I was very interested in this cigar when I first heard about it...
The Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial is a new cigar blended entirely by (obviously) Jaime Garcia, son of cigar legend José "Pepin" Garcia, and was debuted at a event at at the Cigar Inn in New York City on Saturday, December 12, 2009. Only 100 boxes were available at the event, and it will be a limited cigar when released in the Spring of 2010, and will be packaged in boxes of ten with an MSRP of about $250.
* Wrapper: Connecticut Broadleaf (6 years old)
* Binder: Ecuadoran
* Filler: Nicaragua
* Size: 6 Inches
* Ring Gauge: 56
* Shape: Toro-ish
* Est. Price: $25
* Date to be Released: Spring 2010
The Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial is a gorgeous looking cigar, with a dark brown wrapper that smelled of chocolate, cinnamon and tobacco. It has a fairly rough looking wrapper, (with a few bumps here and there, it looks almost Leathery) and very little oil at all...It is also very spongy when squeezed (has quite a bit of "give")...
Immediately after lighting and taking a few puffs, I was greeted with a combination of flavors: Black pepper, leather and a Strong dark chocolate (almost, but not quite, bitter chocolate) with just a touch of coffee...the four of these in combination was a very nice way to start a cigar...
The second third of the cigar started out much the same (or rather, stayed the same), but right around the middle of the 2nd third, I noticed that there was much more of a Sweet flavor that had creeped in, perhaps as if the chocolate (that was still very present) had gone from a Dark chocolate flavor to more of a sweeter milk chocolate flavor, if that makes any sense...there was also just a bit of spice I noticed on the back of my tongue...
The last third had much of the same flavors, but I also tasted the distinct flavor of cinnamon, and the chocolate was almost replaced by a strong coffee flavor...I was easily able to nub it, and it never got hot at the end...
Final Notes:
* Although there was some pepper and (a bit) of spice present during the smoke, this cigar never rises above the "Medium" level...
* The Wrapper seemed to be where the pepper and spice was present, and the filler seemed to be quite a bit more mild...
* If this cigar is released in different sizes, I would love to try it in more of a Corona Gorda (or even a lancero!), which I think would combine what this cigar has to offer in the best ratios to really make it shine...
* The Burn was great for the whole stick, but the draw was a bit loose (which is not unusual for a cigar with a large Ring Gauge)...
* Final Smoking Time was 1 hour and 50 Minutes...
The Bottom Line: I really enjoyed the Jaime Garcia Reserva Especial for what it was, a medium strength smoke with a great combination of flavors...I wish there was just a bit more pepper or spice in the smoke (and I hope it is released in different vitolas), as I think that would really help the flavors that were present shine a bit more...The biggest problem this cigar is going to have is it's (projected) price...at $25 per cigar, it will be going up against some Huge players in the market (most notably Padron), and I am not sure it has the "Total Package" nailed down to beat them...
Final Score: 90
