Contrary to what you might expect, this cigar is not made at the amazing and famous My Father Cigars Factory in Esteli, Nicaragua. However, it’s production location is not too far away at the Tabacalera Cubanas S.A. factory, also in Esteli. Now the actual name behind this cigar is El Rey de los Habanos, the company Don Pepin Garcia started in Miami(Little Havana) when he landed state-side. The headquarters is still located in there as well as a smaller El Rey de los Habanos factory .

This blend was released be Don Pepin to the public in 2006. From what I’ve been able to gather, the various names of the original 7 vitolas in this line all correspond to important years in Don Pepin Garcia’s life. However, I wasn’t able to find the significant milestone behind the year 1979. It seems also that although there were 7 vitolas available at some point, there are only 5 easily available now.

The band on this cigar has also changed slightly over time. As it stands now, there are two bands. The top band has a black background with a nicely scripted “Don Pepin Garcia” in the middle surrounded by some gold and red filigree designs. In an older band, the red and gold filigree was slightly different. Below that band is another thinner black band that says “Cuban Classic” with a line of gold and red on the top and bottom.

Now the Black Label is touted to be the strongest of the Don Pepin Garcia cigars. The other blends in this line are the Blue Label and the Series JJ (White Label). I’m going into this cigar with high expectations as I’ve come to know from many different Pepin Garcia blends. It’s a gorgeous day as I sit outside to spark up this cigar, so let’s see how it fares.

Cigar: Don Pepin Garcia Cuban Classic 1979 Robusto
Drink: Erdinger Weissbräu Weißbier Dunkel
Vitola: Robusto (5 x 50)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano Rosado (Corojo 99)
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Niaraguan
Price: $4.50 – $5.50
Burn Time: Just short of 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The Don Pepin Garcia Cuban Classic has a light brown wrapper with a very nice orangey glow to it
• There are hardly any visible veins and the wrapper has a slight roughness and toothiness to it
• From head to foot, this cigar has a nice little spring when squeezed that is just about right
• The triple cap is finished off very cleanly and the foot looks to be fairly well packed but not overly full
• The draw on this cigar is just about perfect after a small slice with my double bladed guillotine cutter

Burn:
• Toasting was very easy and even, I sometimes have a hard time getting it right on bright days since you can’t see the flame, but this one toasted up evenly without any problems at all
• Through the first inch the Don Pepin Garcia Cuban Classic has had a flawless and even burn
• The burn continues to be just about perfect as I roll into the halfway point, nothing to complain about here, just a razor sharp burn
• It’s also allowing me to smoke slowly, never seems to go out
• A tiny touch-up was required because the extra glue on the band cracked the wrapper, so it caused a bit of a funky burn line

Smoke & Ash:
• Each draw is bringing a nice amount of smoke with no extra draws required
• After setting the cigar down, there is almost no visible resting smoke to be seen although it still gives off a nice campfire aroma
• The ash is very strong, even and clean with no flaking to be seen anywhere
• The nice light grey colors on the ash are very nice too
• Unfortunately, I knocked the first ash off accidentally and it went flying to the floor
• Each ash was easily hitting the 1 inch mark but since I didn’t have a proper ashtray with me today I had to tap them off early. You’ll also notice the ashtray picture is missing today.

Tasting Notes:
• The wrapper on the Don Pepin Garcia Cuban Classic gives off a mostly woodsy aroma, not much else to it
• The foot brings more woodiness but this time it’s a lot more fresh, like a fresh strip of cedar wood, very nice aroma
• On the pre-light draw I’m getting more of the cedar flavors but also an interesting fresh taste, almost like a light and refreshing mint
• Initial draws bring none of the typical Pepin kick you might expect, it’s more of a subtle roasted wood and almonds type of flavors
• The is a bit of leather flavors being thrown into the mix here and there along with some coffee notes that are starting to sneak in slowly
• As we get near the halfway point I can safely say the cigar has barely passed into the medium category so far
• The retrohale is bringing just a tiny bite along with a smooth cedar and coffee finish
• The coffee flavors continue to develop nicely, more of an espresso flavor now and the leather flavor took an interesting turn into a black licorice type of flavor
• The strength of the cigar started picking up closer to the final third as it launched into the high end of the medium range
• In the last third all the flavors started coming together and balancing even better as their intensity kicked up a notch
• There was a huge burst of awesome roasted almond and espresso near the end and the cigar finished with no bitterness at all, very nice ending

Final Thoughts:
I hadn’t had too many of these before so I didn’t have many notes to fall back on but what I did find was mostly good. And judging by my experience today, I’d say the don Pepin Garcia Cuban Classic is another winner from this renowned blending master. I was happy to see another blend that didn’t have the pepper kick at the start but still had tons of flavors that were enjoyable. I’m not sure I would go for a Churchill vitola in this blend but as a Robusto it was excellent and I would definitely buy more. The flavors were enjoyable even if not overly complex and it burned amazingly even. My only real complaint was a little too much glue on the band that ended up cracking the wrapper a bit, not a huge deal. This might also have been because I tried sliding the wrapper rather than taking it right off. These are definitely worth trying if you haven’t had one before and definitely worth buying again if you have. I know it is a staple in many people’s humidors and it’s easy to see why. One thing to watch out for is the price, I saw a huge variety of prices and these can be easily had for under $5 if you look hard enough, and at under $5 this is a great value cigar!

Pairings:
This isn’t my first review with Erdinger’s Weissbräu Weißbier Dunkel and it definitely won’t be my last. This dark ale from Erdinger’s German brewery is a classic and tasty brew that I’d say falls somewhere in the middle of a dark ale and a porter. The unique consistency probably comes from the fact that this is a dark WHEAT beer, so it’s a little different from the rest. It’s not quite as light as a dark ale and not quite as heavy as a porter. It’s got an awesome array of roasted malt, dark berries, coffee and a tiny bit of bitterness to round out a very flavorful brew. It makes a great pairing with the Don Pepin Garcia Cuban Classic as well as many other cigars. Other suggested pairings here would include a dark roasted coffee, a stout or porter, and of course, some tawny Porto!

The post Don Pepin Garcia Cuban Classic (Black Label) appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

Now the name Don Pepin Garcia has quickly become synonymous with fantastic cigars over his years in this industry. Not only does he have some of his own awesome brands but him and his son, Jaime Garcia, are also involved in tons of other brands. Some of these include Tatuaje, Padilla, and a ton of special edition and house blend cigars. In 2008, Jaime Garcia opened up the now incredibly popular My Father Cigars factory in Esteli, Nicaragua and the My Father Cigars lineup was born.

As you might have guessed, the No. 4 Lancero is produced out of the My Father factory in Esteli and made with all premium Nicaraguan tobacco. The wrapper itself is a Habano Rosado and has some awesome color and feel to it, definitely a cigar to be appreciated. We’ve also hit up other cigars in the My Father lineup for reviews that include the regular production Cedros Deluxe Eminentes, the more limited run Le Bijou 1922 and the one-time production Limited Edition 2010.

As with all the My Father lineup, the band is a piece of art. So much detail on these bands, they always impress me. Along with the wonderful detail of the bands, this cigar comes packaged in wicked cool dark mahogany colored boxes in quantities of 23. On top and wrapped around the sides of the box is basically a gigantic version of the band you see on the cigar. I don’t usually mention the boxes but this one is very neat so I had to! Now let’s have this cigar meet my good friend called the lighter and see what kind of magic will happen tonight.

Cigar: My Father Cigars No. 4 Lancero
Drink: Fonseca Bin No 27 Reserve Porto
Vitola: Lancero (7.5 x 38)
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano Rosado
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Price: About $9
Burn Time: Just under 1.5 hours

Construction:
• The My Father Cigars lancero is wrapped in an oily leaf that has an awesome chocolate brown color to it with some orangey hints
• The smoothness on this wrapper is awesome, like velvet, with almost no veins at all
• There is a very firm spot right around the band but the rest of the cigar has a bit of give when squeezed
• The foot has a bit of damage from transport on this sample, hoping it doesn’t lead to any major issues
• The foot of the cigar looks well packed and evenly cut
• On the top of this cigar we have a neat little pig-tail type of cap, a nice touch to this great looking cigar
• The draw itself was very good on this cigar but it suffered from some tar buildup that required me to cut it a few times, but after the cut the draw would open up again nicely

Burn:
• The toasting was quick and easy with a single flame jet lighter as you would expect on a lancero
• Because of the cracks at the foot, the initial burn was all over the place but it actually burned through the cracks without needing me to touch anything up
• Once I passed the initial cracked wrapper, the My Father lancero started burning razor sharp and even
• As I burn past the halfway mark I’ve had no burn issues to report, it has stayed razor sharp and is staying lit with minimal effort
• Straight to the nub this cigar burned perfectly, even with the cracked wrapper at the foot, can’t ask for much more than that!

