The Good Stuff:

Following up last year’s lancero release, this year Warped Cigars released the 2023 Moon Garden Especial. Offered in a single 5 5/8 x 52 format the cigar the blend features a tweaked version of the same tobacco. The larger size allowed Warped founder Kyle Gellis to pack more medio tiempo along with stronger and higher priming versions of the tobacco which results in a much stronger and more full-bodied blend. Produced at Aganorsa’s Agricola Ganadera Nortena S.A. factory in Esteli, Nicaragua The blend features all Aganorsa-grown tobaccos including a Nicaraguan Corojo 99 wrapper over a Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan fillers. This year’s offering comes in a single 5 5/8 x 52 format which comes packaged in boxed of 20 running $16 per cigar. This is a very limited production release with only 1,000 boxes being produced. I purchased mine over from our friends at Cuenca Cigars who still have them in stock as of this review’s post date.

• Size: 5 5/8 x 52
• Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo 99
• Binder: Nicaraguan
• Filler: Nicaraguan including medi tiempo
• Body: Full
• Strength: Full
• Price: $16

Prelight:

The Moon Garden Especial starts with a very rustic wrapper which is inconsistently colored with lighter yellowish-brown areas scattered with darker brown splotches. The wrapper’s texture is very smooth and silky with a whole ton of oils coating it. The wrapper itself feels thick and hard while the cigar itself is packed extremely tightly and is heavy as hell. There are some milder veining in the wrapper leaf leading up through the cigar’s thick body to its round, triple-wrapped Caro. Like most cigars in the Garden series the cigar is finished off with an heavily designed, yet elegant green, red, and yellow band. It also carries a secondary gold and black band dictating the “Especial” modifier.

The wrapper on the Mood Garden Especial gives off mostly honey and grainy aromas while the foot of the cigar has some nice sweet spice over natural tobacco. The cap cut clean and easily under my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces notes of honey and grain and a whole mess of earthy/grainy flavors.

First Third:

Warped’s Moon Garden Especial starts out with a huge burst of cayenne pepper which really tackled my lips through the first few puffs. After a bit the pepper began to fade allowing the cigar to release bold notes of molasses, pecan, and and oak with lighter notes of cashew and leather over lighter notes of black tea and dark chocolate. This cigar starts off well in the full-bodied arena right off the bat. Despite being packed very tightly the draw is brilliant as it kicks out huge clouds of very thick, gray smoke which dissipated at a normal rate while the cigar releases a decent amount of of stationary smoke while it rests in my ashtray. The burnline is razor thin and very sharp leaving behind a trail of very tightly compacted white ash which held on for a little over a inch before falling into my ashtray with a thud.

Second Third:

An awesome woodsy cologne flavor made its way to the profile into the second half of the Warped Moon Garden Especial. Surrounding that flavor was some great pecan and cedar over lighter notes of vanilla and cashew and faint espresso and dark chocolate. The retrohale really kicks out the spice and a bit of the pepper so I don’t find myself doing it very often. Likely due to the increased amount of Ligero in the blend, the cigar does have the tendency to try and go out on my. Slightly speeding up my smoking speed completely solved that issue. I close out the second third already with a decent little nicotine kick.

Finish:

As I close out the Warped Moon Garden Especial the flavor profile is much of the same. Bold cedar and pecan with a good amount of woodsy cologne creeping in and over over lighter notes of vanilla and cashew. The espresso has dropped out however the dark chocolate has really picked up. After adjusting my smoking speed there were no burn issues. In fact, the small changed allowed my to burn through the entire cigar from start to finish without having to touch up or relight a single time. With such a strong cigar this did result it in a pretty hefty nicotine kick, but I survived.

Overview:

The Warped Moon Garden Especial is a damn good cigar with an incredible flavor profile. Medio Tiempo is such a great tobacco from a flavor standpoint and always helps elevate just about any cigar’s flavor profile, not to mention really speaks to my personal palate. The cigar burned well enough once my speed was adjusted and had no burn issues after that. The price point is in line with what you’d expect to pay for a cigar with the quality tobacco found in the Moon Garden Especial. This is a cigar I’d definitely keep a handful on hand for those times I’m craving a really strong cigar after a big meal. The only minor quip I have is that it’s almost too strong of a cigar for me. Almost.

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The Good Stuff:

La Relatos is one of Warped’s brand owner Kyle Gellis’s original blends that he created over 10 years ago. Translated to “The Stories”, La Relatos is created at the Tabacos Valle de Jalapa S.A. (TABSA) factory in Nicaragua utilizing an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, Nicaraguan binder, and Nicaraguan Corojo 99′ and Criollo 98′ fillers and is offered in a single 6 x 38 format running $9.30 a stick and comes packaged in large cabinets of 50. I got mine over from our good friends at Fox Cigar bar in Arizona who have them in stock now, and offer free shipping on all orders, no minimum.

