La Gloria Cubana Medaille d’Or No. 1

Description

I rememberThe salt on my lipsMore than the heat of the sun. Five years was it? No six, no, I’d stopped counting by the third marathon, or second promotion since there last filtered a single plume of that blue smoke from between them. I walked from the leaf. I said I didn’t need it, that the ritual was a crutch and my humidor was an expensive box of compost. But there I was, sitting on a slab of sun-bleached driftwood,in a cove so obscure the map hadn’t even bothered to name it. The Atlantic was doing that deep, hypnotizing breathing thing itdoes when the tide is coming in, and the air was so pure I felt I could drink it through my nose (and this time, I wouldn’t sublime).Me and Heron kept each other company for miles.

I pulled my travelbag out. My hands shook between thepauses. You know how you go back to somethingyou haven’t done in five years that you used to love? It’s a bit like trying to speak in a language you learned back in high school and haven’t used since: The framework is there, but your tongue feels swollen and slow. I pulled out a long, skinny stick wrapped in filmy tissue paper andcrackled like an ancient secret. This one I saved, propped up against the shadows, a remnant of that before time when I still understood “discipline.” I wasn’t going for a nicotine rush. “I was looking for a conversation with who I used to be. I wanted to know whether the contemplative state I sought in six years of yoga and a couple of years of silent retreats might be reached with more honesty inside some fermented leaves and dirt from a small patch of Cuba.

That smoke? The La Gloria CubanaMedaille d’Or No. 1. I didn’t want a fat modern cigarthat made you feel like you were holding a flashlight. I wanted something elegant. Something that felt likeit was from a different era. When I tore off the tissuepaper and there it was, in a butterscotch wrapper, I knew we were no longer on hiatus. The heron took flight, and I struck the match.

The Specs

Construction: A Delicate Relic

When you have a cigarover 7 inches long and with a of 36 ring gauge, it’s like trying to maintain your focus on your cigar and staying present. If you grip it too hard, you worry that you might snap it. If you’re too gangly — libertine in your hauteur, or hippie in your styling — it’s fragile. But believe me that the Medaille d’OrNo. 1 is not flimsy in the least. The construction of this stick, in other words, was dated as all hell; to put it less poetically: flat-out simple. It’s – the wrapper was a little on the light side, slightly too toothy not asmirrorsmooth as silk could be but definitely not parchment-fine. Sure, there were some surface veins, but they didn’t present asflaws; rather, they seemed akin to the character lines of an old friend’s face.

The triple cap was affixed with the kind of practiced accuracy only rollers at the Partagásfactory who’ve been at it longer than I have been alive possess.

 I gently squeezed it. It was a firm roll, no soft spots, and that can be an issue with these long skinny vitolas. Sometimes they’re as tight as a bank vault, but the pre-light draw on thisone was right where I wanted it — resistance-wise (some), feeling like you’re sipping a thick milkshake through a straw. From the foot it was all cedar in flavor and aroma with just a hint of something sweetness-wise that reminded me of dried hay laying out in the sun. It felt right in my hand. Itdidn’t feel like a “product,” it felt as if there were a page of historyhad been removed, carefully dusted down and placed behind glass after sixyears in near-mint condition just to arrive at me.

The First Third:The Gingerbread Greeting

The first few drags were a cue. I’d forgotten how concentrated the flavor of a small ring gauge is. And because there’s so little of this tobacco that is filler, to dilute the wrapper’s personality,you get this concentrated blast of character right from the beginning. For me, the beginning was all about spice — not burning-the-back-of-your-throat spice but something warm and tingling. It was more like entering a kitchenwhile someone is baking. I detected certain notes that helped me identify it as the taste of nutmeg and cinnamon, which was then smoothed over by a very different type of sweetener– one reminiscent of gingerbread.

