Initial Thoughts
This is the second La Palina I’ve smoked. The first one out of the gate didn’t impress me too much, you can read my review of the La Palina Maduro if you have some spare time. After hearing about this Kill Bill for quite some time, I decided to pick one up at my local shop and give it a try. After reading about it and seeing that it had placed in the top 25 of CA’s list this year (at #19) I was even more inclined to smoke it. I think I was behind the curve on this one. I feel like everyone under the sun has smoked this and reviewed it already and I’m late to the game. Oh well, I’m here now.
This cigar has an interesting backstory that I picked up on from CA’s site. Apparently, during the first sample of this cigar William Paley (Brand owner of La Palina) tried it and it was a bit too much cigar for him. He then dubbed it the nickname ‘Kill Bill’ because it apparently almost killed him, and that name stuck, and this cigar has lovingly been referred it to as that since.
This cigar’s full name is El Diario KB. The El Diario is translated into English as “The Daily”. The nickname Kill Bill was shortened to KB, but we all still know what it means. Honestly, when I heard Kill Bill for the first time I thought it got the nickname from the Tarantino franchise. I was obviously wrong about that. Well how about we get into this cigar and fire it up and see what it’s all about and see if lives up to it’s name!
Looks
Standing at 4 1/2″ x 40 this isn’t a very large cigar, I love the size though. I actually smoked this La Palina Kill Bill in under 45 mins out by the pool on Father’s Day while my pale white arms were getting cooked to a red crisp. This cigar has the beautiful La Palina band on it that has a gorgeous vintage image of a woman on the inset. Then gold trimming throughout the entire cigar. One of my favorite pieces of the band are all the flor de lis’ on the tabs of the band that wrap around the barrel of the cigar. It adds a nice subtlety to the band if you ask me. It’s a very classic looking band that has a unique modern look to it, kind of makes sense doesn’t it? That’s one of the things has always drawn me to the La Palina brand is their packaging.
As I said above this cigar is quite small. I have’t smoked very many petite coronas but I’m excited to try this one. The wrapper on this cigar is a Honduran Corojo 99′ Rosado, it is a nice light brown with a hint of reddish tint to it. There are very few veins that run the course of it and in the right light this thing glows. It’s hard to see all the natural shine on this wrapper out in the sunlight, but when I viewed this under darker conditions in my humidor the oils truly glistened off this wrapper. Not much more I can say about how this thing looks, so lets hop under the hood.
Function
After taking a quick glance it appears that this La Palina Kill Bill has a triple cap on it. I didn’t sit and stare at it too long I wanted to slice it off and get this thing smoking. The pre light festivities were a quick check to make sure we’re good for takeoff. The filler had a nice bounce to it and didn’t seem too packed. Which I’m hoping is a good thing. I think this little guy will draw pretty well, or at least that’s what I’m hoping for! Taking a look at the foot, it doesn’t appear to be packed too tightly. There are some different shades of brown when looking at the filler tobacco. This could be by design, or just a side effect of maturation. I didn’t worry about it for too long though.
After I nip the head off this La Palina Kill Bill I bring the torch to the foot. I have to make sure and get a good first couple of puffs because I’m looking at the fuel window on my Xikar Stratosphere and it’s incredibly low on fuel. So I’ve gotta make these first lights count! Whew, I barely made it. I had this cigar burning and puffing perfectly and then I began to hear the hiss from my lighter which told me I was completely out of butane. I hope I don’t have any burn issues with this stick because I’m not going to be able to correct them! So we’re off and running let’s see how this little guy smokes the rest of the way.
Smoking
On the first few puffs on my La Palina Kill Bill the smoke was a little light, but once I got the full combustion going it was huffing and puffing like a big boy cigar. Honestly, I was surprised at how much smoke this petite corona was putting off. As I said before I haven’t had a lot of experience with them so I didn’t really know what to expect. The first third was off to a great start. I held the ash for almost an inch, but then I went ahead and knocked it off. The wind was beginning to pick up and I didn’t want the ash to fly off and go into the pool. That’s just bad karma, ya know?
The second third of this cigar smoked very similar to the first. Not a single draw issue, the burn was fairly straight and the ash held on exceptionally well. One thing that I did notice about the ash was that it wasn’t completely solid. The core was very sturdy and strong, but there were some deep ridges in the ash that made it look like it could fall apart at any time. It didn’t affect the smoke or burn at all, just something different that I noticed. I tried to get some detailed pictures, but my camera wasn’t wanting to focus and it was hard to get some great pictures of it.
The final third on this La Palina Kill Bill was exceptional as well. The only issue that I had was that the band was so large I had to take it off pretty early because I didn’t want to burn it. I typically like to save these bands after I smoke them, but I wasn’t at my house and I had no real way to transport it back undamaged so I just peeled it off and crumbled it up. I almost cried, but then I didn’t want to seem like a wuss so I wipe those tears away and chugged some bourbon. Overall this cigar smoked and burned perfectly, couldn’t really ask for more than that!
Flavor
One thing I’ve noticed when smoking, it’s kind of hard to pick up on some flavors when you’re smoking out in the wide open. The wind is whipping around and taking all the smoke away and it’s difficult to really soak everything in. However, I was able to pick up a decent amount of flavors on this La Palina Kill Bill. On the pre light I noticed some deep hints of cocoa and sweet tobacco flavors followed by some molasses. The pre light draw brought out a bit of sweetness and no real spice on the lips which is actually surprising.
After lighting this thing up I was blasted with pepper and spice. It’s like it was sitting there waiting to explode. Then it just slowly dissipated into a nice rich nuttiness. There were still some hints of pepper on the retrohale and the savory meaty notes began to build up towards the end of the first third.
The second third really began to build in terms of body. The spice was almost gone, but the nutty and meaty notes were certainly there. Nothing too complex or overwhelming just very balanced and enjoyable. The final third was more of the same, the savory notes were the dominant flavors and this cigar had finally topped out at a medium-full body cigar.
I was actually very impressed with the flavors on this cigar. I enjoyed this petite corona quite a bit. It was very well balanced and delivered a nice combination of flavors that all worked well together.
Would I Buy It Again?
Ehh, maybe. It’s a high price point for such a small cigar, but it’s a possibility.
Is It an Every Day Smoke?
If the price point is right, this could be an everyday smoke for sure, I mean it’s name means “The Daily” so yeah it makes sense.
Would I Buy a Box?
Potentially, I love the packaging on this La Palina Kill Bill, so it might be worth it to have the box around.
Conclusion
I enjoyed this cigar a lot more than I thought I would. I don’t know why I had the pre conceived notion that I wouldn’t enjoy it, maybe because I didn’t enjoy the first La Palina I smoked. I was impressed with this stick though. It offered a lot of good flavor notes and a great smoking experience what more can you ask for?
