Toro, 5.5" x 52 ring gauge / $9.75, Smoke Inn Exclusive
Smoke Inn, a chain of six retail tobacco shops in Florida, is continuing the celebration of 15 years in business with the release of their third Microblend, the El Hijo from My Father Cigars. In case you missed the previous installments, they were the unqualified success that was the Tatuaje Anarchy and the largest ring gauge Padron 1964s available. El Hijo is Spanish for "the son" and is a box-pressed cigar somewhere in between a robusto and a toro. The filler and binder are unspecified in origin, but knowing other My Father products, Nicaraguan is a good guess; the filler and binder protrude just a bit at the foot so you can taste them before the wrapper starts to burn because they want to show off the wrapper and its flavor...it is a 2009 harvest Ecuadorian Habano set aside by the Garcias because of limited quantities. We were given two El Hijos by Smoke Inn for this dual review and we thank Ming and everyone else there for these. They are taking pre-release orders now; the cigars will be $9.75 per stick or $146 for a box of 15. Pre-orders will ship on Monday, August 15.
DAVE SAID
I had this cigar sitting on the desk next to me as I wrote the preceding paragraph and the aroma coming from it was distracting and intoxicating. The wrapper had a nice mix of cocoa powder and rich earth, while the foot was even stronger on the chocolatey aspect. From an appearance standpoint, the cigar is definitely a winner: the typical My Father band with a secondary El Hijo band...the first band looks designed to go with the second and not vice versa...it's that well done! The leaf was fairly oily to the eye and to the touch and I could see no blemishes or anything else that would detract from the experience. On my stick, the box press was gentle and more pinched at the top than at the bottom, almost as if the cigar were trapezoid-pressed. This reminded me of the CAO Cameroon Holiday Press cigars that were out several years ago...and for me that is a pleasant memory, so this is a good thing. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the cold draw...not only was it easy, it was very flavorful, with notes of maple and cocoa powder leading the way, subtle spice and earthier notes following behind.
Because of the protruding filler at the foot, I made sure to get a good even light so I could accurately experience and convey the difference when the wrapper started taking effect. The initial puffs were spicy on the tongue and on the nose, with a flavor of roasted nuts coming through strongly. While it was a good flavor, it did seem incomplete and unbalanced...and this was the perfect way to show people how much flavor the wrapper actually does impart. The very first puff with the wrapper burning, brought a new spicy cedar note to the front, along with notes of hay and sweet tobacco. The retrohale was still intensely peppery, but the nuttiness was toned down a lot. As the first third went on the flavors became more earthy on the palate, with notes of strong coffee and unsweetened cocoa powder. The body had started off medium to full, but quickly got into the full bodied range. The smoke was a bit harsh and raspy on the throat, but e overall experience was very good so far.
During the second third the smoke got creamier with less harshness, but the strength of El Hijo started showing itself as I started to feel the nicotine already. The flavor of earth mixed with cedar was strongest, but there were also notes of natural tobacco and a little underlying sweetness as well as a growing pepper burn at the back of the tongue.Construction on El Hijo was superb...fantastic draw and a burn line that did not need touching up. Going into the final third, I got more natural tobacco flavor with the earth and wood notes taking a back seat. The pepper burn died down a bit, too, although it did not disappear completely. This really was an excellent cigar and a great entry in the Microblend series. It was full bodied and full strength so it's completely inappropriate for newbies, but the full flavor should make it desirable to just about any experienced smoker...provided it hits your flavor receptors right.
Body: 8/10
Strength: 9/10
Complexity: 8/10
AFP Scale
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10
KEITH SAID:
The first thing that I noticed was the band. It looks like the same upper band found on the original My Father and the My Father Le Bijoux with a different lower band. The box press was very nice and the small amount of filler sticking out was good looking. There were a few green spots on the wrapper near the foot and one patch below the second band. The wrapper of my sample was a nice ruddy brown in color with some veins, a good amount of tooth, and some oils to it. When I gave the cigar a squeeze it was fairly firm without any soft spots. Putting my nose to the wrapper I got an intense and wonderful aroma of barnyard, with leather and nuts coming from the foot. After clipping it with my MTX and taking a cold draw on it I was rewarded with a great draw with the tastes of leather and a bit of sweetness.Once I lit the foot up I got the tastes of leather and nuts with a good amount of spice. Once I hit the wrapper I got a definite molasses sweetness. Retrohaling the smoke produced a pretty intense burn. The draw was pretty much perfect and it produced a large volume of smoke. The ash was fairly white on the outside but a brownish grey on the inside. It flowered a bit and needed to be tapped off at about a half an inch. The spice did tone down a bit at the end of the first third, but I definitely would put it at the upper end of medium.
The second third saw the cigar continue on strong. I was getting flavors of cinnamon, leather, earth all with a sweet and creamy finish throughout the second third. The draw and burn continued to be perfect. As Dave mentioned I also started getting a little of the nicotine hit in the second third.
The final third saw the flavors move to leather, earth and cola all with sweet finish. The body and strength of the cigar did ramp up as well. The spice also came back on pretty strong and I could definitely feel it coating my tongue.
Overall this was an excellent cigar! I thoroughly enjoyed the flavors and once burning the construction was perfect. I’m going to seriously think about purchasing more of these for myself. As Dave mentioned this is not recommended for anyone other than people who smoke and like full bodied and full flavored cigars.
Body: 8/10
Strength: 9/10
Complexity: 7/10
AFP Scale
Prelight: 1.5/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10
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