Don Lino Africa

[AaronFromPA]

OK so I took the 2.5 hour trip to Erie, PA today to visit Tobbaco Land. A shop in the Millcreek Mall and the nearest shop I can get to that does not get hit with NY state tax. While there the tobbacoist tells me I should try the newest cigar on the shelf the Don Lino Africa. Since he is a good chap I took 2 that I would say were robustos, 5" long and I would guess roughly a 48 ring.

Country: Nicaragua
Wrapper: Nicaragua
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Cameroon, Dom Rep., Nic.
Strength: Full (I beg to differ)

OOOOOOOOOOOK here we go

Build: Impressive to say the least for a 5 dollar smoke. The wrapper had very little veining and was all neat and tidy. The structure was a bit more spongy than I expected, perhaps due to a higher humidiy than I am use to. The filler tobaccos had a great variety of color, I was excited.

Pre light nose: Odd...no other way to put it, I dare to say it had almost a bitter sweet smell to it unlike anything I have had to date.

Draw: Easy like Sunday morning and a girl I met at college many moons ago.

First Half: Weak to my taste buds. I just did not get a full flavored wow at all. As a matter of fact I had to actually think about it to get any taste at all outta the damn thing. About .5 inch in it began to burn uneven, this never corrected itself. About midway through I had to take on a "get in the game and take one for the team" attitude. I will say the ash was pretty white and held well through first part.

Second Half: Now we were starting to get somewhere. The tastes that I expected slowly filtered in, very earthy with a hint of nuttiness...kinda like me. Had it not been for me trying to fix the uneven burn this half of the cigar may have been enjoyable. The draw remained great though it burned a bit hot. The ash also started going downhill here tending to come off if I set the stick down at any time.

Finish: The stick finished pretty good with strong flavor and a full taste.

Verdict: So-So at best IMHO. I think with some age this will be a great cigar so I am happy I bought two. the other will sett a few months before I burn it up. I think this would be a fine smoke for sitting around with friends talking and playing some poker. It is just not a cigar that is very complex in my opinion. ymmv.

 

[OutlawD]

nice review my first impression of this cigar was that i was smoking a $7 padron fuma. thats a $2 padron med.fill btw. weve had em for about 6 months.in that 6 months weve sold about 3/4 a box of each size. mostly first time buyers,rarely any repeat buyers. i had one when we first got them and had one about a week ago out of the same box,no change at all still inferior burn with not much uuumph.


oh and im not knockin padron fumas i think theyre great $2 cigars :thumbs:

 

[andrewhac]

My personal experience with "Don Lino" from Tarzan land in another thread here at CPasss:

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I had my 2nd Don Lino Africa - Kifaro (Torpedo) on this past Friday evening. The cigar was firm to the touch, nicely shaped and the tobacco leaf smell is wonderful. However, when I lighted the cigar up, I immediately encountered difficult draw. Try as I might to roll the cigar between the fingers attempting to loosen up the draw, it just did no do any good. It really took a tremendous amount of effort to get a decent smoke out of a draw. What I could get out of the draw, the smoke is wonderful, full of flavor, medium-high on the tobacco strengh, not bitter... Finally, I used a toothpick and inserted at the cut-off head of the cigar and worked it inside the body a few time, again trying to loosen up the bunched tobacco leaf in there. It did not help much. I tried to finish the cigar to the end but the overall experience is that it took too much effort and pain to try enjoying this cigar. Wonder what I will do now with the rest of the box ? Maybe aging them again for another 6 months will alleviated the draw problem. Such a waste for a beautifully constructed cigar with an excellent flavor...
>

What else can I say except weeping silently ?