After smoking 4 different HVC blends, I’m far from an expert on them but so far so good:
La Rosa Favoritos - 6-1/2 x 42, Nic Jalapa Corojo ‘99 wrapper - mini-herf at Homer’s house last week Friday, within a few puffs both of us were like, “Umm, pretty good”. Medium body and strength. I won’t claim to remember any tastes (...we drank some bourbon that night too...) but already thinking about buying more
Edicion Especial 2018 Corona - 5 x 46 - Nic Jalapa Corojo ‘99 wrapper - I liked this too but will need to smoke another one to see if I want to get more. Nothing bad about this one but I sparked this up after the Favoritos and more bourbon. IIRC, medium-ish body and strength.
Serie A Robusto - 5 x 50 - Nic Jalapa Corojo ‘99 - Hawaii exclusive size, the blend will be released in two other sizes to the rest of the world, we’re “special” so we get our own size. 😝 Started out spicy then in the 2/3, transitioned to a bit more mellow, some creaminess, then in the 3/3, went back to spicy. Really enjoyed this one,
Vieja Cosecha No. 2 - 6-1/2 x 56 Figurado - Nic Jalapa Corojo ‘99 - sheesh, until I looked up and typed in the wrapper, didn’t realize I’ve only smoked the Corojo wrapped blends. Another medium body and strength but quite tasty. I don’t normally like this size but it smoked quicker than I thought it would so thinking of getting more.
At the event, the owner of HVC Cigars, Reiner “Just Call Me Lorenzo” Lorenzo was in attendance and spoke for a few minutes about each of the cigars in our sampler pack. Spoke decent enough but my untrained Hispanic-accent ears missed some things. At any rate, the one thing I learned was that between the two major tobacco growing regions in Nicaragua, the Jalapa Valley with it’s sandier soil, makes for a sweeter tobacco. On the other hand, tobacco grown in Esteli is stronger. Lorenzo also prefers medium to med-full cigars because he likes to smoke 3-4 cigars a day...hence, his blends lean towards his tastes (duh!). I got to talk to Lorenzo a couple of times, he was very generous with his time and knowledge.
All in all, a very nice evening and fo’ sure I’ll go to next years event.