Wrapper: Ecuadorian Sumatra
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Size: 6.5 x 52 Box Pressed Figurado
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $15.00
BACKGROUND:
Factory: San Lotano factory in Ocatal, Nicaragua
Yearly release since 2022.
Limited editon: 2500 boxes of 10
THE WHOLE MEGILLAH:
Aromatic notes of caramel drips from the wrapper…followed by vanilla creaminess, milk chocolate, cinnamon, peppermint, spicy red pepper, and iced coffee.
Heft is medium. The draw is just open enough that my PerfecDraw won’t need to clock in.
Sweet and tangy start. Citrus, creaminess, milk chocolate, black and red pepper (the black pepper holds up in the back of my throat while the red is near the front of my tongue), a hint of black licorice, and warmth from a nice lager-like maltiness.
I’m pleased that some complexity finds itself making an imprint from the get-go.
Construction is excellent proven out by the razor sharp char line.
I have smoked the Warped Moon Garden Especial since my review a month ago…and it never improved. I stand by what I wrote.
I loved the Knuckle Sandwich in Maduro. The Habano was pretty good. Smoking the Connie has slipped completely from the memory banks.
An inch in and the blend finds itself in stasis. Forward progression isn’t as impressive as its predecessors. It becomes Knuckle Sandwich Lite.
For all I know, the blend needs 6-9 months of humidor time. Happens all the time. But we reviewers took an oath to spread our seed no matter what the cigar says to us in a defaming manner.
Here’s the thing…the Maduro and Habano did not need an extended life on the run. If Espinosa pulled a fast one by delivering a slow-to-blossom cigar, that was a mistake as it was he that trained the smoker what to expect. I don’t like being let down by fast moving slippery scenarios.
The blend is tasty. But not $15 tasty.
The problem when delivering some eye bantering blends is the pressure of the follow up. You either deliver or you don’t. This blend is not a ‘don’t’ but I find it not worthy of the Knuckle Sandwich moniker.
Any time I find myself quizzing my sanity as I analyze a cigar blend, my first thoughts are I’m out of sync and missing the point. Is the cigar really not as good as I hoped…or is my palate out to lunch. I’m sure you’ve smoked cigars, praised by me or other reviewers, and wondered what the hell we were talking about. I question myself all the time.
I admire blind taste testing. But certain critical parts are being dismissed as not important. Price is always significant. Only guys with too much money say it shouldn’t matter. Leaf stats are as well. Aging notes are essential to the broader information available to the smoker. I want to know what to expect when I plunk my money down. If I know a lot about the cigar, I can make a more judicious sizing up of how my brain and palate should react. One man’s opinion. And no one has a more prolific power over another.
Flavors are somewhat muted. They are background noise to a mildly complex set of leaves struggling to find their place in the world; albeit that their world only lasts a couple of hours before disintegrating into a black hole.
A creamy maltiness runs wild in the streets. Meanwhile, the depth of richness is prevalent but not incisive. Strength is medium/full. The body hangs on to medium, at best.
I’m not being blown away as I’d hoped. Again, it is Warped Moon Garden Especial syndrome all over again. I can tell the cigar wants to be great but just doesn’t have the cajones to do so.
This was a misstep by Espinosa and Fieri. This is what can happen when a debut blend is phenomenal. The follow up is a daring feat that can bring a blender to his knees. And leave disappointed smokers in its wake.
The second half is better. But not good enough. Most cigars find their lives being enriched at this point.
The creamy malt allows an even creamier chocolate to sit alongside. The lemony citrus tang borders on sour candy. I don’t find it appealing.
Redemption can only be had if this cigar was super complex. And it is not. Is it linear…no. Is this the new normal we can expect in 2024 in which cigar producers sell us $9 cigars for 15 bucks…I’m afraid so. This isn’t inflation. It is greed. Simply because they can. And of course, a celebrity name always affords the company carte blanche with the price point.
The Chef’s Special name connotes something above and beyond the ordinary. Unfortunately, ordinary is exactly what this cigar blend exhumes from the ground.
Strength is full tilt.
I wish I had a bevy of beautiful cigar flavors to fawn over.
The release of only 2500 boxes of ten is a good thing. On the one hand it creates a mystique that is good for Espinosa. But on the other hand, it doesn’t leave a huge swath of smokers reacting with a WTF happened here disheartenment.
It proves that these blenders are only human. Sometimes great things are as surprising to the bearer as they are to the consumer. And now the dew is off the lily.
I wish I had better news.
Be wary of shiny things.
RATING: 80
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Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS
