Cigar Review: El Oso by Warped Cigars

• Vitola: Mama (Lancero)
• 7” x 38 ring gauge 
• MSRP $12.50
• Purchased at Burns Tobacconist

Background

Familiar with the story of Goldilocks and the three bears? Well forget it…this isn’t about that story. Although there are 3 vitolas in the El Oso line by Warped Cigars…so I guess that does indicate 3 bears…and they are named Papa, Mama and Just Right…okay, that last one is a lie, it’s actually “Cub.”

First up, I’ll confess: first time I smoked El Oso was a few months ago. I saw it on the shelf at Silo Cigars in Knoxville and picked up the Cub to test out. I was not blown away. I didn’t buy any more. Then the cigars showed up at Burns a few weeks after I started working there full-time and I figured I needed to give the blend another chance. I opted for the Mama this time around, since Lanceros often hit me “just right.” This time the story had a happy ending…I really enjoyed the stick…so I decided to feature it on a review.

El Oso is Spanish for “the bear” (in case you didn’t get all the references above). Warped Cigars has this line rolled at the Titan de Bronze factory in Miami’s Little Havana district. Their website notes that they are all rolled by “true category 9 cigar rollers from Havana” and that El Oso uses entubado bunching and a classic Cuban triple cap. The fillers are Nicaraguan and Dominican, the binder is Ecuadorian, and the wrapper leaf is an Ecuadorian Habano Oscuro. I noted above that I had smoked a couple other Osos; I bought this one at Burns.

Prelight

True to the website text, this cigar does have impressive-looking rolling: the triple cap, flat seams and consistently solid feel do project quality. The band is a study in simplicity, conveying the brand of the cigar without too much art or verbiage. The wrapper was a milk chocolate brown color with an oily touch to it and an aroma of fresh earth and sweet hay. The foot had a more pungent earthiness with touches of wood and pepper.

The prelight draw was excellent and featured flavors of cedar and honey. And now it was time to light up Mama and all I could think to say was… HaHa Ha….Oow…

Flavor

Lighting up a Lancero is almost always easy, and this was no exception. Once I got fire evenly applied to it, the Oso Mama gave off flavors of earth and graham and cedar, with a touch of natural sweetness and a nicely peppery retrohale. It was full-bodied and full-flavored right from the get-go with a pleasing complexity.

Late in the first third and easing into the second, I picked up on some citrus touches and an introduction of semi-sweet chocolate into the flavor profile. The woody notes subsided a bit, but graham and earth notes were still there. I still got some pepper on the nose, but there was also a roasted nuts note.

The last third had more earth and chocolate notes, along with an introduction of pepper spice onto the palate. There were still faint notes of graham and citrus in the mix, too, and I enjoyed El Oso Mama down as far as I could still hold it without burning my fingers.

Construction

I’ve never encountered anything but great construction on Warped Cigars so far. Here I got a fantastic draw, excellent burn line that needed no touch ups, and a solid ash.

Value

There’s no hiding the fact that this cigar is pricey. The fact that it delivers an experience worth the price is also impossible to hide.

Conclusions

It’s odd that I had a ho-hum reaction to the Cub, but I thoroughly enjoyed the Mama. Really, though, it just goes to show that one vitola can really stand out from the crowd in any line. I would highly recommend Mama to anyone except newbies; it is a very complex, very tasty cigar. The price tag is a little steep, but it is worth it, especially considering that it’s made in Miami and production is somewhat limited.

By-The-Numbers

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