• Size: 6 x 38
• Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
• Binder: Nicaraguan
• Filler: Nicaraguan Corojo 99′ and Criollo 98′
• Body: Full
• Strength: Medium/Full
• Price: $9.30
• Pairing: Oskar Blues Barrel Aged Ten Fidy (Imperial Stout 12.9% ABV)

Prelight:

The Warped La Gelatos starts out with a very consistent, milky brown wrapper with only a bit of a lighter, orange shade near the cap of the cigar. The wrapper itself is coated with thick oils, small veins, and some slight natural webbing with no tooth as it’s laid seamlessly over itself. The cigar’s thin, long body feel very light in weight, as the wrapper feels very thin and delicate leading up to the cigar’s round, triple-wrapped cap. The cigar is polished off with a beautifully elegant purple and silver band with the “La Relatos” crest embossed across the front.

The wrapper on the La Relatos gives off some sweet cedar and spice aromas while the foot of the cigar is more natural, earthy, and spicy. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar Double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces some bold vanilla, spice, and musk flavors.

First Third:

Right off the bat the La Relatos greeted me with with a good amount of black pepper which only lasted the first few puffs leaving me with a good amount of cedar and vanilla over spice and musk. The draw is a bit tight but has slowly been opening up as I smoke through the first third. The building is razor thin and dead even leaving behind a tightly compacted trail of bright white ash which held on for about a half an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the La Relatos and the flavors have began to balance out. The main flavors are still vanilla and cedar with notes of spice, musk, and an awesome creamed coffee that made it’s way into the mix. The retrohale really brings out the cedar and spice making everything nice and I find myself doing it quite often. The burnline is still pretty even and the draw has completely opened up and is now smoking like a champ. I close out the second third with no signs of nicotine yet.

Finish:

Into the final third of the La Relatos and not a whole lot has changed since the second, and that’s a good thing. The flavor profile is still lead by cedar and vanilla with a nice balanced mixture of spice, musk, coffee, and earthiness backing it up. It took me almost an hour and a half to take this cigar down to the nub and I loved every second of it. I close out the La Relatos with no harshness, nor extended heat (outside of the blistering sun) and only a very slight nicotine kick.

Overview:

I have been a huge fan of Warped from the first time I smoked their cigars. Add La Relatos to the quickly growing list of fantastic releases they have put out. The flavor profile is incredible, the smoking experience is brilliant, and the price point is affordable.While the profile isn’t too complex, it didn’t need to be. I can’t see myself buying 50 of these, but I would certainly split a box of these to keep a good amount on hand and add to my regular rotation. Huge props to Kyle for choosing this format too as it’s one of my favorite sizes.

** NOTE: I smoked quite a few of these cigars from various boxes. I experienced draw issues in a few (which all opened up after a bit of smoking time), and no issues with others. Just worth mentioning as I had draw issues on more than just one out of the handful I smoked.

Pairing:

Brewed at the famous Oskar Blues brewery in Colorado the Barrel Aged version of their incredible Ten Fidy stout comes in at a whopping 12.9% ABV. This imperial stout leads with heavy notes of vanilla, toffee, roasted malt, oak, and just a light barrel kick with a very heavy mouthfeel before finishing with even more vanilla, brown sugar, toffee, and barrel. This is dangerously easy to drink considering the ABV. The flavors in the beer matched up well with flavors in the Los Relatos while adding a bunch of sweetness to the experience pushing it to the next level.

The post Warped La Relatos appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The Good Stuff:

Warped cigars hit the cigar world by storm a few years with some fantastic, unique blends offering a new voice in the cigar industry. Ran by Kyle Gellis, the company released the Maestro del Tiempo blend last year and it’s been the talk of the town ever since. Created at the famous TABSA factory owned by Casa Fernandez in Nicaragua the Maestro del Tiempo features a Nicaraguan Jalapa Corojo 99 Clara wrapper over a Nicaraguan Criollo 98 and Corojo 99 binder holding in pure Nicaraguan fillers all of which are grown at the Casa Fernandez Aganorsa farms. The Maestro del Tiempo is offered in 3 sizes: 5205 (6 3/8 x 42), 5712 (4 1/2 x 52), 6102R (5 1/4 x 48). All of which are full production outside of the 6102R  which also features a slightly different blend. The 5205 and 5712 come packaged in boxes of 25 running between $8.99 and $9.65 a stick. I purchased mine over from out good friends at Ford on Fifth.

