Smoking La Corona Policromia by JJ Fox

Here’s a post on a cigar that was gifted to me by Andy Ryan.

It’s a Havana cigar dating from the early 60’s, from La Corona, with an odd shape, a conical Figurado.

I smoked it at the last Pharmacy cigar meeting and was impressed with its vitality and existing aromas.

Here’s Andy’s notes on the cigar – which I figure will make more justice to it than my own weak notes :

La Corona Poli-Cromia

Some of the Dublin crew and I met up last Thursday evening in JJ Foxes on a very kind invitation from Rob Fox (6th generation) and David McGrane, manager of the shop.
David brought out box after box of of cigars none of us had ever heard of.
We each got to smoke a Fox Poli-Cromia.

A very interesting cigar which seems to have been made for Fox, Dublin in the early 1960s after the pre-revolution La Corona Poli-Cromias were discontinued, at least that was the explanation from David the manager, one of the very few people who knew of the existence of these cigars before we got to smoke some. Before that evening I had never seen mention of them anywhere.

A shape (conical figurado) I had never seen in a Cuban cigar before. About 6 inches long with a ring gauge of about 48-50 tapering evenly down to about 40, no “shoulder” as in current piramides and belicosos..

Nice weight in the hand and cut very well, no cracks in the wrappers
All the cigars that evening were in excellent condition. Some traces of old, long dead, surface mould on some of the cigars but that wiped off very easily.

Nice draw, very slightly on the easy side for me but very good nonetheless. Pre-light smell of wood and well aged tobacco.
Smoked very well, no relights or touch-ups required and kept a straight burn all the way. I was in a room with four other people all smoking one of these and they all burned well.

Throughout the length of the cigar the prevalent flavour for me was very good, aged tobacco, following are other flavours throughout the length.

For the first third, the main flavour was spice, strong spice, like white pepper on the tongue and varying amounts of cedar.
In the middle third some creaminess came through with slight sweetness.
Towards the end the spice came back full on again, to the point where it got a little harsh.

I can only wonder what these were like fresh, this still had a lot of strength for a 50 year old cigar.

Ash colour was light, not bright white but light-coloured for a Cuban cigar.
I smoked mine with Jim Barry McRae Wood Shiraz 2004. As it turned out, the berry flavours paired very well with the cigar, if not very slightly too intense.
Not the best cigar I’ve ever smoked, and I think all of us there agreed, but very very good and certainly one of the rarest.

The cigar did not overheat at all.
Burn time, to the nub for me about 90 minutes.
Many thanks again to Rob and David for making possible a very enjoyable evening.

If you’re ever buying cigars in Dublin, be sure to call in.

Pictures 1-5 are of the purple-banded Poli_Cromias
6. La Corona Poli-Cromias.

More pictures of the evening here

http://s245.photobucket.com/albums/gg76/AnRyan_photos/Foxes/

If anybody has any info on any of these, I’d love to hear, thanks.

My own pictures are attached along with the original pictures by Andy Ryan.

Nino