la gloria cubana medaille d'Or No 2. EAT CCUG

[Ken Gargett]

we had some reviews of the 2002's recently and i grabbed a box and have been absolutely loving them. rob put me on to the No 1's a few years ago in cuba and they are one of my very favourite thin gauge cigars i know rob detests the No 2's, though i think that those '02s might have caused a rethink.

i had hoped to grab a secnd box but he'd sold out. then he found this box from 1999. have had two so far. didn't take notes from the first (wish i had) but it was one of the very finest cigars i have had for a few years. a stunner. took notes for the second. again, very good but didn't reach the spectacula rheights of the first. that said, if the entire box was as good as the second, i'll have no complaints.

light brown colour, quite a veiny wrapper. opened with lots of leather and a slight creamed corn character. there was also a note similar to an aged bourbon, very pleasant. draw a fraction tight but no real problems. burn was slow, even and consistent. there was a lovely sweet raisiny core that kicked in now and again. bit past half way, we went into a bit of a wrapper problem and the burn went a bit wonky but the flavours remained good. the last quarter saw a real spicy, almost peppery note emerge. the flavours throughout were terrific but the construction problems (and i suspect that this is a one-off) marred the 2nd half. a really good smoke though not a match for the first one. guess i'll just have to try another. 91.