Don Pepin Garcia Black Robusto 1979

By Dennis Camacho at thecigarspy.com

As far as I know, this was my first foray into the world of Don Pepin Garcia’s line of cigars. Read on to see how the Cuban Classic fared in my most recent review.

Hearing the name of Don Pepin Garcia, most cigar smokers will automatically recognize the name, even if they are not familiar with his lines of cigars. Being that I fall into the category of recognition but not having the opportunity of smoking any of his cigars, I decided to do a blind target with his line and ended up with his Cuban Classic.

Like many of the cigars I have had the opportunity to review, the Cuban Classic had excellent construction with zero construction issues. The textured, smooth feeling brown wrapper really helped highlight the slightly oversized band.

Using a punch and wooden match to light the cigar, I was immediately greeted with a strong burst of spicy, peppery notes. Accompanying the pepper were also hints of coffee, which is interesting because about 30 minutes into the cigar, my wife brought me a cup of coffee. The cup of coffee paired very well with this cigar, almost like this cigar was made specifically to be matched to each other. I did notice that once the peppery notes did subside about 20 minutes in, the flavors of the cigar did dip a bit throughout the rest of the cigars smoke, even though this is a more medium to full bodied smoke. It wasn’t anything that was a deal breaker for the cigar but I can’t help wonder if letting the cigar age a bit would help heighten the flavors.

I did find that in using a punch, I had a slightly tight draw throughout the whole of smoking this cigar. There was also a slightly uneven burn at the start of the cigar but it did even out within 10-15 minutes. Another high point of this cigar that I was found was the almost solid, attractive white ash that stayed with the cigar until I found it necessary to flake it off.

Recommendations: While I would buy this cigar again, I think there are others out there that I would select first over this one. If I was drinking quite a bit of coffee on a regular basis, I would no doubt have a number of these on hand. Again, I have a sneaking suspicion that a box of these aged for a year or two could make these middle-of-the-road cigars move up closer to the head of the line. Still, if someone offered me a stick, I would happily accept with a gracious “Thank You”.

Reposted by permission of the author.