La Palina - Brand Discussion
If you're unfamiliar with the brand La Palina, hopefully this will give you a good foundation. Their cigars hit both ends of many spectrums: price, quality, awesomeness, etc.
If you have smoked them, I'd love to hear more about your favorites. If you haven't, my recommendations are at the bottom!
Hopefully this info is up to date/correct, I encourage revisions!
La Palina
Sam Paley emigrated from Ukraine in the late 1880s and found employment as a lector. He was promoted from lector to roller, then blender. In 1896, he founded La Palina, named after his wife Goldie Paley.
Sadly, the business folded in 1926 when he retired. William Paley, his son, founded CBS, made mad money, which enabled his son Bill to reestablish La Palina in 2008.
La Palina does not own a factory of their own, rather contracts out all their cigar production. This is not uncommon.
While their website lists seven cigar lines, I distill their offerings into four groups, listed in increasing order of personal preference:
- "PDR Stuff" - Classic, El Diario, and Black Label (the newest addition.)
- Maduro
- Family Series *soon to be "El Titan Stuff"
- "El Titan Stuff" - Sam, LP Collection
PDR Stuff
Classic, El Diario, and Black Label - rolled at Pinar del Rio. They're OK, I prefer the Black Label, but it's like picking between three friends you'd least like to spend time with. Why even bother? Just hang out on the porch alone with some booze. Inconsistent, some KBs are strong and fuller bodied, others are weaksauce. Have had tons of burn issues with them. The Black Label is decent, I haven't smoked enough of them to make any comments on consistency, but not something I'm drawn towards.
Classic is marginally better than El Diario, but not enough body and complexity. Black Label is the best of the three.
Overall, I don't reach for much, if anything, that PDR rolls. On occasion they roll great things, but their lack of consistency is off putting.
Maduro
Maduro line is rolled at Racies Cubana. They're medium plus. Pretty good.
Family Series
I had these ranked as most preferred, then started writing about the the El Titan de Bronze stuff and remembered how exquisite they were. Well blended, consistent, and beautiful cigars.
Family Series (Pasha, Babe, Little Bill, and Alison) are rolled by Bahamian Graycliff. Now you may see some Graycliff stuff floating around, but it's often not the Bahamian stuff. Look for "Bahamas" on the wrapper. Same goes for what you see on cbid/cigars international, few if any are Bahamian.
However, La Palina took a different direction in 2013/2014 and ETdB will be responsible for Family Series. Ciao Graycliff! The Family Series was already rolled and resting at ETdB in mid 2014 as I recall, so they should be, if not already, on shelves soon.
Little Bill and Alison are the same blend, different vitola, and both smoke great. Babes are good, milder. The Pasha was discontinued c. late 2013 as I recall (and was delicious), but will be coming back via ETdB!
El Titan Stuff
Mr. Sam (2013 LE and 2014 redux), Goldie (#2, #5, Especial), and 1896. The Mr. Sam OR was preferable to the Goldie 5 for me and the Goldie #2 takes the cake amongst them. The #5 was the most Cuban-esque non-cuban in recent memory. The Especial was a much meatier expression than the #5, and I'd take second place for me in that lineup. They've done well to blossom since their initial release. The 1896 was $18 MSRP when released as their first LE in 2012, so market price now is hefty, if you can even find them.
Overall
If you were to ask me to pick a few attainable cigars (not necessarily representative of the brand, because why would you want to smoke the shit end of the spectrum??) I would say, in order of increasing preference:
- Little Bill - I think the blend does well in this size, though the Alison is solid. Ecuadorian Habano, smooth, with enough ligero in there to keep me interested. MSRP is significant, but if you look online (or PM me), there are some discounted sources.
- Goldie #5 - while this size is not something I'll always reach for, it is phenomenally constructed, complex, and it's a mind fuck to smoke it and think of Cuba. If you can't find this, try the Especial. It's a much more bold expression and as I mentioned, has done will with a few months since release.
- Mr. Sam - Original Release Robusto - OK, this is a little more challenging to find, maybe I'm cheating a little. But I was still picking them up on the secondary market a few months ago, so we'll squeeze it in there. Great size, can be smoked for breakfast or dinner, top notch for $12. In the absence of the rob, you could try the other two production vitolas. I have not smoked them, but have heard they are close enough.
- If I had to pick a fourth, it'd be the Maduro. But if you can, stick to the other three.
My personal list:
- 1896/Goldie #2
- OR Sam
- Little Bill/Goldie Especial/#5
- Rest of cigars.
There are few details I left out, you can read more at their site here. Thanks for reading!
