Don Pepin Garcia "Blue Label" Firecracker

3" X 50, Natural

Appearance: This is one distinctive looking cigar. This little bad boy actually looks like a firecracker, complete with a little fuse! (Mine lost his little fuse due to mishandling on my part, sorry for the abuse). This cigar is impeccably constructed, in the vein of all the other Don Pepin Garcia cigars, which had to be hard considering its diminutive size. Another interesting thing that needs noted is the shaggy foot on this cigar, as shown below, adds a very cool little touch.

Pre-Light: Clip was easy as could be with the spiffy Credo Synchro Cutter. Because of the extremely small stature of this cigar, I took extra pains to take as little off the cigar as possible. The prelight draw was all spice and pepper.


Burn/Draw: The burn and draw of this cigar were surprisingly consistent considering the unusual size of this cigar. That said you have to take pains to make sure to smoke this cigar slowly or it will get too hot too quickly. This was a bit of a problem toward the end of the stick regardless, unfortunately. Overall this aspect of the smoke was surprisingly pleasant, if way too short (more on that in a minute).Flavors: This cigar started out as a true pepper bomb! It will attack you with a force that might just surprise you upon lighting. After that initial burst fades (which is about a third of the way in to this short little smoke), the power doesn't really let up. the pepper abates a bit but the spiciness and intensity stay for sure. Over the last 1/2 inch of smokable cigar it starts to refine just a little, becoming richer and cedary but by then its time to pitch the smoke.

And therein lies the problem. This smoke is too short. This is a nice blend of tobacco and it needs more space to develop. Its a shame cause it was a pretty good start for a possibly great cigar, it is just woefully too short. Alas these cigars make better humidor decoration than smokes at this point. Sorry.

TomC