good enough to spawn this quick review.

The belicoso is a great size for this blend, sporting a little more ligero than the lonsdale. The burn was sharp and barely wavered, the ash was fairly solid and nearly snow white. The draw was easy with the perfect amount of resistance. The construction and flavor of these sticks have always been consistently high quality. All in all, this cigar is the closest thing I've found to the Cubans I have enjoyed.

1/3 - After a few muted puffs, wood and spice establish themselves as the base flavor and subtly interplay.

2/3 - The flavors punch and become stronger to begin this third. A nuttiness makes itself known as the wood and spice change and develop

3/3 - The dominant wood and spice have finally merged to become a unique spice I cannot place. There were also nearly constant notes of honey nearly identical with the notes present in Cuban Bolivars and Ramon Allones. This honey note completely threw me as I have never experienced it in any non-Cuban.

Rumor has it that Pete Johnson himself has trouble distinguishing between this stick and the cuban RyJ Escudos. I have never had one of those, but this stick is definitely the definition of Cubanesque.

I had 1 today. a very good stick. I think you sent it to me Ron.

I tried the #3 tonight and really enjoyed it. Lots of flavor for a smooth medium strength stick.I agree with the very Cubanesque I will be enjoying more of these.

[quote="earthson"]Not a new smoke, but I cannot get over how good these are. While the #1 is my favorite due to extra complexity, the #2 I just finished was good enough to spawn this quick review.

The belicoso is a great size for this blend, sporting a little more ligero than the lonsdale.[/quote]

Quote from Pete Johnson:
"This is a new cigar that I am making with Pepin and Jaime. I am using a brand new wrapper for the factory and by far one of my all time favorites. Conn. Broadleaf to me is one of the most flavorful wrappers in the world.
The blend is more medium [b]and has no Ligero[/b]. The wrapper gives it some of the biggest flavors you could imagine and I can't even explain how beautiful the aroma is. Fills up the room with chocolate, coffee, and earthy notes.

Blend is classic and traditional Cuban. I think the wrapper will confuse the strength level for people. The wrapper is rich(like the name) and gives flavors that would make people think that it is a strong blended cigar. This cigar is just balanced with tons of flavor. Full Flavored for me is always better than strong for the sake of being strong."

An otherwise spot on review IMHO. Great job Ron.

Surprised it has no ligero. Where'd you find the quote from PJ? I was tasting a note of almost minty coolness that I usually associate with ligero leaf. I also get that note from some high quality corojo leaves. Perhaps that's what I was tasting.

I'm still reeling from the honey note. I smoked a Ramon Allones yesterday and it had the same honey that the La Riqueza #2 had, though it was much more in the foreground with the Ramon Allones.

Yeah, I was also amazed how bold the flavors were for a stick with no ligero. Mid strength but full of flavor. I liked it a LOT! PM sent about the quote.

Yup. I want to get a couple of the double coronas to sit back. If they truly are Cubanesque, then the double corona will be something amazing with 3-4 years on it.

Had a #1 today. At just over a year old, they are ridiculously complex and satisfying. A little more direct than the belicoso

Can you find this cigars at B&M's ?

[quote="Brianf"]Can you find this cigars at B&M's ?[/quote]

Uptown's has them.

The ones Uptown's has actually should be a bit aged. If it's got Pete's old logo on there that is!

Yeah - I'm always amazed at how "underground" these smokes are. They're really one of my favorites and not many people seem to know about them. Until you mention that they're made by Tatuaje

I was there yesterday. Old logo it is. Some really good age going on these sticks at Uptown's. A peppery kick in the teeth to start, mellowing in the middle and getting a little creamy. Full flavored yet a medium body smoke. A nice change from the Tat's.