Size: 6 3/8 x 42
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Jalapa Corojo 99 Clara
Binder: Nicaraguan Criollo 98 and Corojo 99
Filler: Nicaraguan
Body: Medium/Full
Strength: Medium
Price: $8.99
Pairing: Alesmith Grand Cru (Belgian style strong ale 10% ABV)

Prelight:

The Warped Maestro del Tiempo starts out with a really rustic, beaten looking wrapper. It’s not beaten in terms of mishandling, the natural tobacco chosen for the wrapper leaf has a very unique texture. It’s very soft and sleek in some areas, very toothy in others while it carries a very bumpy mixture of small veins and natural webbing scattered throughout the cigar’s body. The color is a light brown, which is pretty consistent outside of the webbing areas. The wrapper feels very thin and delicate while the cigar as a whole is firm with no soft spots throughout the cigar’s slender body leading up to the round, triple cap. The cigar is polished off with a very small, elegant purple and gold band with the words “Maestro del Tiempo” printed in white ink across the front.

The wrapper on the Maestro del Tiempo gives off a very bold mixture of cedar, honey, and cashew while the foot of the cigar is more subtle with some great spice and pepper notes over natural tobacco. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar double bladed cutter. The cold draw gives off a good mixture of strong honey, brown sugar, spice, and cedar.

First Third:

The Warped Maestro del Tiempo starts out with an unexpected bold black pepper bang which quickly faded allowing the cigar to release some very sweet honey, cedar, spice, and citrus flavors. It’s a very interesting flavor profile. The draw is spectacular as each small puff kicks out a great deal of white smoke while the cigar releases a mild amount of stationary smoke as it rests in my ashtray. The burn line is razor thin and dead even leaving behind a very light trail of white and light gray ash which actually fell off into my shoe about a quarter of in inch in. So beware, the cigar will ash when you least expect it to.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Maestro del Tiempo and the flavors have held up leading sweet honey, cedar, spice, citrus and a really nice floral undertone. The cigar has started to build up a bit of sap on the cap so I clipped a bit off and will need to slow down my smoking pace to ensure that it doesn’t build up again. The retrohale is beautiful, coating my nasal passage with a ton of sweetness, honey, and cedar. I close out the second third with absolutely nothing in terms of nicotine.

Finish:

Into the final third of the Maestro del Tiempo and the cigar has really started to pick I’m steam in the strength department reaching in the the medium/full arena. The flavors still lead with cedar, spice, sweetness and honey backed by floral and a nice resurrection of the pepper we saw at the beginning, only its much more mild this time around. It took me almost two hours to take this cigar down to the nub and I never once had to reach for my lighter to touch up, or relight the cigar. Despite the sap I encountered mid-way through, I never found this cigar to be much of a nuisance. Simply slowing down my pace remedied the sap situation and I encountered no harshness nor extended head down into the final inch. I close out the cigar with only a very mild nicotine kick.

Overview:

I’ve been a fan of Warped cigars. Although I haven’t had a lot of the cigars from their portfolio, every one I’ve had has been lights out, and the Maestro del Tiempo is no exception. First, let it be known that I am a huge fan of the company sticking to more traditional Cuban formats. I really love smaller ring gauged cigars so this works right into my preference. The flavors an nuances in the Maestro del Tiempo also carried much of what I personally look for in a cigar. Bold flavors, good amount of sweetness, and great complexity. The construction was top notch which made for a flawless experience. This is a cigar I could see myself going back to quite often. Considering the decent price point and wide availability I think this cigar could easily find it’s way in my everyday rotation.

Pairing:

Coming out of San Diego, California is Alesmiths, Grand Cru. This particular bottle is from 2015. The Grand Cru is a Belgian-style brown ale that comes in at a whopping 10% ABV. The Grand Cru starts with a very robust mixture of Carmel and fruit over some light hops, sweetness, citrus, clove, and a bit of oak with a very light mouthfeel before finishing very crisp with plum, raisin, spice, clove, and a splash over oak. This was a perfect mixture not only for the Warped Maestro Del Tiempo but also for the fantastic summer weather.

