Team La Gloria Cubana has been developing a number of special boutique-style cigars, and the Artesanos de Obelisco released in September 2010, is their most recent as of this writing. This cigar has the shape of a box pressed pyramid that is five inches in length with a ring gauge of 57 at the foot, tapering down to 44 towards the head. As the name Obelisco suggests, the cigar looks like the obelisk (tapering monument) in the Dominican Republic where the cigars are made. This cigar is only available in one size, as previously enumerated, and is made with an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper, Connecticut Broadleaf binder, and a blend of Dominican and double Nicaraguan ligero filler tobaccos. To learn even more about these cigars, watch our video with Team La Gloria Cubana.
Flavor
La Gloria Cubana Artesanos de Obelisco cigars are described as being full-bodied, but compared to some of those super-full boutique cigars that have been coming out lately, I must say that Artesanos de Obelisco cigars are more like medium-to-full. The cigars are well balanced, and should not overpower most mainstream cigar smokers, but are not recommended for beginners. The cigars have a rich toasted tobacco flavor with a hint of sweet spice, which remains somewhat consistent throughout the duration of the smoke. Again, the cigar is well balanced, but not overly complex.
Draw and Construction
Artesanos de Obelisco cigars are well made, but I did have to relight both samples after about ten minutes. The foot of the cigar is very thick (57 ring), and it does take a little effort to get these cigars going really good. However, after the first 10 minutes, the cigars burned relatively evenly, had great draws, and did not require any more relights. The cigars held a long ash, and I only had to dip the ash once after 45 minutes. At this point, a touchup light was needed to even the burn, and after that, the cigar smoked beautifully for another 35 minutes down to two inches remaining, for a total smoke time of one hour and 20 minutes. Not bad for a 5-inch cigar.
Value
SRP is $9.00 for a single stick, but boxes of 25 can be found online for around $200. At those levels, La Gloria Cubana Artesanos de Obelisco cigars are a bit expensive to be regular smokes. However, because of their unique shape and packaging, and because they are new to the market, a box of these cigars would make a great gift. But as for yourself, I recommend trying a single for a special occasion, or just for the experience.
Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.
