Toro, 6" x 50 ring gauge / approx. $7.50
Baseball pitching great, Luis Tiant, first released a signature line of cigars around 2007; they were produced by Tabacalera Tambor, I did try one and it didn't do much for me, so I did not seek them out after that. When I heard that the El Tiante lineup was being revamped under Don Pepin Garcia and the My Father Cigar Factory in 2011 I was intrigued. Following the model used for the Nestor Miranda Collection, the new El Tiante is available in two wrapper types: Habano Oscuro and Habano Rosado. Today I'm tackling the Oscuro and Thursday I will come back to the Rosado. The filler and binder are Nicaraguan while the wrappers used are Ecuadorian Habano. My friend, G.C. Puffs sent me two of these that this review is based upon. Thank you, Mr. Puffs.
The banding of the new product is nicer, in my opinion, than the old product. A screened image of Cuba pays tribute to Tiant's birth country, as does a collage of a capital T and American and Cuban flags. Small numbers denote specific things in Tiant's career: a 23 for his jersey number, 229 for the number of career wins, and a 75 for...well, I am really not sure. The only thing I could find on Wikipedia relating to 75 was the year 1975 when he had 18 wins, a great postseason, and won the Babe Ruth Award. Let's just say 75 is for that year...it was a very good year. The wrapper leaf was mildly oily to the eye, but had more oil under the fingers, as well as a rich aroma of earth and wood; the foot had more earth notes, along with some cocoa powder. There were a couple of fairly large veins on the wrapper, but I expected no problems. Cutting off the cap, I got a nice draw that had a wonderful mix of natural tobacco, cocoa, and earth, with just a bit of molasses sweetness and spice.
The El Tiante Habano Oscuro starts off like many Pepin sticks before it, with a blast of pepper spice that could be felt on the tongue and in the nose. There was a balance of semi sweet chocolate and bitter espresso roast coffee on the palate, while earth came through on the retrohale. The cigar started off fairly full in body and definitely reminded me of the Nestor Miranda Special Selection Oscuro in some aspects. The spice continued, but at a lower level, throughout the first third. Mostly the cigar had heavy notes of dark coffee and earth, with a cocoa powder finish and just enough sweetness to balance the more bitter notes.
In the second third, I started picking up some leathery flavors and the smoke became more thick and rich, almost chewy. There was still an earthy base and a bit of pepper spice, too, and the retrohale had notes of cedar. The construction proved typical of the My Father factory, which is to say...flawless. I experienced a perfect draw and a very even burn line.
At the end, the El Tiante Habano Oscuro got more earthy; the body had increased along the way to be solidly in the full range, but the nicotine content did not seem all that big. All in all, this is a vast improvement over the old El Tiante brand, but very similar to the Nestor Miranda that I mentioned earlier. I'm sure it isn't the exact same blend, but it was similar enough to make me think of it most of the way through. I found this to be a very good cigar with a good price and experienced cigar enthusiasts should give it a try.
Body: 8/10
Strength: 7/10
Complexity: 7/10
AFP Scale
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10
Baseball pitching great, Luis Tiant, first released a signature line of cigars around 2007; they were produced by Tabacalera Tambor, I did try one and it didn't do much for me, so I did not seek them out after that. When I heard that the El Tiante lineup was being revamped under Don Pepin Garcia and the My Father Cigar Factory in 2011 I was intrigued. Following the model used for the Nestor Miranda Collection, the new El Tiante is available in two wrapper types: Habano Oscuro and Habano Rosado. Today I'm tackling the Oscuro and Thursday I will come back to the Rosado. The filler and binder are Nicaraguan while the wrappers used are Ecuadorian Habano. My friend, G.C. Puffs sent me two of these that this review is based upon. Thank you, Mr. Puffs.
The banding of the new product is nicer, in my opinion, than the old product. A screened image of Cuba pays tribute to Tiant's birth country, as does a collage of a capital T and American and Cuban flags. Small numbers denote specific things in Tiant's career: a 23 for his jersey number, 229 for the number of career wins, and a 75 for...well, I am really not sure. The only thing I could find on Wikipedia relating to 75 was the year 1975 when he had 18 wins, a great postseason, and won the Babe Ruth Award. Let's just say 75 is for that year...it was a very good year. The wrapper leaf was mildly oily to the eye, but had more oil under the fingers, as well as a rich aroma of earth and wood; the foot had more earth notes, along with some cocoa powder. There were a couple of fairly large veins on the wrapper, but I expected no problems. Cutting off the cap, I got a nice draw that had a wonderful mix of natural tobacco, cocoa, and earth, with just a bit of molasses sweetness and spice.
The El Tiante Habano Oscuro starts off like many Pepin sticks before it, with a blast of pepper spice that could be felt on the tongue and in the nose. There was a balance of semi sweet chocolate and bitter espresso roast coffee on the palate, while earth came through on the retrohale. The cigar started off fairly full in body and definitely reminded me of the Nestor Miranda Special Selection Oscuro in some aspects. The spice continued, but at a lower level, throughout the first third. Mostly the cigar had heavy notes of dark coffee and earth, with a cocoa powder finish and just enough sweetness to balance the more bitter notes.In the second third, I started picking up some leathery flavors and the smoke became more thick and rich, almost chewy. There was still an earthy base and a bit of pepper spice, too, and the retrohale had notes of cedar. The construction proved typical of the My Father factory, which is to say...flawless. I experienced a perfect draw and a very even burn line.At the end, the El Tiante Habano Oscuro got more earthy; the body had increased along the way to be solidly in the full range, but the nicotine content did not seem all that big. All in all, this is a vast improvement over the old El Tiante brand, but very similar to the Nestor Miranda that I mentioned earlier. I'm sure it isn't the exact same blend, but it was similar enough to make me think of it most of the way through. I found this to be a very good cigar with a good price and experienced cigar enthusiasts should give it a try.
Body: 8/10
Strength: 7/10
Complexity: 7/10
AFP Scale
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10
I'm holding out for the Oil Can Boyd line of cigars. ;-P
ReplyDeleteGreat cigar i just bought a box of theses online at nhcigars.com here is the link
ReplyDeletehttp://nhcigars.com/brands/5364