The post Warped Cigars Maestro del Tiempo appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The Good Stuff:

The Futuro is a cigar created by Warped Cigars in collaboration with Casa Fernandez with one goal in mind: to create a cigar unlike anything either of the two manufacturers have ever created in the past.  Kyle Gellis of Warped Cigars and Max Fernandez of Casa Fernandez have been working together at the Tabacos Valle de Jalapa S.A (TABSA) for a while now, but this is the first blend that they jointly blended together. The blend utilizes 100% Aganorsa leaf from the Casa Fernandez Aganorsa farms. The tobacco used in the blend comes straight from the TABSA vault which contains their most prized material. The blend features a Nicaraguan Corojo ’99 wrapper,  Nicaraguan Criollo ’98 Binder and Nicaraguan Criollo ’98 and Corojo ’99 fillers. The Warped Futuro comes in only two sizes which fit the creators’ own personal preference: the 109 (6 x 52) and the Suprema (5.6 x 46) which range run $9.25 and $8.75 respectively and both sizes come packaged in boxes of 20. This particular cigar was a gift from a good friend Jason while he was over last week celebrating some time with Jeremy while he was in town.

Size: 6 x 52
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo ’99
Binder: Nicaraguan Criollo ’98
Filler: Nicaraguan Criollo ’98 / Nicaraguan Corojo ’99
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $9.25
Pairing: Sierra Nevada Barrel-Aged Narwhal 2015 (Imperial Stout 12.9% ABV)

Prelight:

The Warped Cigar Futuro starts out with a gorgeous, insanely consistent, medium brown wrapper. The color is as close to exact throughout the entire cigar as you can get. The texture of the wrapper is some slight tooth and a little roughness, lots of oil, with an overall silky feeling to the touch. The wrapper leaf is laid seamlessly and there are only some very minor veins running thought the cigar’s body which leads up to a nubby almost half-belicoso style cap. The Futuro feels real dense, and tightly packed with tobacco while the wrapper is decently dense with only a bit of softness around the foot of the cigar. The cigar is then polished off with a gorgeous, modern-old-timey style gold, royal blue, and red band which carries the “Futuro 2015” crest on the front, with the creators’ “KG” and “MF” initials on each side.

The wrapper gives off almost no aroma outside of a slight tobacco while the foot carries a lot of sweetness, spice, and earthiness. The cap cut very clean and easily using my Palio double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces some great sweet cedar, oak, spice, and gingerbread style flavors.

First Third:

Lighting the Futuro was cake using my Dupont single flame butane torch. The Futuro starts out with only some very light, extremely mild pepper which faded after the first puff or two. The main flavor profile leads with a great sweet cedar, cinnamon, gingerbread, soft tobacco, with a great oaky aftertaste. I absolutely love the flavor profile thats developing here. Each tiny puff kicks out a massive cloud of thick white smoke while the Futuro gives off a decent amount of stationary smoke as it rests in my ashtray. The burn line is razor thin, and dead even leaving behind a tightly compacted trail of white and medium gray ash which held on for a little over an inch before giving way.

Second Third:

As I smoke into the second third of the Futuro the pepper that disappeared in the first third has started to work it’s way, subtly, back into the flavor profile. The profile still leads with really sweet cedar, cinnamon and spice, tobacco, and just a pinch of cocoa. The retrohale really showcases the cedar as well as the spice. The burn line is still dead even and razor thin. I close out the second third with absolutely nothing in the nicotine department.

Finish:

So far the only complain I have about the Futuro is the amount of sap build up it’s been producing. A bit of clip, and slowing down my smoking speed has cleared that right up. The flavor profile is much the same, and I am totally ok with that. The Futuro leads with strong, sweet, cedar backed by cocoa, spice, cinnamon, and some really nice brown sugar. It took me about 2 hours to take this cigar down to the nub and I experience absolutely no harshness, or heat buildup, however I do recommend taking your time with it as the sap does tend to seep in when you rush through it. The burn line was solid all the way through and I never once had to reach for my torch to relight or touch the cigar up. I close out the cigar feeling almost zilch in terms of nicotine.

Overview:

This was my introduction to Warped cigars and if the Futuro is any indication as to how solid their blends are, it won’t be my last. The cigar’s flavor profile is incredible, the smoking experience was near perfect outside of the sap which was probably my fault to begin with, and the price point is more than reasonable. This is a box worthy cigar for sure and really can’t wait to try out some of their other offerings.

Pairing:

Sierra Nevada’s Narwhal is a beer that finds it’s way into my rotation every year. This year, I was able to score a few bottles of their Barrel-Aged variant. Brewed at the Sierra Nevada Brewery in California, this Imperial Stout rocks a modest 12.9% ABV. The Narwhal leads with great milk chocolate, malt, oak, and sweetness with a heavy mouthfeel before finishing very sweet with chocolate, espresso, oak, and more malt with a great amount of bourbon. This was a great pairing. This cigar has sweet bourbon pairing written all over it, but since I’m not a bourbon guy a barrel aged beer is my closest bet.

The post Warped Cigars – Casa Fernandez Futuro appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.