Video review HERE.
(Description taken from Halfwheel.com website)
A new release from Ernesto Padilla arrived on store shelves last September called For Whom the Bell Tolls.
The cigar is being released in a single vitola for now, a 5 5/8 x 46 box-pressed corona gorda vitola. As for the blend, it uses a Connecticut broadleaf wrapper, a Nicaraguan corojo 99 binder, and fillers from the Jalapa, Condega and Estelí regions of Nicaragua. The Nicaraguan tobacco comes from the farms of AJ Fernandez, who is also producing the cigar.
It will be priced at $9.50 per cigar and offered in five-packs. It is also a very limited release, with just 400 packs being produced.
The cigar gets its name from the final lines of a poem by John Donne, lines that went onto inspire the name of a book by Ernest Hemingway. However, eagle-eyed cigar smokers will notice a typo on the band, as it reads “For Who the Bells Toll,” something that Padilla attributed to a printing error when he made the announcement about the line via Cigar Aficionado. In the report, he noted that more sizes are in the plans for early 2022.
The cigar is nice looking and well made. It has an average feel in the hand.
The test draw after cutting the cap was good. The initial flavors at light up were dark chocolate, citrus, apricot, brown sugar, and light leather. The dark chocolate is fairly light for a maduro cigar. There seems to be more leather than dark chocolate initially. There was black pepper rated at 7 1/2. I expected more darker notes than I have but that's ok. Nice start.
At the first third (22 minutes) I had the same flavor notes. I thought the dark chocolate was a tad more intense, matching the leather. The citrus/apricot notes with brown sugar are very nice. There are hints of cinnamon. The cigar is medium bodied but seems to be leaning to move up. The finish had a little of the citrus and apricot, a little leather, an some dark chocolate with good lingering black pepper. The cigar is now dark and sweet. I rated the first third 94.
Moving through the second third (42 minutes) the cigar got a lot darker. The dark chocolate is unsweetened. There is now citrus peel with a touch of brown sugar, nutmeg, and leather. The cigar is now medium to full bodied. The finish is dark chocolate and leather with good lingering black pepper. Initially I thought the cigar didn't have many dark notes for a maduro cigar. Be careful what you ask for. There are plenty now. And they take some of the sweetness. Plus, the citrus and apricot notes are gone and in their place are citrus peel notes, which is not a good trade. I rated the second third 92.
The cigar lasted 1 hour. The cigar made some improvements in the final third. The citrus notes came back and they have light citrus peel attached to them. There was brown sugar and the dark chocolate is still unsweetened. The leather is light. The nutmeg, which was quite heavy in the second third, is not nearly as noticeable. A lot of people don't smoke a cigar to the end but if you do you'll see improvements in this cigar. I rated the final third 94. This turned out to be a nice dark noted cigar.
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