Eladio Diaz La Diana Biloria (5" x 52)

The Eladio Díaz La Diana Biloria carries a name that means considerably more than another designation on a cigar band. Francisco "Panchito" Biloria Vencosme was Eladio Díaz's first mentor, the man who introduced a seven-year-old Díaz to cigar making at his small Dominican factory called La Diana. That apprenticeship ultimately led to an extraordinary career, including decades at Davidoff before Díaz established Tabacalera Díaz Cabrera, his own Dominican factory. La Diana brings that journey full circle, and the Biloria may be its most direct tribute to the man who started it all. At 5" x 52, the Biloria gives Díaz's formidable blend a little more breadth without surrendering its intensity. Its Ecuadorian Habano 2000 wrapper sits over a Mexican San Andrés binder, followed by a complex interior of Dominican Corojo, Criollo '98 and Negrito accented by Peruvian Pelo de Oro. It's an unusually interesting tobacco recipe—earthy and structured at its core, yet capable of delivering roasted coffee, toasted nuts, wood, pepper and a restrained underlying sweetness. The 52 ring gauge gives those components enough room to separate and develop while retaining the muscular character Díaz intended for La Diana. For an aficionado, the Biloria is compelling for reasons that extend beyond flavor. You're smoking a cigar conceived by one of the Dominican Republic's most accomplished blenders, made in his own factory, and named for the man who first put tobacco into his hands. That kind of authenticity can't be invented by a marketing department—and it gives an already serious cigar considerably more soul.