Wrapper: Nicaraguan- Habano Rosado Claro
Binder: Nicaraguan Criollo
Filler: Nicaraguan- Cuban Seed ’99 Corojo, Criollo
Size: 6.12 x 52 “Torpedo- Imperiales”
Body: Mild/Medium
Price: $5.60

This cigar takes us back to the beginning of Pepin Garcia’s voyage of independence and first blend. There is a slight conflict of information as to whether this is his very first, or second, blend under his name. Doesn’t matter. It was the start.

The stick is made at the famous Miami El Rey de Los Habanos factory.

Construction is purty good but not what you normally expect in a Garcia cigar. It is very much on the rustic side with very large veins, lots of small veins. Seams are close to being tight. The triple cap is a little sloppy.

The Claro wrapper has a reddish hue with some mottling near the foot. There is a small amount of oil present and the wrapper feels very smooth.
The cigar band has a lot of art on the front. It appears, with the use of a magnifying glass, that it is a farmer tilling his tobacco fields. The sides are very classy under the scrutiny of the magnifying glass. The gold highlights and white lettering sparkle under the light.

I clip the cap and find aromas dark cocoa, sweetness, cedar, earthiness, a bit of spice.
Time to light up.

The first flavor is not the famous Garcia Blast of Pepper. Garcia thought it best to make his debut with a medium bodied blend. The Blast came later. It is sweet and mild. The cocoa slowly builds. Earthiness appears. There is a very pleasant cedar taste. Very well balanced.

The draw is a little tight. The char line is close to perfect and beautiful with its snow white ash.

Spice begins to form. I feel it in the back of my throat. Black pepper. The burn line begins to get wavy.

The cigar begins to enter the chamber of medium bodied. This is the perfect Garcia cigar for a newbie or someone that doesn’t like a lot of spice of power. Wally Guse; are you listening? Plus the price point is great and even cheaper on Cbid or Cigar Monster. The char line corrects itself.

Nothing exciting going on during the first inch. A very mellow cigar with mild flavors of spice, cocoa, cedar, earth, and leather.

This is the perfect morning cigar for smokers that like powerful cigars but like to build up to that strength gradually during the day. That’s what I do.

The sweetness is enhanced now by burning close to the end of the first third. The spice is gentle. And the flavors, as a whole, are heading towards a nice complexity around the halfway mark.

The cigar was a gift. And I was told it had several months of humidor time on it. The think I like about all Garcia blends is that they are ready to smoke quite quickly. With some blends, a few days is all it takes before it is ready to be appreciated. Obviously, the more time to age, the better. But it burns my ass when I buy a cigar only to realize it needs months before it’s ready.

There are the “Haves” and “Have-Nots.” The “Haves” have enough stogies stored in lots of humidors that they can just put away any new purchase and wait. They have lots of cigars that have been aging and are ready to smoke.

The “Have Nots” live week to week with their stash. That’s me most of the time. So my choices of cigars are the ones that take the least amount of time to rest as possible. Some recent finds that are like that are the Moya Ruiz La Jugada Prieto and Habano, Cuenca 5 Anniversary Robusto, Asylum 13 Authentic Corojo, Dissident Soap Box, Any Paul Stulac blend, most Tatuaje blends, and the My Father and La Aroma de Cuba line by Garcia, Nica Puro and American Sun Grown by Bradley, all the Casa Fernandez blends, and most AJ Fernandez blends, That’s my short list.

The first third ends and the second begins with still mild overtones. Flavors have become bolder and distinctive. Although, there are few to pick from.

I would say that this is the perfect golf cigar; rather than a Macanudo. For inexperienced smokers who want that stick hanging from their mouth on the links. I’m not knocking the Macanudo, especially since they have added stronger cigars to their line up; but it seems to be the cigar of choice for newbies. Good tobacco, mild, and very little flavor to distract you from your back swing.

There is a bit of a salty pretzel flavor that is new. I’ve never had the reason for that explained to my satisfaction. Is it just the soil that causes the saline taste?

The cigar slithers down to the mild side of medium instead of getting stronger. Not my cup of tea. I like a little oomph to my sticks. And this cigar is oomph-less. I wish the pepper would make resurgence. There is spice and then there is Garcia spice. There are cigars out there in the medium line up that are spicy but they are sometimes crass and unappealing. Garcia has the knack of making his spice flavorful and exciting. He waves his magic wand and voila!

At the halfway point, creaminess enters and salvation is near. I love a creamy element in my cigars. It has a way of coalescing the whole flavor profile.

I should add at this point that the cigar is jam packed with tobacco making it a very slow burner. The halfway point of the cigar has taken me over 45 minutes to get here.

I should be hitting the sweet spot by now but it seems to be dragging its ass just like your dog does on your carpet.

The buttery smooth creaminess helps the cigar but it doesn’t solve the problem of it being sort of blah. And I am being subjective about this; not objective. This cigar is perfect for my friend Wally Guse who likes them mild. He told me that he has tried to engage the stronger cigars but his constitution just can’t take it. That is probably why Macanudo is the biggest selling cigar in the country.

As the halfway point burns away and I move towards the last third, the flavor profile becomes much bolder. The sweetness turns into a caramel-like component. The black pepper returns to take its place near the front. The creaminess continues on its way to its zenith at the end of the cigar. And the wonderful cedar flavor returns. And the earthiness becomes more apparent and rich.

I begin to have wrapper issues. A seam comes loose near the foot. Fortunately, it will be burned away in short order. So far, the ash seems to hang on in ¾” hunks.

The cigar band has way too much glue on it and I am forced to use a very sharp knife to remove it. And in the process, I cut the wrapper. Not good, Kohn.

The last third is the sweet spot. Unlike most Garcia cigars, that sweet spot is near the end of the first third. This cigar makes you wait.
I can hear the wrapper cracking as I smoke. It is moving up towards the cap; away from the foot. Not a good sign. I am very careful about the humidification of my humidors. I use Boveda packets and I have 3 digital hygrometers in every humidor. As long as they stay within 2% of each other, I don’t worry. So I don’t know the exact reason for the cracking wrapper.

With only a couple of inches to go, the flavors explode all over my face. THIS is the sweet spot. Earlier, was only a tease.

The creaminess is incredible now. The spiciness has become red pepper. The cocoa makes a big come back. The cedar is strong and the cigar is rich in earthiness.

The cigar never becomes complex. But I generally don’t expect a $5 stick to be a complex cigar.

The cigar goes out in style; except for the cracking wrapper issue. The cutting of the cigar band didn’t help and now the stick looks like an orphan. Yet the cigar continues to burn perfectly.

My recommendation is a hesitant one. I had to wait a long time for the flavors to really show off. The mostly mild/medium body is a put off for me. As I haven’t another Vegas Cubanas to smoke, and I haven’t smoked one in a long time, I can’t tell you if the construction problems are inherent to the blend. I hope not.
With just a little bit to go, the cigar looks like it exploded because of the wrapper coming totally apart.

If you do purchase some, do it on the cheap with a 5 pack from Cbid.

Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS