In January, Pete Johnson of Tatuaje Cigars posted a photo of a new cigar on his Instagram feed, describing it as a Cabaiguan 6 3/8 x 43 lonsdale made exclusively for Leesburg Cigar and Pipe based in Leesburg, Virginia. Almost nothing more was said about the release until May 30, when Leesburg Cigar and Pipe announced they had the cigars in hand.

It is now known that the appropriately named Cabaiguan Celebrando 25 Años was produced to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Leesburg Cigar and Pipe. Only 2,000 total cigars were made, each carrying a price of $8.75 or $175 for the box of 20.

Cabaiguan Celebrando 25 Anos Box 1

Cabaiguan Celebrando 25 Anos Box 2

Cabaiguan Celebrando 25 Anos Box 3

Cabaiguan Celebrando 25 Anos Box 4

The Leesburg Cigar and Pipe Facebook page had this to say about the release:

To celebrate the 25 year anniversary of Leesburg Cigar & Pipe we present you the Celebrando 25 Anos. Blended by the often imitated cigar man Pete Johnson at the factory responsible for the most sought after blends, including the 2012 No. 1 cigar of the year, My Father Cigars. The Celebrando is based on Pete’s Cabaiguan blend in a classic Lonsdale shape. The thinner shape concentrates the body and flavor while the shade grown wrapper perfectly balances out the blend. We liken it to an iron fist in a velvet glove.

Cabaiguan Celebrando 25 Anos 1

  • Cigar Reviewed: Cabaiguan Celebrando 25 Años
  • Country of Origin: Nicaragua
  • Factory: My Father Cigars S.A.
  • Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut
  • Binder: Nicaragua
  • Filler: Nicaragua
  • Size: 6 3/8  Inches
  • Ring Gauge: 43
  • Vitola: Cervantes
  • MSRP: $8.75 (Box of 20, $175.00)
  • Date Released: May 30, 2014
  • Number of Cigars Released: 100 Boxes of 20 (2,000 Total Cigars)
  • Number of Cigars Smoked for Review: 2

The Cabaiguan Celebrando 25 Años is gorgeous to look at with a nutty brown wrapper that is both totally smooth to the touch and totally devoid of any oil. There are some veins running up and down the length and it has appropriate amount of give when squeezed. Aroma from the wrapper is extremely strong dark chocolate mixed with sweet tobacco and cream, while the cold draw brings flavors of damp earth, barnyard and white pepper.

From the first puff of the Cabaiguan Celebrando 25 Años I am assaulted with flavors: creamy peanuts, leather, earth, hay, cedar and slightly bitter espresso. There is a surprising amount of pepper on the retrohale, and even a bit of spice on my tongue, although the latter does not stick around long. After the first 15 puffs or so, I start to taste a wonderful vanilla bean sweetness that only gets stronger as the first third progresses, and combines nicely with the overall creaminess that is in the profile. The draw has an excellent amount of resistance, while the burn is razor sharp so far. There is a copious amount of dense white smoke coming from the foot, and the strength hits a point between mild and medium by the end of the first third.

Cabaiguan Celebrando 25 Anos 2

The sweetness that is present morphs from a vanilla bean note to a honey flavor in the second third of the Cabaiguan and even gains a bit of prominence. Other flavors of hay, dark chocolate, creamy nuts, leather and cedar flit in and out, and while there is less pepper on the retrohale, it is still easily strong enough to effect the rest of the profile. The spice from the first third is long gone, but the smoke production remains well above average. Construction-wise, both the draw and burn remain excellent and the strength actually hits a solid medium right at the end of the second third.

Cabaiguan Celebrando 25 Anos 3The final third of the Cabaiguan Celebrando 25 Años features more of that honey sweetness, mixed perfectly with other flavors of cedar, espresso, dark cocoa, peanuts, hay and leather. Every once in a while I taste a very interesting peppermint note that really increases the complexity for a few puffs, but it never sticks around for extended periods of time. The pepper on the retrohale remains constant from the second third, as does the smoke production, while the burn and draw continue to impress as well. I am easily able to smoke to less than a half inch, and the overall strength stalls out at a solid medium by the end.

Cabaiguan Celebrando 25 Anos 4

Final Notes

  • This project was first told to us last year, although the formal announcement was not made until early this year.
  • Leesburg Cigar & Pipe was an Unlucky 13 retailer last year for the Tatuaje The JV-13.
  • Even with the success of the WCD 120 and REDUX, I think the Cabaiguan blend gets overlooked quite a bit when talking about Tatuaje’s lines, which is a shame.
  • Most of Tatuaje’s single store releases over the years have stayed in the 2,500-5,000 cigar range, this is the smallest single store Tatuaje release in recent memory with only 2,000 cigars. The Tatuaje Miami Tan FF, a factory mistake, is probably the next most recent example.
  • The store that Charlie Minato and I often frequent—Elite Cigar Cafe—had also requested a Cabaiguan lonsdale, they likely were not the only other ones.
  • As with all of the WCD 120 incarnations, there is no special band or any other indication this is limited release, other than the stamping on the box and the fact that the line does not have a lonsdale in it.
  • Tatuaje recently released a 7 1/2 x 38 Cabaiguan Lancero as part of the Lancero Sampler, along with the company’s other nine core blends.
  • Also interesting is the fact that the other two single store releases so far this year, the Tatuaje WCD 127 and the Tatuaje Gran Maravilla both came wet packed — i.e. the cigars are wrapped in foil before being put into boxes — while the Cabaiguan Celebrando 25 Años did not.
  • The Cabaiguan Celebrando 25 Años is actually the second single store exclusive in the cervantes vitola in as many years. In October, Johnson released the Fausto Up Down 10/50 for Up Down Cigar of Chicago.
  • Both the burn and draw were excellent on all three samples I smoked, with neither giving me any issues whatsoever.
  • The final smoking time for all three samples I smoked averaged one hour and 25 minutes.
  • The cigars smoked for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
  • If you would like to purchase any of the Cabaiguan Celebrando 25 Años, they are sold exclusively at Leesburg Cigar & Pipe. We were originally told that they would not be taking phone orders, although that we should call back on June 1. We did and were able to purchase a box. In addition, the store indicated on Instagram that it would sell the cigar over the phone. You can reach them at 703.777.5557.
91 Overall Score

I was excited when I heard about the Cabaiguan cervantes last year. Lonsdales have long been one of my favorite shapes and I always thought the Cabaiguan would shine in that vitola. Fortunately, Johnson was able to create the cigar I was hoping it could be. The Cabaiguan Celebrando 25 Años brings together the many positives of the Cabaiguan blend—creamy, nutty and overtly sweet, with a surprising amount of pepper and spice, excellent construction and a classic vitola. While not quite as complex or as sweet as the Redux 120, it is still a very good cigar, one well worth a box purchase.

Avatar photo

Brooks Whittington

I have been smoking cigars for over eight years. A documentary wedding photographer by trade, I spent seven years as a photojournalist for the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star Telegram. I started the cigar blog SmokingStogie in 2008 after realizing that there was a need for a cigar blog with better photographs and more in-depth information about each release. SmokingStogie quickly became one of the more influential cigar blogs on the internet, known for reviewing preproduction, prerelease, rare, extremely hard-to-find and expensive cigars. I am a co-founder of halfwheel and now serve as an editor for halfwheel.