La Escepcion brand was discontinued in 1989 due to poor sales. It was one of the oldest cigar brands introduced by Jose Gener around the late 1850's.
The cigar is called the 'Selectos Finos' a Panatella or Parejo at 6 1/2 by 38. This particular one was sent to me by a friend in Italy. 2000 boxes of 25 were made.
This lovely light brown wrapper was slightly bumpy and almost veinless. Hard to the touch but it had a little resistance when squeezed. Before cutting the cap it tasted like vegetables. I was told this was a very mild and bland cigar. The pre-light draw gave me little in flavour but the draw was promising. My first draw after lighting gave me rich floral and earthy flavours and a whole lot of other stuff going on beneath it. For my taste this seemed like a good solid medium body but I needed something to drink to stimulate my taste buds. There was too much going on with the cigar and I needed a little help in the form of a 15 year Zacapa Rum. The cigar was beginning to settle down as were my taste buds and I was picking up a little spice with notes of tea and grass. At about the third mark the cigar was tasting a bit bitter.
By the halfway mark the bitterness was long gone and the flavours hadn't changed. The burn was absolutely perfect and the draw effortless. I didn't have to touch up this cigar at all. It's rare to get a Cuban this perfect. By the last quarter however the cigar was burning a little hotter through the middle. It didn't affect the draw or flavour but was beginning to pick up strength. When I removed the Escepcion band the glue took some of the wrapper with it. It wasn't looking pretty at this point but was still smoking great and I just kept going with a touch up here and there. It finally got too bitter and I couldn't hold it any longer so I called it quits.
This was obviously a very young cigar. I will love to see how it changes through the years. I would give them at least another 2-4 years before even trying another. It had a lot of stuff going on all the way through and wasn't at all how it was described to me. I'm definitely going to find a few more to add to my humidor.
The cigar is called the 'Selectos Finos' a Panatella or Parejo at 6 1/2 by 38. This particular one was sent to me by a friend in Italy. 2000 boxes of 25 were made.
This lovely light brown wrapper was slightly bumpy and almost veinless. Hard to the touch but it had a little resistance when squeezed. Before cutting the cap it tasted like vegetables. I was told this was a very mild and bland cigar. The pre-light draw gave me little in flavour but the draw was promising. My first draw after lighting gave me rich floral and earthy flavours and a whole lot of other stuff going on beneath it. For my taste this seemed like a good solid medium body but I needed something to drink to stimulate my taste buds. There was too much going on with the cigar and I needed a little help in the form of a 15 year Zacapa Rum. The cigar was beginning to settle down as were my taste buds and I was picking up a little spice with notes of tea and grass. At about the third mark the cigar was tasting a bit bitter.
By the halfway mark the bitterness was long gone and the flavours hadn't changed. The burn was absolutely perfect and the draw effortless. I didn't have to touch up this cigar at all. It's rare to get a Cuban this perfect. By the last quarter however the cigar was burning a little hotter through the middle. It didn't affect the draw or flavour but was beginning to pick up strength. When I removed the Escepcion band the glue took some of the wrapper with it. It wasn't looking pretty at this point but was still smoking great and I just kept going with a touch up here and there. It finally got too bitter and I couldn't hold it any longer so I called it quits.
This was obviously a very young cigar. I will love to see how it changes through the years. I would give them at least another 2-4 years before even trying another. It had a lot of stuff going on all the way through and wasn't at all how it was described to me. I'm definitely going to find a few more to add to my humidor.
Hi Matteo, congratulations, your tasting of this Escepcion is very interesting. I joyned my friends at the Civithabana Cigar Club last march, in Civitanova Marche, Italy and I had the same feeling about this good smoke. It could be great to have at list a box of this vitola...
ReplyDeleteThank You Claudio. I enjoyed this cigar very much and I'm looking for some at the moment. Difficult when you live in Canada.
DeleteI just got given a lot of about 200 cigars. All were stored in cedar humidors with some sort of humidity control thing as well. Not sure what to do to off load them as I am jot a cigar man myself. Any hints?
ReplyDelete