A Dutch friend bought a box of these Don Pepin sticks and gave me one in a pass I did for the Dutch site
sigarenliefhebber.nl and just the looks of the cigar made me curious. The knowledge that Don Pepin Garcia blended the 601 box pressed maduro made the urge to smoke it even bigger.
This stick reminds me of a chocolate bar, squared and dark. The wrapper is nice and oily with one huge vein. The cigar has a strong acidy barnyard aroma. The construction feels good and the predraw is just fine. I get a raisin flavor from the predraw with pepper on my lips.
I taste a spicy earthy flavor with some coffee. The flavors are full. After two or three puffs I also get a pleasant bitter taste, like really dark chocolate.
After an inch the spice has gone and I taste earthy flavors with some toast and a sweet chocolate aftertaste. The toast disappears and instead I taste some wood. The earthy flavors remain dominant and the chocolate is a bit sticky on the palate. Even though the flavors don't change often, I still like what I taste.
At the beginning the draw is a little bit on the loose side but it gets better along the way. I get plenty of thick white smoke and I was able to enjoy this cigar for an hour and 45 minutes. The firm ash is quite dark colored. When I purge the cigar I don't get a flame and the burn is quite allright, I had to correct it once. This cigar is full flavored and full bodied.
Would I buy this cigar again? Yeah, I liked it a lot!
Appearance: 8 / 10
Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 7 / 10
Burn: 6 / 10
Smoke & ash: 8 / 10
Aroma first part: 7 / 10
Aroma second part: 8 / 10
Aroma third part: 7 / 10