My Father La Promesa Corona Gorda Review

2026-08-27  Hand-Me-One · 2/4 My Money · by Eric

Filed under: Ecuador · Tight Draw · Habano · Nicaragua · The Ash · Retrohale · Which Size, When

Verdict: Hand-Me-One (2/4). The first two thirds were genuinely good... leather, coffee, peanut shell drifting into cashew, a sweet cream that kept coming back, and a retro that smoked like a different cigar than the draw all night. Two things pull it down: a draw that stayed snug from the cold draw to the end and never opened up, even after the draw tool, and a final third that collapsed into nothing but earth and leather... my least favorite place a cigar can land. Two thirds of a Five-Pack smoke, and an ending that takes the tier with it.

La Promesa is Spanish for "the promise"... a My Father release rolled at the García family's own factory in Estelí. The wrapper is an Ecuadorian Habano Rosado Oscuro over Nicaraguan binder and filler, and it's dark enough that you'd assume Nicaraguan puro. You'd be wrong... that leaf is Ecuadorian. It's marketed medium-full; my read on this one was medium, the whole way through.

The Setup

• Cigar: My Father La Promesa, Corona Gorda (5.5 x 48). Ecuadorian Habano Rosado Oscuro wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and filler, made at My Father Cigars in Estelí.
• Street price: about $9.20 a single... multiple retailers sitting right at that number. Mid-smoke I guessed ten bucks based on what I paid; I looked it up at the end and it was even less.
• What I paid: $11.75 before tax at a B&M while I was traveling. My own money. I've bought from that shop before and they run a few bucks over street, so no surprise there.
• Storage: my Boveda travel bag with a 69% pack, about ten days of rest. Normally I'd give it longer, but it fit the time of night I was starting, the size worked, and it was sitting right on top when I opened the bag. It was the pick.
• When/where: started about 8:45 at night on the covered back deck with a thunderstorm rolling in... 76°F, feels-like 77, 74% humidity. Lightning first, then the fat raindrops started literally as I was talking about them. I like thunderstorms, and I'm covered, so that's a fun hour, not a problem.
• Smoke time: about an hour and five minutes.
• Food beforehand: dinner right around six, so two and a half hours-plus before I lit up... my wife's chicken potato casserole. Not spicy, but a bunch of olive oil and seasonings, a four-cheese cheddar melted over the top, then diced bacon over that. Wicked good, heavy meal. Had a San Pellegrino with dinner.
• First cigar of the day, paired with just water.

Light Up and First Third

Pre-light, this is a good looking cigar. Triple cap, milky dark chocolate color... a nice deep dark brown... clean wrapper, slightly veiny, no tooth. The foot ribbon came off clean and the foot underneath was perfect. Straight cut with the Xikar XO double guillotine, lit with the Guevara Lux single-flame torch. Both of those are my daily go-tos.

The cold draw is slightly tight. Clean, slightly sweet tobacco, a little tingle on the lips, nothing on the retro.

On the light-up you get a toasted, light leather breadiness... a tiny bit of sweetness behind it, but very little. The spice sits on your lips, not on your tongue or your palate at all. Retro the light-up and it's a light baking spice, leather, light cream, a tiny bit of nuttiness, and then a little spice that lingers on the palate after.

The draw, though. Decently snug... not unworkable, but decently snug. I thought about giving it time to open on its own, then took that back and went straight for the PerfecDraw. Ran it an inch and a half, maybe two inches in... behind the band... and it is tightly packed in there. I didn't want to go farther than that. Still snug after the tool. Tighter than I want it.

Size note: I didn't actually realize this was a Corona Gorda when I picked it up... I thought it was a Toro, wasn't paying that much attention, and I don't smoke a lot of this size. It's 5.5 x 48 and it feels really good in the hand. I'm not a 60 ring gauge guy... 56 is about my max in a round cigar, bigger only if it's box-pressed... and this one sits right where I like it. I just wish it drew better.

About a half inch in: leather, a little earthiness, medium roasted black coffee, light cream, and a hint of nuttiness in the background. Not a very sweet profile. Then you retro it and it's a different cigar: baking spice, something like a peanut... almost a peanut shell, not quite... sweet cream, leather, and just a touch of coffee. Two different profiles, draw versus retro. Hold that thought, because it's the story of the whole night.