It had a medium body, leaning towards the soft and smooth side of things that didn’t overly coat the mouth. An inch of the way and this floral note started to show up. I have heard some people call this roseblossom and I can kinda see that. It’s cooling, fragrant quality helps counter the heat. It didn’t produce much smoke (it is a 36 ring gauge) but the aroma it left behind inthe salty air was intoxicating. I simply sat there taking in the waves and noting that my ‘contemplative mood’ had finally arrived. It was not the cigar insisting on myattentionso much as it was transmogrifyingit.

The Second Third:Soil and Wood

On the midway point of the stick, things changed up flavor-wise. The gingerbread sweetness backed off and thecigar demonstrated more of its Cuban roots. I tasted this earthy, rich red soil flavor — the kind that has you thinking about iron-rich, rain-soaked earth. That was offset by a burnt wood and cedar core that all seemed rather traditional.

What really stood out to me was thecomplicatedness. One second I would get notes of roasted almonds, then a shot of citrus peel would dartover my tongue. It’s a nuanced smoke. If you are looking for a “flavor bomb” that knocks you over the head, this is not one of those. But if you look close, a lot is going on. It got pushed up a bit here, rising from a good solid medium to something with some serious cedar/joinery strength, but in that sort of well-bred way. The scorch was straight as a ribbon, and showed off almost like one of those scenic coastal highway pictures you sometimes find. I never had to re-apply, despite the fact that great big mean old ocean breeze was TRYNA GET UP ON THE CHERRY and I wouldn’t let it.

The Last Third:The Syrupy Finish

As Ireached the finalthird, with the sun dipping and bruisespread across the sky. The Medaille d’Or No.1 chose to end on a bit of a high note. Hands down my favorite part of this cigar is going to be the finish. It became syrupy — an intense, caramelly sweetness that stayed for the back ofthe throat without ever becoming cloying.

There was spicing once more, but now it had moved on from the cinnamon to something more exotic – some cardamom perhaps. There was a final pin-prick of red pepper and sweet tobacco to inform me that the cigar meant you’re done screwing around. While it was coolingoff, the heat remained tolerable. I smoked it all the way to my fingers nearly touching the ember (which remained an incredibly solid inch-long ash) and, even then, never had any bitterness develop. It simply expired like a good conversation. The leather and cocoa in the end puffs were just the closing argument for why I should never have stopped smoking in the first place.

Pairing Recommendations

As it is only a 36 ring gauge, and a delicate & nuanced smoke, you will NOT want to overpower this cigar with something like a heavy peaty scotch or thick stout.

You need something that holds the floral and spice notes up, without tromping all overthem.

• A Light Rum: A Flor de Caña 7 or12, for instance. The cigar’s gingerbread/caramel candied sweetness marries well with the naturalcandy-like sweet taste of cane.
• Earl Grey Tea: Both of thoserose blossom floral notes really come alive whenthe smokesin in the afternoon becauseof the bergamot in the tea.
• Something Crisp: I get it, that sounds like something you should be drinking with a top hat and monocle on–but the bubbles and inherent acidity in a drier champagne cuts through said too-sweet syrupy finish, while simultaneously keeping your piehole fresh Googling all those earthy middle-third notes.

The Verdict

I have spent more hours than I care to count pondering what makes a cigar truly “good.” It has become an eye-opener for me, the long stretch. I want theleast expensive, least powerful and most approachable thing in the humidor. I’m looking for something with a narrative. That would be the La Gloria Cubana Medaille d’Or No. 1. It’s a cigar from another era — a long, little skinny-and-pretty vitola that makes you take your time and smoke with purpose.

Is it for everyone? Probably not. If you like the idea of big rings and an enormous cloud of smoke, I think that’s going to be frustrating. But if you’re a fan of subtlety, ifyou enjoy spicy that dances rather than stomps, and — granted they were discontinued more than twelve long years ago — if you can get your hands on one of these babies from back in the day? It’s a strong, sophisticated smoke thatjust really reminded me why I love tobacco so damn much. Sitting on that beach, watching the tide lap in, I also realized it wasn’t only a case of smoking a cigar but rather having part of me back. Solid. Truly solid.