Pre-Light
Rafael Gonzalez is an interesting marca, they’ve been considered a budget brand for a long time, and a lot of their portfolio was actually machine made until they made the switch to hand rolling not too long ago. There are only a handful of vitolas in their current portfolio. The Perlas, Panatelas Extras, The Coronas De Lonsdale, and the Petit Corona, as well as an occasional regional edition.
First Third
The wrapper is really pretty here, almost exactly the color of a chocolate bar. The color works really well with the Rafael Gonzalez band as well. The draw was too tight, and needed some help from a draw tool, but I got it to a place where it was smokeable. First pull tastes exactly like Cocoa Puffs. Wow. Big notes of dry cocoa powder, and some bready cereal notes in the background. There’s some dark roast coffee on the palate. The retrohale is predominantly dark chocolate, and floral spice. I’m also finding some notes of sweet toasted tobacco in the mix. Very arid smoke texture here, almost parching. The ash flakes off after about half an inch.
Second Third
The second third is staying the course. Dark chocolate and cocoa notes are definitely ramping up. There’s also some cedar popping in here. If I was blindfolded I really would have thought this was a Cuban Montecristo. I usually associate that floral spice/chocolate/wood with Montes. Smoke texture is getting a bit less dry thankfully. I’m having some construction issues here, the cigar wen out twice in the second third, and the burn line is pretty gnarly.
Final Third
This blend if nothing is remarkably consistent. I’m picking up a bit more of a fudge character in the chocolate in the final third, but the flavors are almost identical to the first third otherwise. Floral spice, and dark chocolate on the retrohale. Cocoa powder, coffee, and a bit of wood on the palate. I put this one down right as we got to the band.
Conclusions
When I was doing some research on the blend I noticed that was very much a love it or hate it cigar. This example is from a PTE March ’22 box. At $10 USD this is the kind of stick that sells out really quickly, people are usually stoked to get a genuine long filler Cuban at that price point. I could really see some people loving this cigar, especially if you’re into the Montecristo flavor profile. Construction issues aside, I just don’t really like this flavor profile, and it was too linear to keep me interested. The Rafael Gonzalez Petit Corona is a one trick pony, and I just didn’t really like the trick.
