Cigar Review | Exceptional Premium Cigars Inaugural

So those of you who listened to The Cigar Authority last week heard the story and bought the cigar. The response to the purchase has been incredible, and a few have requested a review of the cigar. For those who don’t know the backstory,

“The alleged story is that a very well known “boutique” cigar manufacturer, who has been around for a long time and makes wonderful cigars, had a little mishap in his factory in the Dominican Republic. To make a long story short, he took the insurance money and 2GuysCigars.com got the cigars, a ton of them. The outcome is this; he wins, we win and now you win.

Their “inaugural” reveal will be the one from 2009. 100,000 were produced and 10% were saved in their beautiful aging room for all these years for a special occasion. The special occasion turned into your opportunity. No bands, no boxes, no cello…wrapped in beautiful wheels. The blend uses an Ecuador wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Dominican fillers. These cigars sold for $13 each in 2009 but not anymore.

These 1st of their kind for this factory cigars, have been aged for 6 years and have never been better. Let’s re-unite these cigars with people who love them… So here’s what we call The Godfather Offer, an offer you can’t refuse.”

The price is even crazier, but more on that later.

Cigar: Exceptional Premium Cigars Inaugural Release
Size: 5 3/8 x 52
Wrapper:  Ecuador
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Dominican
Strength: Mild-Medium
Source: Two Guys Smoke Shop

The Look: Featuring a golden brown wrapper with an abundance of oils, the cigars come packaged in a wheel of 50 as packaged by the factory. Inside the wheel is a sticker that is a dead give away to what the cigar is, if you haven’t figured it out by now. The wrapper has some veins and a velvet like feel to it with some significant oils. In the hand the cigar is firm, with no soft spots and average weight for the size.

The Notes: The prelight aroma of the wrapper reveals a chocolate note, while the aroma off the foot also incorporates a slight sweetness of the powder on a powder donut. The cold of the cigar is sweet with hints of raisin and maple. Once the cigar is lit there is a subtle spice and floral note to the smoke.

Working into the first third of the Exceptional Premium Cigar there is a sweet maple note present with some hints of floral. Smoking further into the first third of the cigar there are notes of caramel and a faint hint of butterscotch. The first third of this cigar is worth the price of admission alone.

As we move into the second third notes of chocolate begin to develop and the cigar has a buttery richness with subtle spices through the nose. As this slow smoking cigar progresses the notes are complex and distinct. As the second third comes to a close some cedar develops and the aroma becomes sweet.

The last third of the smoke sees some hints of butterscotch return with graham cracker. The profile is rich and sweet at the same time with some hints of pepper every now and again, but the aroma and finish is toasty.

The Burn: Talk about a slow smoking cigar, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again I am a slow smoker, but this cigar for me lasted close to 2 hours. While I don’t expect that to be the case for everyone I think you will notice how it smokes nice and slow. The ash of the cigar is dark but it holds on forever and in one of the samples I smoked I held the ash more considerably more than half the cigar. The draw offers up the right amount of resistance and falls perfectly in my wheelhouse.

The Finish: When these cigars first came out in 2009, they were incredibly well received and worth every bit of the $13.00 they sold for. I remember smoking them at Cigar Inn in NYC on a regular basis. Now 5.5 years after that release they are still smoking incredible as this is a cigar that has aged well. I am a skeptic, always have been but these smokes are every bit as advertised and worth the price of $2.00 a cigar.

Score: 91
Price: $99.99 Wheel of 50 Cigars