Cigar Review: Ortega Serie D Black

Vitola: Robusto
Size: 5” x 50 ring gauge
MSRP $8.95
Sample provided by local area rep

Background

Eddie Ortega has been on my radar for most of this year, thanks to his generous sponsorship of the 4th annual Chattanooga Tweet-Up and Cigar Festival. I conversed with him via email a couple times. I also spent a lot of time smoking through last year’s “Wild Bunch” “cigar of the month” series and then there’s that special project that…wait…if I say more Eddie will probably send Taven to kill me. Seriously, though, Ortega Cigars has become a mover and shaker in the “large boutique” (salon?) part of the industry in the last couple years. His latest regular release is a spin-off of his first solo line, the Serie D.

The Serie D Black was first hinted at earlier this year, then stories fleshed out the release a little more. Basically, it’s a fuller bodied blend, using Nicaraguan fillers and binder, along with an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper. The original Serie D (and Serie D Maduro) were box-pressed, but this cigar would not be. The others used some mystical numerical code for vitola names, this one apparently just uses “Robusto” and “Toro.”

Burns Tobacconist got the Serie D Black in just before the Tweet-Up, and I didn’t get a chance to try it before Eddie rolled into town. Someone told me, though, that he had some samples and that I absolutely should try it. Being a blogger…and a cigar-weasel…I did my thing. I asked…he told Taven to give me one out of his bag. I said “Thank you” then…and I’m saying it again now publicly to both Eddie and Taven.

*news sources for this background include halfwheel.com and cigar-coop.com.

Prelight

Another brand owner pointed it out to me…look at the bottom edge of the Serie D Black band and notice how close it is to…well…another very famous band. I looked up images of that band online just to compare and found that the top of the band is also shaped very much like that other band. I honestly probably wouldn’t have noticed if it weren’t pointed out to me…but it’s almost like someone broke into another company’s print shop and stole the die used to cut out the band.

Mimicry of shape aside, I do like the look of the band. Black background with metallic gold ink, gold foil and some embossing. The gold is bright, but on the black it looks very elegant and classy, too. It’s a total departure, as well, from the original Serie D “Christmas” look.

The Ecuadorian Habano wrapper leaf was oily to the touch, a light brown shade, and had a few medium veins. It smelled of cedar and earth and a touch of ripe vegetation. The foot, meanwhile, had more pungent earthiness, with touches of coffee and cinnamon. The prelight draw was good; cold flavors were of cinnamon oil with the associated spicy heat, hay, and cedar.

Flavor

The Serie D Black lit quickly and easily. The initial puffs had cedar and earth, mixed with a little grassiness. Then the heat started coming on strong. I got chili pepper heat on the palate, on the lips, and on the nose. The retrohale was also nutty and the entire experience was quite full-bodied right from the get-go. A few puffs in I picked up on something that had been there from the first, a sort of syrupy sweetness that blended and balanced well with the other ongoing flavors. With a lot of blends originating in the My Father Cigar factory, you get an initial peppery blast then it settles down; the pepper continued and even increased as I got toward the end of the first third.

The pepper did settle down a bit during the second third, becoming just a constant heat and allowing more notes of cinnamon and cedar to come through, along with an undercurrent of earth and hay.

The final third saw more cedar come to the forefront, along with touches of cinnamon and pepper, all riding on a thick, oily full-bodied smoke.

Construction

I found no problems with construction as I worked my way through the Serie D Black. The draw was consistently great, the ash was solid and the burn line was even enough to require virtually no touch-ups.

Value

Price seems fair for the experience delivered.

Conclusions

Let’s get this out of the way first: this is NOT a cigar for beginners. The Ortega Serie D Black was full-bodied and had ample nicotine strength to go with it’s in-your-face flavor. It was a pepper bomb for most of the distance, as well. I joked with Keith that this could be Eddie’s new take on the 601 La Bomba, a cigar he did with his old company and a brand now owned by Espinosa Cigars, and in the end that analysis isn’t far off. I enjoyed it although I would have liked a little more sweetness toward the end.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10