Pre-Release Cigar Review: La Palina “Bill’s Blend” TAA Exclusive
La Palina started over a century ago and had a 30 year run before the founder, Samuel Paley, retired and thus ended the first run of La Palina. Fast forward to 2010 and the brand was brought back to market by Samuel’s grandson, Bill Paley. Since the brand’s resurrection, the new lines that Bill Paley has introduced have received high praise and have made La Palina a staple in humidors across the country.
For 2016, La Palina has created a limited edition cigar that will be part of the TAA Exclusive Series and only available at TAA member shops. “Bill’s Blend”, as the cigar is known, is a 6×50 Toro sized cigar that is rolled at the Titan de Bronze factory in Miami, FL. El Titan de Bronze is the same factory that has produced the highly sought after “Goldie” series cigars for La Palina. The cigar features an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper that covers an Ecuadorian binder and Dominican and Nicaraguan filler tobaccos.
The pre-light inspection shows a beautifully constructed cigar with a light brown wrapper and minimal veins. This cigar is certainly easy on the eyes, having a velvet looking appearance to it. This is spot on to what I would expect coming out the El Titan de Bronze factory. Subtle hints of sweet tobacco and a light spice to pre-light draw.
Getting it started, I am pleasantly enjoying the first third of the cigar. With a short finish the cigar is medium in strength, with hints of cedar and spice that is mostly picked up when retrohaling the cigars. It doesn’t start with a strong punch or a huge burst of flavor that is overly common with new cigars. There is a time and place for that, but it’s not what I think of with La Palina cigars.
Second third brings the cedar to the front and the retrohale picks up the pepper/spice and lets you know there is some Nicaraguan tobacco in the cigar. The cigar has been drawing very well and has been an enjoyable smoke thus far.
The finish has started to lengthen as the cigar nears it’s end. Strength and flavor wise, it concludes somewhere just on the other side of medium, building ever so slightly as it smokes. I am a little disappointed it is coming to an end as it was an extremely enjoyable experience.
When I think of La Palina cigars I expect finesse over power, smooth over rough, balanced over bold and a smooth crescendo to the end. Bill’s Blend is just that to me. It falls right in line with the Family Series that La Palina also has rolled at El Titan de Bronze. I have no doubt that La Palina smokers will certainly enjoy this one, and with only 1000 boxes being produced, it’s not one you will want to miss.
I hope you enjoyed my review, you can expect to see the La Palina “Bill’s Blend” TAA Exclusive on our shelves here at Emerson’s Cigars in April. Be sure to follow @emersonscigars on Social Media for all the latest updates or sign up for our mailing list for all the latest specials, deals, events and new cigars releases here
La Palina “Bill’s Blend” TAA Exclusive can be found here once available
