Apologies for the lack of postings over the last few months... I have had a few very busy months at work which meant having limited time to dedicate to cigarando....
This is not to say that I have not been able to enjoy a few great cigars of course... only that I had to dedicate the limited spare to sampling and enjoying new (and old) cigars rather than blogging about them :). But here I am, finally, back and ready to report on the latest and greatest smokes... and not only.
My last post was around Pedroni, the Swiss/Italian toscano style cigars. To restart, I want to talk about the new Italian Limited Edition, La Escepcion Selectos Finos.
This picture show the cigar in all its beauty, it's a panatela size, 6.5" in length x 38 ring gage; this is a different ring gage from the ones I usually smoke; it's the perfect contemplation cigar! I enjoyed it earlier this month in Italy, where I was for the baptism of my nephew Michele - by the way, congratulations to my sister in law Anna and my brother Marco for the beautiful baby boy!
If you didn't hear of La Escepcion brand before don't worry - neither did I before this Limited Edition came out - which effectively brought back to life this old Cuban brand. Take a look at the beautiful band below
I learned with a bit of research that La Escepcion is one of the oldest brands, introduced in the late 1850s by Jose Gener. Apparently it is believed to be a sister brand to Hoyo de Monterrey, given that both brands were started and owned by Jose Gener.
As for the cigar? Well, it is in fact stronger than a Hoyo I would say. The draw was excellent and the smoke was peppery with a little bit of spice. One thing to consider while smoking panatela style cigar is that they require a lot of concentration - you need to be careful not to draw too quickly or the cigar can get easily burned given the small size!
I enjoyed the cigar on its own, after lunch, just with a sip of water. It built up nicely with a little bit of chocolate hints towards the end. This is indeed an excellent afternoon smoke and I would recommend people to try them if they can. In Italy it should still be possible to find them in the best cigar shops; as for London, Ajay of La Casa Del Habano is also able to source them (in fact, I bought mine at his shop in Teddington)
