Los Imperialistas Cigars is the brainchild of Jesse Wills of Atlanta, Georgia. Los Imperialista cigars have been made by Jose Pepin Garcia since early 2003, way before Pepin became the darling of the cigar world after the introduction of Pete Johnson's Tatuaje cigars. Originally, Los Imperialista was made in Pepin's Miami factory, but are now made alongside San Cristobal, 601, Tatuaje Red Label and others in Pepin's Nicaragua factory.
Los Imperialistas are made in Pepin’s factory in Esteli, Nicaragua, and are available in the standard sizes of robusto, toro, torpedo and churchill. But the most interesting thing about the cigar is the inspiration for the name. The name Los Imperialistas (The Imperialists) was inspired by a comically infamous billboard in Havana, Cuba, which depicts a Cuban soldier taunting a sweating, growling and cowering Uncle Sam across the water, saying “Mr. Imperialists. We have absolutely no fear of you!”
Wrapper: Cuban-seed Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Vitolas:
- Churchill
- Torpedo
- Robusto
- Toro
Video review here.
The cigar is quite dark. The test draw was a tad firm. I like to cut a torpedo at an angle to give more surface area to draw through. The first draws had citrus spice and some leather. I let the cigar rest for a minute to develop.
About 3/4 inch in the flavors were coffee, cinnamon, a mix of citrus, and some almond, some vanilla, and what appear to be some tea notes with good black pepper. The finish was long with vanilla notes and some pepper. The ash was tight. So far this is not a typical Pepin cigar.
Close to the midpoint the flavors settled into coffee, orange citrus, and almond. The pepper is subtle for a Pepin cigar. The finish is still one of vanilla and some hints of almond with some lingering pepper. The burn was perfect.
At the midpoint vanilla appeared. There is still black coffee, orange citrus and now vanilla. The cigar is rather complex. It keeps changing.
Just a little further along the vanilla became very rich. That is yet another change. The flavors now are coffee, orange citrus and rich vanilla.
The band is unlike any other Pepin cigar. Here is a picture of it after I removed it from the cigar.
In the final stages the cigar did not change much from the last report. The cigar has made several changes throughout the smoke. The cigar finished with black coffee, orange citrus and rich vanilla. The finish is one of vanilla and lingering pepper. The cigar was medium to full bodied. This cigar is not like any other Pepin cigar I've had. It's quite complex. It is very tasty. I very much enjoyed the cigar.
Score: 92
3 comments:
On the strength of your review, I went by the Cigar Box to get a couple. They were running a buy 3 get 4 special on them. 4 Don Pepin made cigars for $21.50?
What a deal!
Good smokes!
You made a good point about cutting the tip on an angle. Even so, I had to recut to get a good draw.
I don't mind a tight draw that can be fixed.
Let me know what you think of them. $21.50 for 4 DPG's is a great deal! Like I said, don't expect these to be a typical Pepin cigar. But, they're good!
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