My Father Limited Edition 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010 at 9:00AM 
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.
My Father, My Father Limited Edition in review
Reader Comments (2)
how would you compare this to the Le Bijou Gran Robusto? I imagine much more balanced flavor and not kick you in the shins type of strength?
This is a very different cigar than the Gran Robusto to me. You are right about it being way more balanced and not quite as strong.. I think there is a little bit of strength to the LE, but it is perfectly balanced with the flavors in this cigar and isn't a powerhouse. I would say that the Bijou's are a little fuller in body, but the LE is much more complex overall.