These special cigars will be rolled in the My Father Cigar Company located in Estelí, Nicaragua. But the most interesting thing about these cigars is that Don Pepin himself will be rolling every cigar released to the public. Pepin has set aside a personal rolling room that only he has access to.

Reportedly, only Pepin has the information about this cigar and has kept the creation a total secret. The blend was not shared with anyone and only 20,000 sticks are expected to be rolled. This translates into roughly 1,000 boxes that will be distributed across the U.S.

Pepin expects to complete the rolling of 20,000 cigars in four months.

Construction: Dark milk chocolate in color with a triple cap.  Some small veins were spread over the wrapper. Maybe 1 or 2 long running veins that I was able to feel with my hand. Tight wrap with no soft spots.

Draw: La Aroma de Cuba Edicion Especial has a medium draw needing a little work to get smoke. Cutting the Ashton cigar opened up the draw and made it perfect.

Burn: La Aroma de Cuba Edicion Especial has a even burn for the entire smoke, typical of Ashton. Some points of the Don Pepin creation may seem a bit jagged but no touch ups needed.  Ashton solid white ash. Great producer of smoke that coats the pallet.

Taste: La Aroma de Cuba Edicion Especial started out with a great mixture of flavors in the tobacco. Each draw contained a sweet note accompanied by wood, slight coffee, and a bit of leather. Spice in the back of the pallet without the usual Don Pepin flavor.

Sweet wood like cedar. This Ashton cigar is very complex. As the sweetness becomes more delicate an earthy flavor is introduced. Wood was the dominate flavor and the leather made the body increase. Again some spice is in the smoke that coats your pallet. Overall very clean smoke.

Ending is consistent. Sweet, light spice, coffee, earthy. This Don Pepin, Ashton cigar is very complex and will give you a lot of flavors.

Final Verdict: Buy it. On the retail side the cigar will cost (in the low) $7.xx range. Online purchasing would save you about a dollar, $6.xx.  This is a great value for an Ashton cigar, a Don “Pepin” Garcia cigar, and/or an overall good medium body cigar that your pallet will love. Furthermore, I have had the opportunity to age the La Aroma de Cuba Edicion Especial and I can tell you that it does quite well. So pick up this cigar – smoke some now, age some for later – either way you are going to enjoy.

Are you a serious smoker? The kind of cigar aficionado who can conquer the strongest, meanest, cigar on the market without blinking an eye? Or maybe you just enjoy a full bodied cigar with a great blend that you can enjoy after a big full dinner?

Well allow me to introduce you the a cigar by EO cigars, made for their 601 line, blended by the famous Don Pepin Garcia: 601 Green Label Habano Oscuro.

I always allow the marketing gurus at the cigar companies tell their own stories before giving my own opinion. The United Tobacco (EO brands) website has the following information about the Green 601:

“It is handmade in Esteli, Nicaragua, exclusively for United Tobacco, by Pepin Garcia. This version of the 601 is an exquisite blend of aged Nicaraguan tobaccos wrapped in exquisite, oily Nicaraguan Habano Oscuro. This green labeled cigar is by far the fullest and strongest of the 601 Serie, if you enjoy a full bodied smoke, this is it. The 601 Green is a full bodied cigar which has been perfectly blended to exude a superb taste, flavour and aroma while maintaining it’s strength.”

Construction: 601 Green label is a very dark, oily, and intimidating cigar. The wrapper had some minor veins that you really can’t see due to the overall color of the stick. It had the usual “perfect Pepin” construction and was really full of tobacco.

Draw: Perfect. There isn’t a single cigar from the 601 group, or even the EO cigar family, that comes to mind with anything less then the perfect draw. You have to give them credit for the quality control.

Burn: I always feel like the more you have to pay for a single cigar ($9.00) the more perfect it should burn. The 601 Green was a bit jagged in its burn but never required me to touch it up. The solid ash is peppery in color and each puff produces thick creamy smoke.

Taste: Please fasten your seat belt prior to takeoff – the 601 Green label is a full bodied cigar from first puff. A familiar Don Pepin black pepper seems to be the primary flavor while accompanied by a nice coffee profile. The smoke is thick and creamy and coats your pallet with ease.

At the mid point of the 601 Green label I would say the flavor profiles switched roles. A nice coffee was the primary and a black pepper lingered in the background. There was an introduction of something sweet, something that really had my peaked the interest of my pallet. It’s really unique, and interesting ,to have such a full strong cigar introduce a sweet calm flavor.

Closing this full bodied cigar down in the final third was a perfect mixture of a sweet coffee, pepper, and creamy smoke. When reflecting on the cigar I realized that all flavors are similar but slightly different to make this a complex smoke.

Final Verdict: The local lounge should have these in the $8.xx-$9.xx range and online around $6.00. 601 Green label is a great deal either way. If you are a full bodied smoker – look no further – 601 is a must have cigar for your humidor. While you are purchasing this 601 Green label you might also want to pick up the other lines of the 601 . They are all great and it’s impossible to say which one is best.

Many have expressed their disinterest in the Don “Pepin” Garcia blended cigars (yes, believe it). Describing, in the most vivid of details, being blasted by more pepper than any other cigar on the market. And while I love the blends and cigars that are produced by “Pepin” Garcia I have grown slightly tired of smoking the intense full body, slightly similar stogie.

While visiting a local cigar lounge I was handed an unbanded cigar. The cigar proved to be a smoke I thoroughly enjoyed and was exactly what I was looking for to get away from the “normal” cigars I had been consuming.

Only when I was done was I informed that this was a Don “Pepin” Garcia blend created for Ashton. I was really impressed that this creation was a far cry from anything else I have  seen him produce.

La Aroma de Cuba Edicion Especial is now one of my favorite cigars to smoke.

“Handcrafted in small batch fashion by a select group of master rollers, this is a cigar for the connoisseur with a seasoned palate.  The flavors within this cigar are tremendously complex.”

Construction: Dark milk chocolate in color this beautifully capped cigar was a great contrast to the bright yellow band it wears. Some small veins were spread over the wrapper but did not cause much concern. However each stick seemed to have maybe 1 or 2 long running veins that I was able to feel with my hand. The tightly wrapped Ashton cigar contained no soft spots and held together exquisitely.

Draw: Punching the La Aroma de Cuba Edicion Especial left me with a medium draw that required a little tug. Cutting the cigar, as you can imagine, opened up the draw and made it absolutely perfect. Either method produced clouds of thick smoke.

Burn: La Aroma de Cuba Edicion Especial has a pretty even burn throughout the entire smoke of the cigar. It may be a little jagged at some points, there wasn’t any touch ups needed, and it burned at just the right rate. La Aroma de Cuba produced a solid white ash that came off midway through the cigar.

Taste: La Aroma de Cuba Edicion Especial immediately grabbed my attention on the pre-light smell. Why? Because it did not give me the “this-is-going-to-kick-you-in-the-tail” pepper Don “Pepin” Garcia smell.

La Aroma de Cuba Edicion Especial started out with a great mixture of flavors in the tobacco. Each draw contained a sweet note accompanied by wood, slight coffee, and a bit of leather. The smoke was thick and would leave just a minor indication of spice in the back of your throat.

The flavors are pretty consistent, however develop enough to be complex and keep you interested. As the sweetness becomes more delicate an earthy flavor is introduced. Wood was the dominate flavor and the leather made the body increase. Again some spice is in the smoke that coats your pallet.

Final Verdict: Buy it. On the retail side the cigar will cost (in the low) $7.xx range. Online purchasing would save you about a dollar, $6.xx.  This is a great value for an Ashton cigar, a Don “Pepin” Garcia cigar, and/or an overall good medium body cigar that your pallet will love. Furthermore, I have had the opertunity to age the La Aroma de Cuba Edicion Especial and I can tell you that it does quite well. So pick up this cigar – smoke some now, age some for later – either way you are going to enjoy.