Cigar Review: Don Pepin Garcia Cigars

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This cigar review of the Don Pepin Garcia Blue Label, Serie JJ, Habana Leon, Havana Soul and Cuban Diplomat cigars is part of a series of reviews on the Top Ten Made in the USA cigars of 2006 For more information, and for more reviews of premium cigars from around the world, check the Cigar Review archive.

The final entry in this series on the top ten cigars made in the U.S.A. is something of a cheat.

I am not, you notice, listing a single vitola as in the previous nine entries. In fact, I am not even listing a single cigar brand.

The reason for that is that I cannot single out separate cigar lines made by Don Pepin Garcia for inclusion in this top ten list. If I included separate listings of different Pepin Garcia cigars as single entries as in the previous articles…there would have been almost nothing but Pepin Garcia cigars in this top ten list.

The man makes very good cigars.

Earlier in this series, we talked about the Tatuaje, Padilla Miami and Cabaiguan cigar lines as some of the best cigars currently made. Notice that I am not qualifying that statement by saying that they are among the best cigars made in the U.S.A., because that would not be true. Pete Johnson’s Tatuaje and Cabaiguan cigars, and Ernesto Padilla’s Padilla Miami cigars are, quite simply, among the finest cigars made anywhere. That includes cigars made in Cuba.

The tobacco master behind the award-winning Tatuaje, Cabaiguan and Padilla Miami cigars is Don Pepin Garcia. As mentioned previously, all three of these cigar lines are products of his El Rey de Los Habanos factory in Miami.

Jose “Pepin” Garcia has worked with cigars since he was 11 years old. That means that he has over forty years of experience, but that simple statement does not tell you everything you need to know.

He is not only very experienced, Pepin is also naturally talented and is a true artist of tobacco blending. Leaf speaks to him in a voice heard by only a select few. While in Cuba, he attained the status of tabaquero maestro — Cuba’s highest rank for cigar rollers. But that is only the beginning of his credentials.

Don Pepin was a teacher of blending and rolling in Cuba. He was involved in the creation and production of the Cohiba and Montecristo brands, among others. I have heard that he was formerly a personal roller to Fidel Castro, but I have not confirmed that from Pepin. I know that he was offered a job as a consultant to Cuban cigar makers before leaving Cuba, and that he turned it down.

Don Pepin Garcia was highly respected and valued in the Cuban cigar industry. However, he valued life for himself and his family outside the Cuban system more than the honors that he was given. He left Cuba and went to work for Eduardo Fernandez’s Nicaraguan tobacco giant, Aganorsa. Garcia and his family left Nicaragua in 2002 and immigrated to Miami where he started his El Rey de Los Habanos cigar manufacturing business.

The factory is located on Calle Ocho in Miami’s Little Havana district, right next door to the El Credito factory of La Gloria Cubana fame. Pepin employs Cuban expatriate Class Eight cigar rollers in his factory — many of them his former students from Cuba — and uses Cuban cigar construction methods exclusively including entubado construction and triple caps.

In addition to producing cigars for Johnson and Padilla (and for others), Pepin makes his own cigar lines. That is some very good news that you may not be aware of, since up to now Pepin’s own cigars not been very well known and have had limited distribution.

I expect that to change after this year’s Retail Tobacco Dealers of America show in Las Vegas.

Here, therefore, as the final entry in our list of the the finest cigars made in the United States, is a look at some of the hidden gems produced by Don Pepin Garcia, beginning with his signature lines.

Don Pepin Garcia Blue Label

These cigars, along with Pepin’s Tatuaje line, define full-bodied cigar. Once you have smoked one of these, you will realize that any other non-Cuban cigar you have ever smoked that you thought was full-bodied was…not.

Some people swear that the Don Pepin Garcia Blue Label blend is identical to the Tatuaje. I disagree. The Tatuaje seems more refined than this intense dynamo. The Blue Label is raw power combined with full flavor.

I like the Delicias, which is a 7 inch by 50 ring Double Corona with a dark, oily Corojo wrapper and a Criollo binder. The filler is a blend of Corojo and Criollo.

The first thing you notice on lighting up a Delicias is a “hit” of pepper and sweet spice that settles quickly into a very earthy and aromatic mix of leather and cedar. The wrapper adds in flavors of coffee and a hint of cocoa. About a third of a way into the stick, it all blends into a creamy, spicey, peppery mix with hints of a Cubanesque tang — and it stays that way until the long, nutty finish.