Smoke production has been excellent from the start, and the ash is really nice... the burn line's a little wavy and a little crooked, but rotation's handling it.

At the end of the first third: very tight ash, stacking really well, no flyers at all. The burn line's a little wavy, but not wavy enough that I'd touch it up... review or no review. Flavor is leather, a very light nuttiness, medium roasted black coffee, and maybe a touch of earthiness on the finish. On the retro: white pepper, peanut shell, and now a definite sweet cream on the finish... a light sweet, but definitely there. Took one tap and the ash came off super clean, nice point, stayed together in the ashtray. Great construction. I just wish the draw would open up... it's not detracting from the smoke, it's just tighter than I want.

With the ash gone, the leathery edge actually got lighter, which is backwards from how it usually goes for me, and a good bit of straight nuttiness... not a sweet nuttiness, just nuttiness... came to the forefront. The retro stayed similar except the sweet cream went almost nonexistent. Then the last draw of the third gave me leather and a lot of sweet cream, really enjoyable, and I took that as a good sign heading into the second third.

The La Promesa second band came off completely clean along the way... glued only to itself, wrapper perfect underneath. And I caught myself thinking I might pick up more of this size as my shorter smokes... I was guessing an hour, hour and a quarter total. Remember that for later.

Second Third

Smoke production is definitely better than average... not billows, but above average whether you take a single draw or a double.

A quarter to half inch into the second third, the single draw is peanut shells up front, then leather and a medium-light roasted black coffee, with a tiny bit of pepper that just sits on the sides of your tongue. A double draw turns that into roasted peanut... not burned, just definitely roasted... with leather, a touch of earth, and medium black coffee, and the cream basically gone on that draw. Retro it and you get a barely sweet spice that sits between baking spice and white pepper, plus peanut shells, leather, light roasted coffee, and a very light sweet cream that coats and lingers on your palate between draws. Not bad at all.

For strength I'd put it at a medium, and it stayed there.

About two thirds of the way through this third the profile leaned darker. Double draw: bitter leather up front, medium roasted black coffee, a touch of earth, maybe a touch of nuttiness in the background. Single draw: peanut... slightly more peanut than peanut shell... and leather fighting for dominance, then the peanut drops away fast and the leather, coffee, and light earthiness linger, with that leathery bitterness now on the sides of your tongue, slightly drying, plus a little minerality hanging around. But the retro was still its own cigar: a medium white pepper creaminess, a nuttiness I couldn't place... not peanut... and a sweet cream that just kept coming back and coating the palate. Very pleasant.

Construction stayed excellent through all of it. Very tight ash still stacking, one tiny flyer all night... a little wrapper vein that poked itself out, brushed it off... and I hadn't touched the torch since the initial light. The burn ran a touch wavy the whole time, and rotating the low side to the bottom kept it true.

Then the flavor changed on me, fast. The leather had been growing in bitterness and earthiness... not dramatically, but definitely growing... and it just fell way back. Now it's roasted cashew on the front, medium roasted black coffee, some leather, and a very light earthiness in the background, with the bite on the sides of the tongue backing off. Retro: still that peanut shell note but leaning cashew now, a light sweet cream, leather, and then it skips the coffee and goes straight to a light earthiness. Interesting how quick it turned.

Near the band, one finger on the bottom stopped keeping up with the rest of the burn, and I'd already decided I was going to knock the ash off and touch it up. Then I had to eat my words... a rotation to the bottom and it self-corrected, even on the lagging finger. No touch-up.

The main band came off completely clean too, glued only to itself... what I'd call the perfect amount of glue. Held itself together, left nothing on the wrapper. Excellent job on both bands.

At the end of the second third the main tone is an almond and leather sitting right next to each other, neither one winning, then the almond falls away and leaves a light leather, coffee, and slightly earthy finish with a light bitterness that lingers. That earthy bite on the sides of the tongue is almost completely gone. A double draw brings more peanut shell, leather, and coffee. Retro: a white pepper earthiness, light almond in the background, and a very light creaminess... not really sweet now, just creamy... coating the palate. Knocked the ash: one tap, came off completely clean, much less of a point than the first ash but still a slight one. No touch-up needed. First draw after ashing was roasted cashews, creaminess, leather, and coffee with no real earthiness to speak of, and a light creaminess riding the finish with the leather. Still a good cigar right here.

Final Third

A quarter inch into the final third, it started to dip. The single draw is turning drying on the palate: mostly leather, a darker roast black coffee, the earthiness coming back, and really no sweetness... there's a very, very mild creaminess somewhere far in the background. A double draw actually gives you more creaminess up front, but it evaporates fast into a heavy leather-earthiness that's pretty drying. The retro held out longer: black pepper at the forefront... decently strong, not blowing your sinuses off... then almond, coffee, leather, a little earthiness, and just a touch of creaminess way in the back. The draws through the mouth were drying; the retro wasn't drying at all. Which is the story of this cigar... the retro ran a different flavor profile than the draw the entire time.

And the draw never opened up. Not at all... which is odd, because by now the burn was well into the stretch the PerfecDraw went through. Still not unworkable, but very snug, and you're definitely noticeably drawing through the cigar. Smoke production stayed very good regardless.

A little past halfway through the final third, the burn went pretty wonky... first time all night I actually needed the lighter. And the flavor had gone with it: on the draw, leather and earth and nothing else. On the retro, black pepper, leather, and coffee, and that's the whole list. I knocked the ash off... the cherry was slightly hollow... and gave it one touch-up to even it back out and see if anything came back. It didn't. Still leather and earth on the draw, black pepper, earth, and leather on the retro, with a bitterness that just hangs out on your palate. So I put it down and let it die out with an inch and a quarter, inch and a half left. That's not a DNF... there wasn't much cigar left and there was nothing left in it. Right about an hour and five minutes.

Construction

• Wrapper: milky dark chocolate brown, clean, slightly veiny, no tooth, triple cap. The foot ribbon did its job... clean, undamaged foot underneath.
• Draw: the problem. Snug on the cold draw, snug after running the PerfecDraw an inch and a half to two inches in, and it never opened up at any point in the smoke... even once the burn passed where the tool had been. Never unworkable, but noticeably tighter than I want, start to finish.
• Burn: wavy most of the night but self-correcting... zero touch-ups through the first two thirds, including one lagging finger near the band that fixed itself on rotation alone. It went genuinely wonky in the final third and got one touch-up there, mostly to give the flavor a fair last look.
• Ash: very tight, stacked really well, came off in one tap every time and stayed whole in the tray. Nice point on the first ash, one tiny flyer all night off a poked-out wrapper vein. The last ash left a slightly hollow cherry.
• Smoke output: above average the entire smoke, single draw or double.
• Band: both came off completely clean, glued only to themselves. The perfect amount of glue, twice.

Bottom Line

For two thirds, this was my kind of cigar. Leather, coffee, peanut shell sliding into cashew and almond, a sweet cream that kept drifting back in... and the most interesting part, a retro that ran its own profile all night, usually the sweeter and creamier of the two. Add above-average smoke, an ash that stacked tight and dropped clean, a burn that fixed itself, and two perfectly glued bands, and you're looking at a Five-Pack smoke.

Then the last third took it apart. The flavors collapsed to earth and leather... on the draw, on the retro, everywhere... and that's the profile I enjoy least in any cigar. Stack that ending on a draw that stayed snug every single draw of the night, tool and all, and the tier drops. A medium the whole way, for what it's worth, whatever the marketing says.

Would I smoke it again? Hand-Me-One. Mid-smoke I was already planning to pick up more of these as my shorter smokes... then the final third talked me out of it. If I ever grab this blend again it'd be in a shorter vitola, on the theory that there's less runway for that ending. This size, I'm not rebuying. But hand me one and I'll happily smoke the first two thirds and put it down without a second thought.

Best for: somebody in the leather-coffee-nutty lane who actually retrohales... the retro is where the sweetness and cream lived all night, and skipping it means missing the best thing this cigar does. Give it water, give it an hour, and don't feel bad about setting it down when the earth shows up.

My rating scale, one question only... would I spend my own money on this again? 4 Box Buy (box on hand, always) / 3 Five-Pack (yes, a few live in the humidor) / 2 Hand-Me-One (wouldn't buy it, wouldn't turn one down) / 1 Not Even Free (I'd rather smoke nothing).

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