Smoke & Ash:
• A weird thing happened with this cigar, the initial draws were nice and easy giving me a big mouthful of smoke but shortly after the draw got super tight and the amount of smoke declined just the same
• Usually a cigar opens up for me rather than tightens up, I thought that was weird, maybe had something to do with the cracks near the foot?
• The ash is coming along nicely with some tones of white and very light grey
• Despite being a thin vitola, the ash is holding up tightly and cleanly without any flaking
• I decided to give it one more small cut near the cap to see if the draw would improve and I was met with a nice mouthful of smoke again
• Each of the ashes lasted about a half-inch before hitting the ashtray, and a couple of them hit the floor
• It stayed clean and neat but it was not very strong but I can’t knock it much for that since it’s a small ring gauge and it was windy tonight too

Tasting Notes:
• On the wrapper I’m picking up mostly a barnyard and tobacco aroma
• From the foot I’m getting a little more barnyard mixed with some sweet floral hints
• prelight lots of sweet cedar, barnyard and a bit of clove spice
• Starting off on the initial draws I’m met with lots of cedar and leathery flavors and only a hint of peppery spice
• As I smoke through the first half, the spices never ramped up like a lot of other Pepin sticks but kept nicely on the sidelines. This made room for some nice cedar and leathery notes mixed with some coffee flavors that started shining through later in the first third
• All the flavors are balancing together nicely and none of them are really overpowering at any point
• The body on the My Father lancero has been mostly at the low end of medium so far and the retrohale is giving me a nice little bite along with a smooth coffee and cedar finish
• A nice new flavor reared its head at the halfway mark as an awesome little tart sweetness started joining the flavor party
• The tart flavors are making an awesome addition to the profile as they keep peeking in now and then
• The roasted coffee flavors have also started to shine through nicely
• Right to the end, the flavors stayed well balanced and slowly build up with intensity but never overpowering
• The body never really passed into the full range but it did build up in body a little bit
• I was able to smoke the My Father lancero right down to the nub with no harsh or bitter flavors at all

Final Thoughts:
I don’t think I’ve had a My Father branded cigar that I didn’t like yet and this one is not gonna break that streak. The lancero is another solid addition to an already tasty lineup of cigars. The flavors in this cigar were varied, complex, and interesting, keeping my on my toes the whole time. The tar buildup and extra cuts were a bit of an annoyance but all in all it wrapped up to be a very enjoyable experience. At a price point of about $9 (or more if bought in singles) they are a bit on the higher range of cigar prices. With all that in mind, I would definitely buy these again but I’d probably focus my attention on tracking down some of the other vitolas in the lineup more simply because a lancero is not my favorite vitola.

Pairings:
Today we’re hopping back on the port train with this offering from Fonseca called the Bin No 27 Reserve. You’ve probably seen this is a couple of Tony’s pairings so when I saw it at the local store I decided to give it a shot. I have to say I’m quite happy I did. In this port you’ll find a nice mix of black current and black cherries wrapped up with some nice oaky flavors and sealed together in a nice full bodied wine. A great port for the price, that is for sure. As I say with many of my other port pairings, this is one beverage that I’m happy to pair with damn near any cigar and the My Father Cigar lancero was no exception, they paired wonderfully! Other suggested pairings would be a strong coffee or a nice full stout to match the interesting flavors of this cigar.

The post My Father Cigars No. 4 Lancero appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The Limited Edition 2011 is similar to the Reserva Especial which was released last year (we actually chose this as one of our best cigars of 2010) but with a few tweaks which in my opinion, really made a huge impact on the final blend.

The Good Stuff: The Limited Edition starts off with the same, beautiful Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper as the standard Reserva Especial, only with a higher priming. After the wrapper Jaime decided to showcase some of his choice Pelo De Oro leaf as well as two different types of Cuban Seed. These cigars were showcased at this year’s IPCPR convention, and started to hit shops in August. This box came straight to us from Bonita Smoke Shop. Although this run is limited to 3700, Bonita still has them in stock and if you’re lucky enough you can pick them up here before they are sold out.

These cigars come in elegant boxes of 15 and each box contains a special 16^th cigar. The only difference with this cigar is it carries a Ecuadorian Connecticut shade wrapper. This isn’t something we see from My Father cigars often. It’ll be interesting to see the difference in taste when smoking the exact same blend with totally different wrappers.

The box is incredible. It even has piano hinges, much like a humidor and could probably even be re-used as one if taken care of properly. The top of the box is clean and elegant sporting Jaime Garcia’s name as well as the blend. The entire box it coated in this crazy manilla/white/pearl paint which actually gives off a crazy deep purple hue when held in the right light. The front of the box has the logo again with a format stamp as well as “3700/2011” stating the limited run numbers as well as the year. There is also a My Father Limited Edition Quality seal on one side of the box.

As soon as you open the box you get this huge whiff of a new lumber, or paint. At first, I was slightly upset thinking that the paint on the inside of the box hadn’t dried properly (we all remember what happened with a certain extremely exclusive cigar a few years back) after a further inspection I realized it was simply the etching and burning technique used in the inlay wood that holds the cigars. Whew. Furthermore, I’ll reveal a spoiler here and let you know right away that it had no effect on the cigars at all.