The thing that struck me while trying to find the best way to describe the taste of a Don Pepin Garcia Blue Label for this review was that it is as if a mild and complex old Cuban El Rey del Mundo Choix Supreme was somehow ramped up to a full-bodied, full-strength cigar while managing to keep most of its nuances.

This is not a cigar for beginners. Nor for daytime or an empty stomach. Enjoy it after a full meal and you will marvel at what Don Pepin can do with Nicaraguan tobacco.

The suggested retail price of the Don Pepin Garcia Blue Label Delicias is US $175.00 per box of 25, or about $7.00 each. The best online price I know of at the moment is $148.95 per box at Payless Cigars, which is about a 15% discount and takes the price down to $5.96 per stick.

You can also find them at Black Cat Cigar for $154.95 (about $6.20 each). Black Cat also has five packs of the Robusto-sized Generosos and the Imperiales Torpedos, but not of the Delicias at the time I am writing this. Check with your local tobacconist and see if they carry them or can get them. These are becoming better known and more popular every day.

Don Pepin Garcia Serie JJ

The Serie JJ takes its name from the fact that it is a blend devised by Pepin (first name, Jose) and his son, Jaime. It is a medium strength, medium-to-full bodied cigar with excellent flavor and creaminess.

This line comes in three vitolas: A 5 3/4 inch by 52 ring Belicoso, a 6 inch by 54 ring Toro-on-Steroids called a Sublime, and a 7 1/4 inch by 57 ring figurado called a Salamon (shown below) that is a work of art and rolled only by Pepin. The wrapper is Nicaraguan Corojo, the binder Nicaraguan Criollo. The filler is a blend of Corojo and Criollo.

This is a somewhat milder cigar than the Blue Label, but a complex and enjoyable smoke that you can enjoy at other times of the day if you are used to full-bodied cigars. It is also a good option for those who find the Blue Label simply too strong. It is hard not to compare this (and other cigars by Don Pepin) to Cuban cigars — on the one hand, nothing is a Cuban except a Cuban. On the other hand, Don Pepin is making cigars that are the closest thing to Cubans outside that island.

Do not misunderstand what I am saying here. His cigars are not simply “knock-offs” or imitation Cubans. Instead, each Don Pepin cigar line unique and has an extra quality of its own that elevates it to the same level of excellence that good Cuban cigars have. They are among the finest cigars currently available.

The Serie JJ is somewhat reminiscent of a Hoyo de Monterrey Epicure #2, with its flavorful mildness, leathery tones, sweet spice notes, citrus and fruity undertones and — as mentioned above — an exceptional creaminess with hints of vanilla. There is a light pepperiness on the finish, and the cigar is extremely well balanced.

You can buy them online from Abner’s World of Cigars for about US $7.00 each (per box of 24) for the Belicosos, $8.00 each for the Sublimes(per box of 24) and a little over $14.00 (per box of 5) for the Salomons. Two Guys Smoke Shop is a little more per box but is one of the only other online retailers to stock them — and they sell singles as well, at prices ranging from $8.00 to about $18.00 each.

The Serie JJ is one of Don Pepin’s favorite smokes, and one of mine as well.

Habana Leon

This cigar line is named for the Cuban baseball team the Habana Leones — nicknamed the “Rojos” or “Reds” by their fans. The red theme shows not only in the red and gold label reminiscent of that of another famous cigar, but also in the reddish-brown vintage 2000 Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper.

This cigar is a powerhouse, with a filler that is 70% ligero tobacco and a Nicaraguan binder.

70% ligero.

Did I mention that this was a very powerful cigar?

It is also complex and full-flavored. The first thing you are hit with is a punch of spice. This gives way to a very rich, full tobacco taste that is set off by cedar tones and a noticeable nuttiness. I also taste black pepper. The draw is absolutely perfect, and the cigar produces large quantities of aromatic and flavorful smoke.

Do not attempt this one on an empty stomach, or if you are not used to strong, full-bodied cigars. This is a knock-you-on-your-ass kind of cigar, and far and away the most powerful of the ones reviewed here. The Cuban cigar that it is most similar to is the Partagas Serie D No. 4.

The Habana Leon cigar is available in seven vitolas, including the 9 1/4 inch, 48 ring Cuban “A,” but I am going to recommend the Robusto. I think that it is the best of an extremely good blend and best captures the flavor profile Pepin was working toward.

