Cigar Review: Eiroa The First 20 Years by CLE Cigars

• Vitola: Prensado (Box-pressed Corona Gorda)
• 6” x 46 ring gauge
• MSRP $12
• Sample provided by local rep

Background

Two days, two different Honduran puros made in the same factory, but for very different purposes. Yesterday I looked at Tom Lazuka’s tribute to Detroit firefighters with the Asylum Devil’s Night…today I look at Christian Eiroa’s celebration of 20 years in the cigar industry.

The legend for the Eiroa “The First 20 Years” blend goes something like this:

On the anniversary of Christian’s 20th year in the industry (July 2015), his father gave him this precious tobacco as a gift for Christian to be able to blend a cigar like no other. It is a gift that is very precious to Christian and he will not release the cigar until it is what he considers to be perfection.

These cigars are a departure from the full bodied cigars Christian is known for. They are a very smooth transition into medium body and full flavor.

The First 20 Years is available in 4 vitolas, all using 20 count boxes and all fairly pricey per stick. It is all Honduran leaf for the filler, binder and wrapper and is rolled in the Aladino factory in Honduras. It joined the CLE portfolio as part of the “upper” line of “Eiroa” branded cigars along with the Eiroa (natural / corojo) and Eiroa CBT Maduro (a triple-maduro blend). The name—“The First 20 Years”—is clunky, but I suspect it will just end up being called “Eiroa 20,” “Eiroa 20 Year,” or “Eiroa 20 Series” (the last is what is indicated on the actual band of the cigar.

This is my first experience with the Eiroa 20 Year blend and the cigar was gifted me by our local rep in advance of them actually showing up at the shop. We did get them at Burns a couple weeks after he gave me this one and we will hopefully be adding them to the website before the week is over. (Background for this article from the CLE website and Cigar-Coop)

image courtesy CLE Cigars

Prelight

The box, the band, the tissue paper wrapping…all speak of a high-end endeavor for the CLE company. It all has a rich, elegant look, from the use of holographic gold foil to the embossing and slight alteration of the “Eiroa” band for this blend, to the use of the tissue paper to cover the bottom 2/3 of the cigar…which apparently Christian Eiroa prefers to cellophane. From a cigar enthusiast standpoint, I can agree because it keeps other people from handling the cigar I might eventually buy. From a retailer standpoint, I love the way they’ve used the tissue sleeves because they included barcodes on them, which cuts down the time it takes to tag all the product that needs to go on the shelf.

Once the tissue is removed, a beautiful dark chocolate brown wrapper is revealed to have a ton of oiliness to the eye and to the touch. No one classified this as a “Maduro” wrapper, but it looks and feels like it.

The aroma from the wrapper was rich and sweet, with notes of chocolate and wood; the foot had earth and cedar aromas. After cutting the head the prelight draw was excellent, featuring flavors of earth, cocoa powder, cinnamon, and cedar.

Flavor

At light-up, I got a solid earthiness on the palate, along with semi-sweet chocolate and cedar coming in behind it. The retrohale had a distinct peanut butter note to it, with a quick hit of red pepper. The body of the cigar was definitely in the medium or medium-plus territory from the beginning, not even flirting with full-bodied, although there was plenty of flavor present.

During the second third, I noted that the body did increase to the medium-to-full range while the flavors really ramped up in intensity. I got a sweet molasses note, cocoa powder and earth notes, backed up with roasted nuts and a slight increase in pepper spice.

The great flavors continued most of the way through the final third, with earth leading the way and cocoa powder and roasted nuts following. Around the time I had half an inch left the flavor started to dip with a bit of muddled notes and the cigar was becoming too hot to continue smoking anyway.

Construction

There was a tiny hollow section during the second third, but it burned through with no real problems. The draw was great, the burn line was even enough needing just a couple touch-ups, and the ash was solid.

Value

The excellent flavor of this smoke definitely justified the slight price premium.

Conclusions

If I had any doubts about the ability of Honduran tobacco to “wow” me, they were put to rest by the Eiroa First 20 Years. This was possibly the best Honduran puro I’ve had an definitely the best thing ever from the CLE portfolio. I didn’t see an indication that this would be a limited release cigar, so hopefully they will be able to continue producing this blend with consistency. It makes a perfect flagship release for the company and is a very easy recommendation for fans of Honduran leaf or for anybody that enjoys a good medium-to-full-bodied smoke. The final score on this one was difficult…it’s really hard to say how close this one came to being a “Perfect 10” for me…I think it just missed it when the flavors dropped off toward the end of the stick.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10