I smoked one of these on New Years Eve and found it to be a good cigar. It is made by Don Pepin Garcia and is touted to be his best. Everything Pepin touches has turned to gold this year and these are a limited production of three different sizes. A robusto, a belicoso and a toro. It has a retail MSRP of $12.
Pre-light inspection shows small veins and a well wrapper cigar. Slight springiness on the cigar, but no hard spots. Very soft wrapper. It has a medium dark wraper with good oils. Scents of coffee, white pepper and nuts come off this one. Taste of pepper and nuts also come prior to light.
After cutting and toasting this cigar, hints of nutmeg, pepper and cocoa shined through. It is a medium bodied/flvored cigar. It had a good draw, but the burn was slightly uneven in the fist half of the cigar. Had to touch it up a few times, but never fully corrected itself.
As the cigar continued to burn, good smoke (blue-grey, lots of it) and a light grey with black streaks ash developed. Had good staying power. Only one crack developed in the wrapper as I was smoking it, but it did not detract from this cigar.
Final half of the cigar finished nicely, still with good coffee, pepper and cocoa. Also, cedar came through, as did leather, toffee and vanilla from time to time. Heat developed on the nub with about 1 and 1/2 inch left. Slight bite, but that was because I was smoking this one fast.
Overall this cigar was good, but was not all that I expected it to be from Pepin. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this one a 8.25 to 8.5. Typically, Pepin makes cigars with a "punch." I kept waiting for this one to nail me. I did enjoy it and have several more that I will be smoking. I believe this cigar needs more age to make it smoother. Please do not get me wrong, this is a good cigar as all of Pepins cigars are. But, with greatness, you learn to expect more all of the time. JMHO!
Hope this review helps.
Pre-light inspection shows small veins and a well wrapper cigar. Slight springiness on the cigar, but no hard spots. Very soft wrapper. It has a medium dark wraper with good oils. Scents of coffee, white pepper and nuts come off this one. Taste of pepper and nuts also come prior to light.
After cutting and toasting this cigar, hints of nutmeg, pepper and cocoa shined through. It is a medium bodied/flvored cigar. It had a good draw, but the burn was slightly uneven in the fist half of the cigar. Had to touch it up a few times, but never fully corrected itself.
As the cigar continued to burn, good smoke (blue-grey, lots of it) and a light grey with black streaks ash developed. Had good staying power. Only one crack developed in the wrapper as I was smoking it, but it did not detract from this cigar.
Final half of the cigar finished nicely, still with good coffee, pepper and cocoa. Also, cedar came through, as did leather, toffee and vanilla from time to time. Heat developed on the nub with about 1 and 1/2 inch left. Slight bite, but that was because I was smoking this one fast.
Overall this cigar was good, but was not all that I expected it to be from Pepin. On a scale of 1 to 10, I give this one a 8.25 to 8.5. Typically, Pepin makes cigars with a "punch." I kept waiting for this one to nail me. I did enjoy it and have several more that I will be smoking. I believe this cigar needs more age to make it smoother. Please do not get me wrong, this is a good cigar as all of Pepins cigars are. But, with greatness, you learn to expect more all of the time. JMHO!
Hope this review helps.