You can order these online from Cigar King or from Phatash for the same price of US $139.95 per box of 25 ($5.60 each) or $32.95 per five pack ($6.59 each). The identical price is not surprising since the two companies have the same owner. I am not aware of anyone else online who sells this cigar — I understand it is a “house brand” for Cigar King.

If so, it is probably the best house brand I have ever run across.

I have heard rumors that Cigar King is going to start wholesaling these cigars because of the buzz around Pepin’s work. Check with your local tobacconist to see if they can get them.

Havana Soul

The Havana Soul is a cigar that begins as medium-flavored and medium-bodied, then builds to become full-flavored and a bit shy of full-bodied by the halfway point. Very pleasant.

The wrapper in an absolutely beautiful, oily Corojo ‘99. The filler is Nicaraguan Corojo and Criollo tobacco. It is available in 11 vitolas, each with its own special character. One of my favorites in this line is the 6 1/4 inch, 52 ring Torpedo.

As mentioned above, the cigar begins deceptively mild. The intensity and flavor both build fairly rapidly, along with a Cuban-like “twang.” Spice notes kick in, and you begin to pick up complex flavors of chocolate, sweet cream, roasted nuts and hints of leather. Everything intensifies at the mid-point and remains at that level from that point on. It has a strong finish, but instead of becoming bitter it mellows again at the very end. All in all, this one reminds me most of the mildest of the Cuban Cohibas, the Siglo IV.

The Havana Soul is, as far as I know, exclusive to Cigar King and Phatash The Torpedo costs US $164.95 per 25, or $6.60 each. They are also available in a sampler pack that contains two each of the Torpedo, Toro, Churchill and Robusto Havana Soul vitolas for $49.95.

Cuban Diplomat

If full-bodied, full-strength cigars are not your preference, then you should know that of all the Don Pepin cigars I am reviewing here — the Cuban Diplomat is the mildest. It is “only” medium-bodied.

It is also one of the most fascinating cigars, to me, that Pepin has created. Basically, it is the Havana Soul blend with a silky smooth Connecticut Shade wrapper.

That’s right. A Connecticut Shade wrapper.

When I learned of this combination, my first thought was that the wrapper would be completely overpowered by the filler blend. To my surprise, I discovered that is not true.

Instead, Pepin has managed to gentle and mellow down the medium-to-full bodied Havana Soul into a cigar that just edges above medium body and intensity. The underlying creaminess and spice still comes through flavorfully, and the cigar is very complex with changing flavors as you smoke it.

For me, the chocolate tones of the Havana Soul seem to shift in the Cuban Diplomat toward sweet vanilla cream, and citrus notes become noticeable. This cigar reminds me most of a Cuban Quay D’ Orsay, especially in the 5 inch, 42 ring Ilana Corona vitola which I recommend.

If you are a fan of milder, medium-bodied cigars, are looking for an exceptional daytime smoke or are working your way up to full-bodied cigars, the Don Pepin’s Cuban Diplomat is one cigar that should be in your humidor.

Again, this is a cigar that, as far as I know, is only available from Cigar King and Phatash. The Ilana Corona will cost you US $129.95 per 25, or about $5.20 each. They also sell five packs for $28.95 ($5.80 each). Check your local store and see if they have it.

This is not a complete listing of all of the cigars manufacturered by Pepin Garcia. It is just a list of some of the ones that are easiest to find and in fairly broad distribution. Pepin makes private label cigars for other retailers, as well as some additional lines of his own.

For the Pepin brands that they carry, Cigar King and Phatash offer several different sampler packs that provide different vitolas in the individual lines, or a sampling of cigars from several Don Pepin lines (including some not covered in this article). Do a search on their site for “Pepin sampler” to see what they are currently offering, or email them with your questions.

All of Pepin’s cigars age very well. Even a month in the humidor transforms an already excellent cigar into a superb one. Just don’t forget the warning earlier in this series about cigars with a high Corojo and Criollo content soaking up water when kept at or near 70% relative humidity and the problems that can cause.

Just for the record, I have no affiliation with any of the cigar manufacturers or retailers listed in this article series. No one has directly or indirectly paid anything to be included in this listing, nor do any of the companies mentioned in the list advertise on this site (more’s the pity) — in fact, none of the companies involved knew that they would be listed here before the articles appeared in print.

I hope that you get as much enjoyment from sampling this cigars as I have in compiling the list.