La Gloria Cubana Criollo de Oro is a limited edition cigar made in the Dominican Republic. These cigars were released in October 2021, and are available in two sizes, a Toro (5.75 x 54) and a Churchill (7 x 48) priced at $10.49 and $10.99, respectively. The cigars feature a proprietary Dominican Criollo de Oro wrapper, which is a hybrid that was developed by crossing Cuban Criollo 1998 and Cuban Pelo de Oro seeds. The binder is a Connecticut Broadleaf and the filler is a blend of Nicaraguan and Honduran tobaccos. For more information, please refer to the press release.
The sample LGC Criollo de Oro Toro cigar started off with a sweet peppery flavor. After about 10 minutes, the sweet pepper began to moderate a bit, when a cedar taste emerged. The smoke was medium bodied. A minor touch-up was applied around this time. A few minutes later, there was a brief hint of nuts as a slight citrus flavor entered the mix. Another minor touch-up was needed at the 30-minute mark. After about 55 minutes into the smoke, the cedar flavor backed off just a bit, and the smoke became slightly smoother. A relight was required at this point, where around 2½ inches of the cigar were still left.
During the 70 minutes that it took me to smoke the cigar down to two inches remaining, the cigar had a good draw, held a long ash, and had a somewhat even burn, although a couple of minor touch-ups and one relight (near the end) were applied as indicated above.
Overall, the La Gloia Cubana Criollo de Oro Toro cigar was a decent enough smoke, worthy of a rating of 3.75 points on a 5-point scale. This cigar will probably improve with age, and I'll bet that the makers will likely continue to experiment with the new hybrid wrapper.
Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer.
