Wrapper: Ecuadorian
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican, Peruvian, USA, Nicaraguan
Size: 7.5 x 52 Double Corona
Strength: Medium
Price: $36.00
My cigars have had over 2 months naked humidor time.
Cigars were supplied by Casdagli Cigars.
BACKGROUND:
Released: August 2023
Cigars released into the wild: 4000 Boxes of 10.
From Casdagli Cigars:
“In celebration of Jeremy’s 25 years in the cigar business and his 10 years partnership with the Master Blender Hendrik Kelner Jr of the Kelner Boutique Factory Casdagli Cigars is launching the 25 Aniversario Double Corona. The new release extends the brand’s Traditional Line cigar series. It will be a general production cigar limited to 4000 sticks per annum. Launched at PCA 2023.
‘My favourite cigar made for me by the Cuban Torcedor Carlos Valdez Mosquera was a Double Corona. On leaving the Cuban production behind, I met up with Hendrik Kelner Jr to try to get close to his original Cuban blends. So, the Traditional Line was born in 2013. It seemed only natural that both the vitola and the Traditional Line blend was married together for this celebration,” explains Jeremy Casdagli, the Founder of Casdagli Cigars.’
“Traditional Line cigars are the corner stone of Casdagli Cigars representing the original vitolas created in the 1990s. The Traditional Line comprises now of 6 historically classic vitolas married to perfectly fitting blends, including the highly sought after Casdagli Cigars’ flagship cigars Cotton Tail and Grand Café.
“Traditional Line was also the first KBF blended cigars for Casdagli Cigars delivering a Cubanesque spice to the palate.
“Alongside with the launch of Traditional Line 25 Anniversario Double Corona we will have the Traditional Line boxes redesigned.”
You can visit Casdagli Cigars here. Knock first…
THE WHOLE MEGILLAH:
This is a big cigar. Gordo fans should be freaking. Right up their alley. Tony Soprano would approve.
I smell graham crackers, loads of dark chocolate, spicy baking accoutrement, cinnamon, cedar, vanilla cookies, maple syrup, black coffee, and ha cha cha peppers.
My PerfecSmoke armada falls into line like dancing raisins. Marvin Gaye is listless because he is still dead. I put my PerfecDraw between my teeth and join the conga line. I trip, fall, break my hip, and die. I bring you this review from the happy hereafter.
I try to hold the cigar with my lips. Ain’t happening.
And we are off…very creamy and rich. The one-inch rule seems in play. Black pepper, sweet macadamia nuts, unsalted butter, espresso, and dark cocoa.
Medium strength is how it starts. Very tricky to keep a cigar at medium for the entire cigar. Easy to keep a mild cigar mild by using crap tobacco leaves.
I always wanted to play bass for Dusty Springfield. Came close, but no cigar.
An immediate depth is felt. I didn’t choose the cloth. The creaminess is oily like my Uncle Vito. Lemon appears. It nods. I nod back. I still have cervical radiculopathy from my skydiving accident in 2001. Which is the most ridiculous thing I ever hoid. Sorry.
Construction is marvelous. The burn is spotless. So, I buy the cigar a new dog.
‘Richness’ is a great overcompensating term I like that describes a bevy of complex things that are inherent to a cohesive blend. I can’t help but compare this cigar to a good Cuban. Cubans just aren’t as good as they were back in the day. But they carry a mystical cache of memories.
This 25 Aniversario is not unlike an H. Upmann Magnum 54. Or maybe a Ramon Allones Edición Regional Gran Bretaña. There is a sterling similarity.
This snausage is packed. The roll is slow and deliberate. Nice. I take my time, which is the intended design. You just sense it. Lemon ice box cookies comes and goes while chocolate, black pepper spiciness, maple, and candied walnuts dart like a downhill skier. Nice.
The cigar began with a lilt in its complexity. It didn’t slam me in the face but certainly made its presence known. Did you buy all your Christmas presence? Me neither.
1-1/2” burned. 35 minutes.
I’m listening to music as I always do when I write. It really gets me when I hear ‘God Only Knows’ by The Beach Boys. Charlotte no longer has the capacity for abstract…and all I am is abstract. God only knows…
And as if Amazon Music reads my mind, ‘Here Comes the Sun’ plays and steers me back to this delightful cigar.
The blend digs deeper with each puff. Passion is dripping. Plant’s lemon smiles.
You can taste the pompatus of love with every Casdagli/Kelner association. Jeremy has gotten more from both Hendriks than any other cigar guy. Some teams just excel when they are in each other’s company.
A swig of water and flavors go nuts.
I’ve never mentioned Taylor Swift. And I’m not going to.
I don’t know why playing ‘La Grange’ in a club is magic. No other ZZ Top song crazes a crowd like this tune. It is pure simplicity for a bassist, but you just get swept up. Go figure.
The 25 Aniversario is part of the Traditional Line from the Casdagli catalog. I’ve reviewed all five. It is remarkable that size does matter when you dip your toes into the Casdagli collection. If you want to read my 22 reviews of Casdagli cigars, click here.
This might be the most Cubanesque blend I’ve tasted. A power punch from the body but no lurch from the strength. Marvelous.
I love the new movie, ‘Asteroid City.’ Wes Anderson. Stilted dialogue on steroids. Heavily influenced by Rod Serling speak.
The Ecuadorian wrapper brings sweetness. The Dominican leaves provide creaminess and balance. Peruvian leaves provide the glue. They bring the Nicaraguan’s chocolaty essence, and power, into cohesion with the U.S. maple notes. A very delicate balance.
This is everything I expect from a $36 stick. The blend is dynamite with a very smooth Kentucky bourbon.
The second half is bloody incredible. Complexity is through the roof, and it is impossible not to laugh out loud from pleasure neurons and synapses in the brain firing.
I can count on one hand the number of huge cigars that have this level of response.
As the cigar bears down in the last third, strength is upped slightly to just shy of medium/full.
It’s not so much about individual flavors as it is about flat-out richness. Nuances and subtleties have tremendous gravity. My flippancy is destroyed by the experience of smoking a superb cigar blend. It is so hard to be funny when you smoke a great cigar while sitting in a sex swing.
If you snagged some before these cigars disappeared from the shelves of online retailers, you are the lucky few.
This was 2-1/2 hours of sheer fun.
It will be very difficult to find these cigars. They sold out nearly instantly. I’d love to say I’m not biased, but I am. Not because Casdagli Cigars is a paid sponsor, but rather, because this company’s owner believes in quality, all the time. We are fortunate to live in the USA. Casdagli blends are not expensive here compared to world cigar prices. Jeremy knows that we spoiled American smokers demand a bargain. We don’t have ridiculous taxation here. If you buy into the overblown rhetoric, ask a Commonwealth or Euro smoker about cigar taxation. An Alec Bradley 2nd stick is $25.00.
Try to find some 25 Aniversario.
You can find a big complement of Casdagli cigars from sponsors Small Batch Cigar (10% off with promo code ‘katman’) and Luxury Cigar Club (15% off with promo code ‘katman’).
RATING: 96
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Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS
