La Palina: Goldie Laguito No. 2 Cigars

La Palina's history dates to Chicago 1896 when Ukrainian émigré Samuel Paley established Congress Cigar Company and released his debut blend: La Palina, named after his wife. At its height, Congress Cigar Co. rolled one million cigars per day, but the Great Depression doomed the factory, like so many other businesses, and the company folded — lost to time if not for Samuel's grandson Bill Paley, who resurrected the La Palina name in 2010. Committed to the same excellence as his grandfather, Bill Paley revived La Palina as a "personal, signature luxury cigar," and the brand custom-sources tobaccos and partners with renowned factories in Honduras, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, and Miami, USA, for a range of distinctive, premium cigars.

The Goldie cigar is La Palina's pride and joy, its magnum opus. It's both the most prestigious and exclusive cigar from the tabacalera, named after Samuel's wife Goldie Drell Paley. As a cigar, the Goldie features an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, Ecuadorian binder, and a filler blend of Nicaraguan and Dominican tobaccos that includes medio tiempo leaves — the uppermost ligero leaves on only a certain number of tobacco plants. Hand-rolled exclusively by one master torcedor at the El Titan de Bronze factory in Miami, Florida, the La Palina Goldie is a masterclass in construction, flavor, complexity, and satisfaction.