The Good Stuff:

Warped Cigars has had a history of releasing experimental blends using some of the rarest of tobacco and the Moon Garden Dark Blossom is no exception. Based on the popular “Skyflower” release which features Casa Fernandez’s famous High-Priming Medio Tiempo tobacco the Moon Garden Dark Blossom tweaks that blend slightly by using a higher priming Medio Tiempo leaf that only grows on only grows on a few of the plants to push the flavor profile into the next level. Produced at the TABSA factory in Nicaragua using all Aganorsa tobacco, the full blend features a Corojo ’99 wrapper over a Nicaraguan Jalapna Corojo ’99 binder, binder and Corojo ’99, Criollo ’98 and Media Tiempo fillers. The Dark Blossom comes in a single 7 x 40 size and is packaged in boxes of 10 with only 650 boxes released running $15 a cigar. Huge thanks goes out to my boy Jason for hooking me up with a few of these bad boys.

• Size: 7 x 40
• Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo 99
• Binder: Nicaraguan Corojo 99
• Filler: Nicaraguan Corojo 99, Criollo 98, and Media Tiempo
• Body: Full
• Strength: Full
• Price: $15
• Pairing: St. Bernardus Abt 12 2014 (10% ABV Belgian Quad)

Prelight:

The wrapper on the Warped Moon Garden Dark Blossom starts out with a rustic looking medium and dark brown wrapper with is very splotchy with lots of orange areas scattered throughout the cigar’s body. The wrapper itself feels very hard and very dense with some slight tooth and mild oils while the cigar as a whole feels very light, but very hard. There are some very minor veins and slight webbing as the long, slender body leads up to the cigar’s round, triple-wrapped cap. The cigar is then polished off with a similar bad to what you can find on the skyflower on with a tweak in the colors features a pastel green, pink, yellow and black color mixture.

The wrapper gives off some sharp spice and natural tobacco aromas while the foot of the cigar screams pepper, spice, and earthiness. The cap on the Warped Moon Garden Dark Blossom cut clean and easily using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw is very spice and peppery with underlying notes of dirt, moss and earthiness.

First Third:

Right off the bat the Warped Moon Garden Dark Blossom kicks out a good amount of spice and black pepper that left my turning burning for a few seconds. While the pepper was strong, it only lasted through the first few puffs and then bowed out allowing the cigar to showcase some great musk, cedar, espresso and notes of black cherry. The draw is absolutely perfect and each and every little puff kicks out huge clouds of thick, white smoke which hang out for quite some time before dissipating. The burn line is dead even and razor thin leaving behind a trail of tightly compacted medium gray ash which held on for almost an inch before dropping into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Warped Moon Garden Dark Blossom and the flavors are still pouring it on as the cigar rest comfortably in the full-bodied arena. The pepper has completely exited the experience while the cedar and espresso lead the charge backed by black cherry, musk, and loads of earthiness. The retrohale really brings out the spice that I otherwise don’t really pickup during the normal smoking experience. The cigar has been burning flawlessly and I close out the second third with only a very minor nicotine kick.

Finish:

The final third of the Warped Moon Garden Dark Blossom is where the already great cigar really shines. The flavors have become extremely rich as the cedar and espresso still lead the charge but the black cherry and musk have really stepped up while the earthiness began to mild out. This flavor profile is incredible. It took me almost two hours to take this cigar down to the nub and I loved how slow it burned. I experienced no harshness nor any extended heat. The cigar burned perfectly from start to finish leaving me with a decent little nicotine hit.

Overview:

This is yet another winner in an already stacked Warped cigar portfolio. I LOVE the selection de Valle and the Skyflower is way up on my list of cigars I smoke every chance I get and I can honestly say that the Moon Garden Dark Blossom has edged even the Skyflower out as one of it not, my favorite Warped to date. The flavor profile is so balanced, and complex while matching up with my personal preference of what I enjoy in a cigar. Its a bit dry but pairing it with anything that has some sweetness fixes that right away. I only wish these were still available.

Pairing:

If you aren’t familiar with St. Bernardus Abt 12 you have been living under a rock. The 10% quad brewed at the St. Bernardus brewery in Belgium is one of the most household names in terms of Beglian beer in the U.S. This particular bottle has been in my cellar since 2014 and has aged absolutely beautifully. The beer leads with a great brown sugar sweetness over pear and black cherry notes along with a nice heavy malt, caramel, and piloncillo with a very light mouthfeel before finishing with more sweetness, caramel, and black cherry. This beer is incredible and often overlooked. The flavors especially the black cherry mash up so well with the flavors found in the Dark Blossom while the sweetness added another dimension to the cigar as the experience is a bit on the dry side.

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