Cigar Review: La Colmena by Warped Cigars

Vitola: Amado No. 36 (Panatela)
Size: 6” x 36 ring gauge
Price ~$12.50
Purchased from Silo Cigars

Background

There has been a lot of buzz lately around the new “Warped Cigars” brand. Keith even got to look at all three of their releases late last year…reviews you should check out HERE and HERE and HERE. I had not had the opportunity to smoke any until early December when I visited Silo Cigars in Knoxville and found they had picked up the line already. I sampled the El Oso (and found it “El So-So”) but was told that the La Colmena was the one that really was doing well with customers and employees alike. I brought home sample, but ended up going to Silo again before I got a chance to review it and smoked one there…so this review sample will be the second time I’ve smoked this blend.

La Colmena literally means “Bee Hive” and was inspired by “the elusive cigars from the mysterious island we all know is close by, yet so far.” The cigar was made by El Titan de Bronze in Miami, which definitely adds to the cost of production. They are carefully constructed by Cuban exiles who are all “true category 9 rollers.” They use entubado bunching, triple cap, closed foot and the pigtail.

This cigar uses Nicaraguan and Dominican fillers, an Ecuadorian binder and an Ecuadorian Deflorada wrapper leaf.

Prelight

The banding for La Comena is very modern. The die-cut shape and interior line art suggests a six-sided hexagon that honeycombs take on. The center of the band is taken up by what can only be described as an icon of 7 vertical lines that also take the shape of a hexagon if you put an imaginary box around them. The colors are dark gold—like honey—and a dark olive green/brown color. The arms of the band say “Warped” on one side and “La Colmena” on the other.

The appearance of the cigar itself is quite beautiful. The wrapper leaf was applied with no stretches and I could find no flaws in it. The closed foot was among the best I’ve seen; usually they are pretty sloppy looking, but this had just the right amount of leaf closing the foot. The triple cap was expertly done and the pigtail was stubby enough that it wouldn’t break off in the box, but still gives you an “old-school” look. The aroma from the wrapper was of molasses and sweet hay; the closed foot had just a touch more earth in the mix. I clipped the cap and got a very good cold draw that had notes of graham, earth and molasses.

Flavor

La Colmena started with medium-bodied smoke carrying notes of hay, graham and molasses. I got more subtle notes of citrus and white pepper on the palate, while the retrohale gave me some black pepper burn.

The second third introduced more earthiness and a stronger pepper burn toward the back of the palate. The smoke seemed to get a little fuller and oilier as it went on.

At the end, I got still more earthiness from La Colmena. There was still some molasses sweetness but the notes of hay, graham and citrus had completely disappeared.

Construction

I’ve said many times it’s hard to make a 38 ring gauge Lancero that draws well. This is 36 and it draws better than a lot of 40s I’ve smoked over the years. The ash was solid enough for such a thin cigar and the burn line was very even.

Value

While this was a very good cigar, I find it hard to justify the price of $12.50 a stick. I understand the high level of skill of the rollers and the fact that it was made in Miami, but it’s still a bit steep.

Conclusions

La Colmena was definitely a winner of a smoke when it comes to delivering very good flavor and a decent amount of complexity. While it never became what I would call “full-bodied” it did get right up into the medium-to-full range. Construction was excellent, especially considering ring gauge, but the price point is just a couple bucks more than I would expect to pay for the experience it delivered.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: .5/1
Total: 9/10