Out of the Humidor: La Aurora 107

There is no arguing the fact that the Dominican Republic makes some of the finest cigars money can buy. Nicknamed “Cigar Country”, the Dominican Republic is producing and exporting more premium cigars than any other country on this earth. Giving credit where credit is due, La Aurora is the Dominican Republic’s oldest cigar factory, founded in 1903 by Eduardo Leon Jimenes. 107 years later, under the direction of Guillermo Leon, the Leon family is still producing some of the world’s finest cigars.  If you’ve ever visited Dominican Republic, you’ve experienced the influence of the Leon family whether enjoying a Presidente beer, using a Banco Leon ATM machine, or enjoying one of their Premium Cigars.

While many companies create cigars specifically to commemorate a significant milestone in their history (La Aurora in fact did this with their acclaimed “Cien Anos” line in 2003), the La Aurora 107 was named simply to commemorate the moment this incredible cigar was created.  During the 2009 ProCigar Festival in Santiago, Dominican Republic, Jose Blanco, La Aurora’s Director of Sales, led a component tasting of this particular blend, offering “surullos” (little cigars made up of 100% one specific tobacco) to outline the different tobaccos that make up this cigar.  Having done many of these exercises and smoked many tobaccos singularly, this tasting really blew my mind.  The unique characteristics of each tobacco offer very different yet specific flavors… the strongest filler tobacco, a Dominican “ligero” delivered powerful spiciness while a Nicaraguan tobacco offered some subtle espresso notes.  The blend uses several different tobaccos from Dominican Republic as well as tobaccos from Nicaragua and Ecuador.