Sapa Inca, by Dulce Vida Cigar

Sapa Inca is another blend by boutique cigar maker, Dulce Vida. Peruvian tobaccos are featured in many of Dulce Vida's offerings, and the Sapa Inca is no different. Well, okay, it's a lot different. This line has a much simpler flavor profile, and it's not as heavy and earthy as some of the La Bonita line.



Sapa Inca is another tasty cigar from Dulce Vida, and helps diversify their lineup. Keep at 'em Paula Pia!

La Bonita Red Band robusto

There are times when anticipation and expectation are just barely held in check, creating a delightful tension to the moment. I was at that moment while clipping the cap on the La Bonita Red Band cigar. After such pleasurable experiences with La Bonita's Orange and Purple blends, I was eager to taste Paula Pia's vision in Red.

La Bonita cigars feature the oiliest wrappers I've ever felt, and the dark, sumptuous wrapper on the Red was no exception. The website didn't have the tobaccos listed for the Red, but I'd guess Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. The cigar itself felt very well-packed, with a fairly resistant draw.

A cold draw brought a forecast of dark earth and coffee, with a mild tingle of spice on the lips from the wrapper. Once lit, rich and earthy flavors of leather and coffee were immediately apparent. After a half inch, the leathery flavor turned woody as a pleasant transition, but kept it's medium-full body.

After a couple inches, a soft, smooth spice eased it's way into the flavor. The earthy leather and coffee stayed fairly constant over the last half of the cigar. This blend is as robust as the Orange or Purple, but I got the feeling there's less ligero in the Red blend.

Once again, another excellent blend from Dulce Vida. Definitely do a couple days of dry box time to minimize burn issues from the fairly stuffed fillers and thick and oily wrapper.

La Bonita Purple Band robusto

Sometimes, you come across a quiet treasure, something wonderful that few people know about. I'm starting to believe that Dulce Vida's cigars are just that quiet treasure. I smoked their 'La Bonita' orange-banded, maduro cigar last weekend, and it was a pleasant shock.


The purple band is no less tasty:



I still have a couple more blends to sample from Dulce Vida, and I'm looking forward to them with eager anticipation.

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!

New Arrivals: Dulce Vida

I came home tonight to a pleasant surprise; a box with a double fistful of robustos from Dulce Vida. Some of my favorite cigar blends have a helping of Peruvian tobacco, and Dulce Vida is flashing the Peruvian flag at me. I'm going to let these rest a couple weeks from their travels, then I'll smoke'm up and hollah about it.