My father Limited Edition 2011

This week's review is of the new My father Limited Edition 2011. Last year's release was a huge hit (at least to me) so when I found out they were doing another I was pretty excited about it. This year's release is a little different than last years though. This edition wasn't rolled by Jaime/Pepin and doesn't come in individual coffins like the 2010 did. The production was a little higher this year with 3,500 boxes of 12 being released. Last year there were only 2,000 boxes. Pepin and Jaime didn't roll this years release due to time constraints. It just takes too long for 2 people to make that many cigars! This cigar measures in at 6.5X52 and has a Habano Criollo wrapper from Ecuador and a Nicaraguan Binder and Filler, including the famed Pelo De Oro tobacco that Pepin has been growing. Like most of the My Father cigars, this has a huge band on it, with the 2nd band letting you know that this is the Limited Edition blended by Jaime Garcia. 

This is a hefty, solid cigar with a flawless oily wrapper and a perfectly applied triple cap. The aroma at the foot is of pungent well aged tobacco. Once cut the prelight draw shows a perfect (for what I like in a draw) with lighter flavors of wood and crisp toasty tobacco. Once lit this starts out with rich mouthfulls of woody smoke with a small amount of spice in the back of my throat. There isn't as much peppery spice on the palate in this one compared to what I remember about last years release, but when retrohaled the spice is much more apparent. This is starting out quite smooth with very full flavors. I am getting a ton of different flavors out of this, including cedar, caramel, light coffee, leather and earth. Obviously there is a great complexity to the flavor profile. All of these flavors aren't present at the same time, but keep popping up every few draws, making for a compelling smoke. The burn is dead even and the ash is solid, falling off at around an inch and a half. 

As I reach the first band there is more leather and coffee flavor, along with plenty of that woody core flavor. Halfway in and this is full bodied (flavor and mouthfeel) and medium/full in strength. The ash has gotten a little flaky at this point. I wish I had saved one from last years release so I could compare these side by side. Entering into the home stretch of the My Father LE 2011 and the flavor is darkening up a bit, with the return of of a little bit of spice. This burned great right down until I could barely hold onto it any longer. 

 

This was a very tasty cigar! One of the only things I wish it had was a little more of that classic Pepin spice like last years release did. I found this one to be more complex though. These come in at the same pricepoint as the 2010, which is $20 a piece. For me thats a hard price to pay for any cigar but I am glad I picked up a few of these. I was a little surprised the price was still as high as last years, considering Pepin/Jaime didn't roll them all themselves and they didn't come in individual coffins. I figured knocking those two things out of the equation might bring the price down a little bit. Apparently I was wrong.  I am going to try to hang onto one of these for at least a year to see what some age does to this blend. I didn't have the willpower to do that with the last release but I am going to try my hardest to hide one of these from myself! 

My Father Limited Edition 2010

The My Father Limited Edition 2010 is a rather special cigar. If you read this blog with any regularity, you should have noticed I am a pretty big fan of the cigars coming out of the My Father factory from Don Pepin Garcia. There were only 24,000 of these cigars made (2,000 boxes of 12) and each and everyone of them was rolled by Jaime Garcia and Jose (Don)Pepin Garcia over about 4 months. Jaime, who is Pepin's son did all the bunching/binder application, and Jose applied the wrappers to the cigars. The other major factor in making this cigar so special is one of the tobaccos used within it. Pele de Oro, or "Golden Hair" is a strain of tobacco that used to be grown in Cuba, but because of its susceptibility to blue mold, the Cuban government banned the usage of this particular variety. When Pepin moved to Nicaragua he smuggled a small amount of these seeds with him, and planted it for the first time for this cigar. He only planted a small crop of the Pele De Oro, enough for this cigar and a little for the blend of the 2009 Vintage of the Tatuaje La Verite. All of the tobacco that goes into this limited edition were grown on Pepin's farms in Esteli, Nicaragua. The wrapper on this is an Ecuadorian Habano Rosado Criollo Hybrid. This is a 6.5 X 52 Toro and comes in individual cedar coffins, inside of a beautiful lacquered box. 

This cigar is just stunning to behold. The perfectly applied wrapper is oily with a few small veins, and a great looking triple cap. The 2 huge bands take up over half of this cigar, which is a little much, but it still looks good! The predraw has a great dry cocoa and earth flavor to it. The draw is absolutely perfect. Once lit, I am a little surprised at how much spice this thing starts out with! A blast of tongue tingling black pepper spice coats the palate right away (in a good way), as well as plenty of cedar, nutty notes, earth, cinnamon....I feel like every draw introduces something new. The retrohale is very spicy, a little too much for me considering I don't retrohale very frequently. The core flavor of this cigar is definitely similar to the normal My Father line, but richer and more complex.

After the first inch the spice seems to be backing off, letting all of the other flavors come up to the front. The ash holds on very nicely, and the burn is dead even. At the halfway point, a mild sweetness and some aged leather show up to the party. You can really tell they took their time blending this cigar, everything is working very well together in the flavor profile. By the end of this cigar I would say it is full in body and definitely full flavored. This isn't a cigar that is going to knock you back in your chair or anything, but its definitely got some weight behind it. The balance of the blend is really well done. Talk about a cigar you don't want to end. 

This was a fantastic cigar, easily one of my favorites this year. I wish I had picked up more of them! At $20 a stick, these aren't cheap, but this is a special occasion cigar for sure. Its a really cool experience smoking something made by a master roller like Pepin. I have had several chances to talk to Pepin about this project (with someone translating of course) and his passion for this cigar (and all of his cigars) is written all over his face when he speaks. These can still be found if you take a little time to look for them, but won't be for long. Do yourself a favor, pay the 20 bucks and get at least one of these to try before they are all gone! These have some great aging potential as well, I think the flavors will continue to evolve, making this an even more complex cigar.