Cigar Of The Day - Pappy Van Winkle - A Brief Review

Blended by the famous cigar maker Willy Herrera, The Pappy Van Winkle shares the small batch status of their world famous whiskey and was hand chosen by Julian Van Winkle. Premiering in 2017 at IPCPR, the cigar has a delicate blend that balances strength, spice flavors, and aroma. I have heard great things, so I am excited to try my first ever Pappy Van Winkle.

Prelight

Wrapper: Ecuador Habano Oscuro
Binder: Indonesian
Filler: Nicaraguan
Vitola:
Price: $20

The prelight scent includes major amounts of fruity notes, mostly like prune and raisin. I was quite hesitant to buy a this cigar at a $20 price. I already know where I can get twenty dollars worth in a smoke, and it is always hard to spend that amount of money on a cigar that could turn out to be out of my preferences.

Flavor and Smoke

After toasting and lighting my Pappy Van Winkle, the initial flavor profile includes wonderful notes of chocolate, roasted nuts, mellow coffee, and coconut. The smoke is velvet smooth and immensely cloudy. A full retrohale can be done with ease. The spice on the finish is ever so slight and just perfect, more of a mild spice like paprika.

A lovely black cherry note creeps in at around the 15 minute mark and complements the cocoa nicely. The yet still cloudy smoke has an overall sweet and cream nuance to it, delicious.

You realize right away when you are smoking ultra fine tobacco. The luxurious mouthfeel and taste is apparent immediately after lighting the Pappy.

Entering the last section of my Pappy Van, the flavors have only darkened slightly. The smoke as smooth as the beginning. Most of The many individual flavors have melded together, as is normal at this point in a cigar, but the cocoa, and nut notes are still discernible, with a slight peppermint-type spice on the finish. The original cocoa nuance has blended with the coffee and transitioned darker.

Final Thoughts

The Pappy is a complex and delightfully well balanced cigar. The tobbaco is luxurious, so even if you are the type of smoker that does not discern many individual flavor notes, you will notice the great quality of taste that the Pappy Van Winkle offers.

My emoji rating 🤗

emoji scale(🤢😖☹️😕😐🙂😀😋🤗😍)

Smoke time: 1.25 Hours
Main tasting notes: Luxurious tobacco, chocolate, roasted nuts, mellow coffee, and coconut
Strength/Body: Medium/Full
Construction Perfect, and cigar stayed lit even after 5 minute absence
Cigar paired with: Blackheart Rum and coke
Price opinion: Always steep at $20, I would more comfortably spend $12-$15