In early 2021, The Tuesday Night Cigar Club featured the original Hot Cake corona gorda on a particularly entertaining podcast episode and we all gave it a thumbs up. Skip ahead a few years and HVC has recently released a more mild version of their Hot Cake line which they’ve dubbed as the “Golden Line”.
THE CIGAR – HOT CAKE GOLDEN LINE by HVC
Size: 5 5/8 x 46 (corona gorda)
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan (Estelí & Jalapa)
Price: $8.30 (the reviewed cigars were acquired from Famous Smoke Shop where you can use promo code TNCC20 to get $20 off your order of $100 or more!)
The Hot Cake Golden Line corona gorda features a light golden
The cold draw showcases some more hay with the addition of a slight salty mustiness. Upon ignition, there’s a medium, crisp white pepper spice through the nose and Café au Lait (that’s coffee with milk for all you noobs) is pouring in via the draw. Once things settle in, a mild cedar note begins to arise on the backend of the pepper. The draw here early on is incredibly smooth and the straight burn line impresses as well.
A light floral element has now joined the pepper and cedar on the retrohale and all these flavors are playing very nicely with the coffee-centric draw. The Golden Line’s copious white smoke is producing a fantastic aroma so be sure and take a moment to relish in it. The white pepper has dialed down a few notches but it remains very much the driving force on the complex retrohale; however, the downtick in spice allows the cedar, floral, and a developing vanilla cupcake flavor to shine through. The solid, dark grey ash finally falls around the 2” mark.
Something new has arisen behind the draw’s Café au Lait. I’m hesitant to reveal here what it reminds me of but, fuck it, if I’m picking up a Hershey’s Cookies & Cream bar sensation I owe it to you – our valued reader – to type that crazy shit out and face the eye-rolling tobacco traditionalists head on when they come for me. Damn, this new variant of the Hot Cake is really REALLY good.
In the final third, the Golden Line’s white pepper has begun to decrease its prominence a bit more. This transition only benefits the cigar’s final act as the cedar, floral, and vanilla notes are now coming through more clearly than ever before. The draw’s core flavor of light coffee has been nothing if not consistent and while I’m sad to see the cookies and cream bid adiós as the cigar reaches its finale, all good things must come to an end I suppose…
THE NUB
TNCC FINAL SCORE = 94
The Hot Cakes Golden Line corona gorda features outstanding overall construction, impressive transitions, and a complex profile that I’m confident will turn off absolutely no one. Listen up folks, in the spirit of keeping things real here, I just can’t imagine any premium cigar smoker not enjoying the hell out of this premium cigar. It’s that fucking simple and it’s that fucking good.
* Total Smoking Duration: 82 minutes
** Editor’s Note: The TNCC reviewed this cigar in December of last year but, due to unforeseen circumstances, we’re just now able to publish it. Therefore, the Hot Cakes Golden Line is eligible for our year-end “Top Ten Cigars of 2023” list.
