Dulce Vida 'La Bonita' robusto

I love finding, and smoking, cigars that come from off the beaten path of most cigar shop shelves. All it takes is an ear to the ground, and a willingness to try something new.

I first heard of Dulce Vida Cigars on Social Cigar, and contacted proprietress Paula Pia Ventunelli for a sampler. a couple weeks later, the sampler arrived in a unique box with cameo, and the cigars with ribbon bands. I would have smoked it sooner, but seasonal allergies had me plugged up for quite a while.

Being a maniac for maduro, the 'Orange Band' La Bonita is what I dove for first, and I'm glad I did. Here's the description from Dulce Vida's website:

A blend of Peruvian ligero, Dominican Sumatra, Dominican Peloto with a San Andres Morron Limpio binder. The wrapper is a Dominican Sumatra sweated maduro.

The dark brown wrapper was soft like velvet, unlike any cigar I've touched before. It was resting in the humi a month, but still felt like it was either super oily or just wet. Just in case, I threw it into the dry box for a couple days. After the dry box, the wrapper felt like soft, Egyptian cotton terrycloth.

The cigar felt hefty in the hand and well packed, and I got flavors of earth and spice on cold draw.

Once toasted and lit, I had first impressions of earthy leather, Black coffee with nice spice lingering. Definitely in the medium to full-bodied category. Rich, earthy flavor. Lots of smoke. After first inch, flavor shifted a little to an earthy cedar with the spice still singing back-up.

I got the same feeling as when I smoked my first Illusione, like I had discovered a wonderfully complex, yet well-balanced blend. If you like Illusione, I have a strong hunch that you'll like this cigar as well.

Two inches in, and the cigar still was packing a solid medium-bodied punch, and spice still lingered on the palate. This cigar is fairly slow-smoking too, with 2 inches taking at least 30 minutes, so we're looking at an hour-long robusto.

The Dulce Vida 'Orange Band' may have a feminine touch to the exterior, but the blend is no shrinking violet.

Thanks to roller/entrepeneur Paula Pia Ventunelli for the samples. It isn't easy for a small biz to get noticed, and the people with the dream are wagering their backsides to succeed. Boutique cigar fans, best jump on these before they get discovered!