The first third burns well as long as take double puffs, giving a medium body with notes of a slight pepper and smooth earth with cinnamon and a dry cocoa on a fairly long finish of the same. 45 minutes in at the 1/2 way point the pepper and earth drop off, leaving a cocoa and espresso bean with a touch of sweetness. Ending at 1:35 the last third ramped up the cocoa more, leaving everything else the same.

I love chocolate and I can’t really think of many people who do not like it, that is the dominant flavor throughout this cigar. While it is not on the forefront all the time, it is always present. I liked the bold and nuanced flavors that shifted in and out from each section, all of the flavors meshed well with the chocolate base. The retrohale had a nice progression in starting out with a spicy red pepper and mellowing out to a black pepper with oak. There is so much flavor in this stick and it was impossible to not stay interested for the entire smoke.

Overall, the Rodriguez Cigars Primera Clase Corona will not win a long ash contest, but that is no problem as this morsel delivered on bold flavor and growing strength from foot to nub. Complex in flavor, it offered a fine burn, perfect draw, full volume of smoke in every puff, and never required a touch up even when the burn got a tad jagged at times. For a box pressed corona, the barrel never got squishy during the journey. This is certainly worthy of a box buy and I look forward to checking out some of the other vitolas in this line. I rate this a solid 94. 

Score: 94/100