Cigar Review: Warped La Colmena Reina

Vitola: Belicoso
Size: 6″ x 48 ring gauge
Price $16.50
Obtained From SmallBatchCigar.com as a review sample

Background

Today I’ll be taking a look at the SmallBatchCigar.com shop exclusive from Warped Cigars, the La Colmena Reina.  While the blend is familiar, it is the slightly tweaked La Colmena blend (which Dave looked at here) found in the Unico Especial (that I reviewed here), except that is is a slightly longer 6″ x 48 ring gauge.  These cigars are produced in the El Titan de Bronze factory in Miami exclusively by one roller.  Yes, all 2000 of this limited run was rolled by one man Jose, the same guy who rolled the Unico Especial.  These cigars come packed in 10 count foil bundles, which means there are only 200 bundles available.  I got the chance to smoke one of these previous to the review.

Prelight

The wrapper on this cigar is a nice golden tan in color with a good amount of oils to it as seen on a lot of the recent Connecticut Shade wrappers coming out of Ecuador.  The wrapper was fairly smooth to the touch and only had a scattering of veins.  Giving it a squeeze I noted that it was fairly firm and couldn’t find any soft spots.  I do wish it had a band on it as it might be difficult to remember what they are if they are out of the bundle.  When I put my nose to the wrapper I detected the aroma of hay and leather, with the same plus a light barnyard coming from the closed foot.  After clipping it and taking a cold draw I tasted some light balsa and sugary sweetness with a slightly tight draw.

Flavor

As soon as I lit the cigar up the red pepper spice hit the tongue and retrohale.  It wasn’t overly intense but was definitely noticeable.  After taking a few more puffs on it I got flavors of hay and leather with a fairly sweet finish.  The cigar starts off at the upper end of medium.   Towards the end of the first third the spice toned down and I got flavors of caramel and cream coming through.  Once I got into the second third the spice was still there, but was definitely in the background.  The flavors were very similar to the first third, but the sweet finish was slightly more intense.  As I got into the final third the flavors were still pretty similar but added some cinnamon to it.  The spice did start to build slightly but wasn’t at the level it was in the first third.  The cigar maybe moved into the medium-full range by the end.

Construction

Throughout the cigar the draw was perfect.  The slightly tight cold draw I experienced was probably do to the closed foot.  The burn was pretty good but was slightly wavy.

Value

While I know this is a very small production run of cigars rolled by probably the most skilled roller in the El Titan de Bronze factory I have a hard time paying $16.50 for this cigar.

Conclusions

Overall I did really enjoy this cigar.  Those of you who know the cigars I like know I’m not the biggest fan of Connecticut Shade wrappers.  I have however been a fan of the flavor of all of the cigars in this line.  I do think that most smokers could enjoy this cigar any time of the day.  It isn’t too strong to go with a cup of coffee in the morning, or too weak to enjoy with some bourbon in the afternoon or evening.  In spite of the price I will be picking a few more of these up to have on hand.  If you’re interested in picking some up for yourself you can only get them here.  They are supposed to be putting up some 5 packs as well as the 10 count bundles.  Remember to use the discount code ‘leafenthusiast’ to get your 10% off.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: .5/1
Total: 8.5/10