Size: 6.5 x 52  –  Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf  –  Binder: Nicaraguan Pele de Oro  –  Filler: 2 Cuban Seed Nicaraguan  –  Price: ~$16

Prelight: Anyways, back to the review. The Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial Limited Edition starts off with a very dark, very consistency, toothy, and oily wrapper that looks identical to the wrapper chosen for last year’s “Reserva Especial” release. There is only one rather large vein that I can see running the length of the body of the cigar. Following the almost sand-paper-like wrapper, you come to two, wonderfully designed, and attention grabbing bands. That’s one thing about My Father cigars, they really overdo the band designs. They’re remarkable. The Reserva Especial Limited Edition is no exception to that rule. The main band follows the same manila, brown, blue and gold band design as the Reserva Especial. Underneath the main band is a similar designed band with blue and gold being the prominent colors with a gold embossed crest with the words “JG, Limited Edition” and Jaime’s signature. The Reserva Especial Limited Edition is then finished off with a large, round triple cap.

The wrapper of this Limited Edition is really tough and hard. You could probably use this cigar to break into a car. While the wrapper of the cigar gives off a very smooth cedar and spice aroma the foot carries this extremely powerful oaky, and earthy aroma. It actually burned my nasal passage a bit as I took my first big whiff. The cigar was extremely easy to clip using my double bladed Palio cutter. The cold draw is really interesting on this Reserva Especial Limited Edition. It starts off with just a ton of really strong, dark, bitter chocolate before transcending into a nutty, cedar flavor.

First Smoke: The Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial Limited Edition lit up with ease, even under my simple single flame butane torch. The first initial flavors was this subtle pepper, some really sweet spice, tons of chocolate and espresso with just a touch of tobacco. The cigar really starts off like a nice, bold, strong cup of coffee.  The draw on this cigar is soooo easy and effortless, but not loose. Each little puff gives me the same amount of smoke as 3 puffs of any other cigar would normal pump out. The Limited Edition doesn’t give off too much stationary smoke, but its actually really pleasantly scented with a nice cedar and chocolate. The burnline on this cigar is razor sharp and crazy even leaving behind a really thick, tightly compacted light grey and white ash which held on for almost an inch and a half before falling to it’s doom in my lap and all over my feet.

Halfway There: The pepper has completely diminished at this point and I am now left with a really smooth mash up of coffee, chocolate, cashew, cedar, and a little berry. You can tell right off the bat that this is a stronger cigar, but at this point the balance between flavor and strength has been so well played that you really don’t pay any mind to the fact that it is such a strong cigar. The retrohale is VERY sharp and the pepper really shows through so I really don’t find myself doing it too often. It almost burns as it exits my nasal passage. Another plus was the secondary band removal. I always have such a hard time with excess of glue on my bands, and you would figure bands as large as these would give me a headache. Luckily, the band popped right off without leaving any trace of glue. Let’s hope the larger, main band has a similar experience.

Finish: Wow. Into the final third of this Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial the cedar has REALLY taken off as well as the body of the cigar. The cedar is really sweet, and powerful with some nice chocolate and espresso still mixed in as well as a nice cashew aftertaste. I am still so impressed how smooth this cigar is considering the strength. It’s full for sure. The burnline and ash on this cigar has been exceptional the entire experience requiring no touch ups at all. And another big plus, the large band popper right off as well. Whoohoo! All in all this cigar took about an hour and a half to take down and astonishingly had no harshness building up into the final inch.

Overview: Needless to say this is an incredible cigar and I wouldn’t be surprise if this blend makes out top cigars of 2011 as well. The full body and mass amounts of smooth flavors really made this cigar a perfect blend for me. I love a full body cigar that doesn’t kick your ass, but has enough complexity and balance that you really don’t pay attention to the strength of the cigar. The Limited Edition does just that. This is Boxworthy by far, even with the elevated price tag this is something that I would love to keep in my regular rotation. I may not recommend this to the novice smokers though, the body may just been too much for them.

Pairing: I kept my pairing relatively simple with this selection combining the Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial Limited Edition with some simple Sam Adams Rustic Saison. A lot of things go into pairing selections, type of cigar blend, body, time of day, and even time of year. With 100+ weather outside I went with something really simple, crisp, and refreshing that I knew wouldn’t overpower the cigar. Sam Adams Rustic Saison is a farmhouse style summer seasonal ale. It’s orange, cinnamon, and caramel composure made a nice treat and extended balance to the Limited Edition. It had just enough flavors not found in the cigar to extend the cigar’s character.  This cigar would go GREAT at night, with a nice stout, or even on a mid-morning brunch with some nice, black coffee.

The post Jaime Garcia – Reserva Especial Limited Edition 2011 appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.