At the 2010 IPCPR show in New Orleans, there were two special cigars in the My Father booth: the My Father Limited Edition 2010 and the My Father Baseball Bats. Turns out, both would ship to retailers in limited quantities later at different points later in the year, the latter being a surprise to many.

Alongside the Baseball Bats that shipped just before Christmas were cigars that were rolled in the shape of a pipe, or a saxophone to some, something that Pepín has been rolling for years. To my knowledge, this was the first time that they were offered for sale. At the time, very little was known about these cigars.

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Here’s the view from the bowl of the Pipe:

Last year while shooting Janny García’s Icons of Cigars™ portrait, we asked her about these cigars. She gave us a bit of info. First, there is no actual blend and it’s unknown what tobacco was used. This means that each Baseball Bat or Pipe could contain entirely different tobacco than every other one made. In addition, these are said to be rolled by one of two people: José “Pepín” García or Jaime García’s wife, Dany, who is also a highly skilled roller.

• Of all the cigars in my humidor, none have gotten the attention like the Pipe and Baseball Bat. However, smokers and non-smokers all seem to phrase the same question: can you smoke it? It’s a bit concerning, because with most cigars you ask, how does it smoke? That’s partially why they are being reviewed today of all days.
• These were actually wrapped in clear plastic, almost like something from a candy store.
• The ash is truly a work of art and quite frankly, the cigar burned pretty much perfect all the way through.
• If you asked, I would say these were rolled at My Father Cigars S.A. Like most things involving this cigar, little is known.
• I’m not a pipe smoker, just in case you were wondering.
• While this was not a great flavor, construction was impeccable up until the point where I think it was physically impossible.
• I cannot reiterate enough: there is no blend and it’s it’s seemingly unlikely that there is going to be much consistency between Pipes because of that.
• If you didn’t think blending took talent and time, the Pipe and Bat are great examples that you cannot just take random tobacco roll it together and create average cigars each and every time.
• When I did the State of the Brand last year, I mentioned that John Gonzales of My Father Cigars Inc. indicated that these would be available year round, I’ve yet to see any reports of the My Father versions being sold outside of the original shipment in late 2010.
• Pricing has ranged from $30-$100 per single for both the Pipe and Baseball Bat. By far the most common pricing was $40.00.
• As is mentioned about, this is not a new concept. Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Jr. used to make them at El Credito in Miami, Sam Leccia would roll them at NUb events and El Cubano Cigars still makes them today. Casa Fernandez indicated last year that they were rolling them again, Pepín, who was associated with Tabacalera Tropical in the early 2000s, has been rolling them at events for years. And there’s other examples here, here and here.
• Final Smoking Time is one hour and five minutes. I have no clue what it would be like trying to smoke it all the way down, quite frankly I don’t think you would actually smoke it: you would just have to burn it.
• We don’t know of any retailers who are actually selling these any more (I bought mine over a year ago), but if anyone does know of any, please leave the info in the comments.

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The Bottom Line: Anytime you have to publish an editorial justifying a review, it’s not a good sign. There is however a somewhat strong argument that these cigars shouldn’t be reviewed. First, as is mentioned numerous times above, no one really knows what the blend of this particular cigar is, but we do know that other My Father Pipes are probably not the same blend. That means this score is truly unique to this single cigar, which questions whether or not this review could be at all helpful. Secondly, there’s an argument that says it’s pretty clear that this and the My Father Baseball Bat were never meant to be smoked. There’s truth to both arguments, in my opinion much more for the former than the latter. While we can have the discussion of whether you should race vintage Ferraris, I think this site’s position has been made time and time again:  cigars are made to be smoked. And while some will say that these were truly made as art pieces, I don’t see how that precludes them from being smoked. Unlike say the OpusX Football or the Gran Habano Corojo No.5 Gigante these were to consumers throughout the country. This was not a giveaway, event, charity or marketing piece; this was a cigar that was sold no different than any other cigar. There was no warning label, no disclaimer — nothing that would indicate that you shouldn’t smoke the cigar. So I did. Construction-wise, it’s the most interesting cigar I’ve seen burn, which it did quite flawlessly, and while I did have to set it down two inches early, it wasn’t unexpected as the cigar was barely thicker than a pencil when I stopped. Flavor-wise, it started out okay and didn’t really become a problem until the bend. That was my experience, and given the aforementioned uniqueness of it, these reviews were published today. I still firmly believe that cigars are made to be smoked, but if I had to pick one to display as a museum-piece in my humidor, the My Father Pipe is no doubt the one.

Final Score: 67