Since 2010, My Father Cigars, Inc. has released a high-priced limited edition release ever year with the exception of 2014. These releases have oftentimes come in ornate boxes, usually with coffins, and speciality bands.

Last year, My Father announced that it would have a new release that would be even more exclusive and higher priced. It’s named Garcia & Garcia—after the company’s owners, the García family. Unlike many of the limited editions released prior, it’s not a limited edition, rather a limited production release that is only sold at select retailers.

As for the cigar it’s a 6 3/4 x 54 toro extra that uses an Ecuadorian habano rosado wrapper over Nicaraguan fillers including criollo 98 and pelo de oro, a signature tobacco for the Garcías.

Pelo de oro, which translates into golden hair, is known for its unique golden color and the difficulties associated with growing it. The tobacco has been banned in Cuba due to its propensity to attract mold, but it’s grown in a few places outside of the island, including the García’s farms in Nicaragua.

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Suggested retail pricing is $35 per cigar and it comes in large, ornate boxes of 10. That box made it onto our packaging of the year list, finishing 10th for 2016.

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  • Cigar Reviewed: My Father Garcia & Garcia
  • Country of Origin: Nicaragua
  • Factory: My Father Cigars S.A.
  • Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano Rosado
  • Binder: Nicaragua
  • Filler: Nicaragua (Criollo 98 & Pelo de Oro)
  • Length: 6 3/4 x 54
  • Ring Gauge: 54
  • Vitola: Toro Extra
  • MSRP: $35 (Boxes of 10, $350)
  • Release Date: June 6, 2016
  • Number of Cigars Released: n/a
  • Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

It certainly looks like a My Father cigar. It’s quite easy to get distracted from just how large the bands are, the boxes are stunning and they include a gigantic insert that actually covers up most the cigars. But make no mistake, the bands are big. Between that and the foot bands, you don’t see a ton of the actual cigar. The Ecuadorian wrapper is quite pretty, certainly a bit darker than the regular My Father line and perhaps a bit muted. Aroma off the wrapper has a really rich hickory, some Worcestershire sauce and a bit of flour. The foot provides a lot more richness: some banana nut bread, chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream and some nutmeg. Things are much more tart on the cold draw with a familiar Worcestershire sauce, melted chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, whole grain bread and lots of spice on the lips.

Things start with some cedar, nuttiness, Marzipan sweetness, white bread and mild floral flavors and spices. It settles on a very rich mixture of cedar and oak with spices on top and a big cinnamon flavor in the back along with a declining Worcestershire sauce. The retrohale is quite different with less vibrancy, yet a more concentrated flavor. It shows burnt coffee, a French loaf crust, faint hints of orange bitters and some creaminess. The throat has been covered by a pretty intense pepper since the start, though it fits in well with the profile. While I’m able to get ample smoke from the García & García, the draw on two of the three samples is tighter than I’d like it to be.

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The Worcestershire takes over right around the halfway mark and the remaining wood flavor, cedar, is relegated to a secondary flavor. While I still find plenty of pepper throughout the cigar, there’s none of the cinnamon that was dominant earlier on. I also get some very sour grapefruit and a bit of a cilantro-like bitterness on the tongue, but there’s much more herbal flavors on the retrohale. The herbs are joined by some hay and grassiness, which only contribute to the bitterness. The draw issues continue on one sample, even with a second cut, and that leads to some burn issues throughout the second third of the My Father. Strength is medium-full, flavor is full and body is medium-full.

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Draw issues or not, the final third of the García & García produces substantially less smoke than the earlier two thirds. The retrohale is intriguing with an initial burst of burnt toast followed by a sharp overproof whiskey-like burn and an odd combination of a big charcoal and a bright lemon candy-like sweetness. On the mouth, the bitterness has increased a bit and there’s a lot of pepper sensations on the tongue and lips, but there’s some semblance of the grapefruit and cracker flavors from the first toad, only to be quickly drowned out by the toastiness that has engulfed the mouth.

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Final Notes

  • Cigars for this review were smoked at the end of December.
  • The box is downright beautiful; the bands are also pretty. I find it interesting how strict My Father, the company, has adhered to its branding. These are clearly takes on the regular My Father ban. Conversely, the Don Pepin Garcia 10th Anniversary is very clearly a take on the Don Pepin Garcia Blue Label.
  • The bands are also humongous, but in the world of Camacho bands, these are only “slightly large.”
  • My OCD would appreciate the Garcías to use the accent on the í in García. In fairness, they are at least consistent as product names have not used the accent, though Pepín’s signature on the back of boxes carries the accent.
  • This cigar is begging for a pairing with a big beverage. The bitterness, while detailed, is a flavor that’s hard to get over, but a big whiskey or wine would likely bring out a lot more detail.
  • I continue to have issues with consistency from My Father Cigars S.A. I smoked a cigar shortly after IPCPR 2016 and it was great, though not part of the scoring of this review. Two of the three cigars suffered with the need for constant touching-up, despite dry-boxing, and one cigar was tight enough that I had to recut it to no avail. It’s something I’ve noticed for the last two years and I’m still perplexed given poor construction was rarely ever an issue in the past.
  • On that note, I think these cigars are only going to get better with age. In many ways, it reminds me a lot of Fuente Fuente OpusX—a flagship product that is in many ways too much for its own good when fresh.
  • It’s also quite similar to the OpusX in regards to how it’s distributed. Trying to find these was not particularly easy and I don’t there’s a single store in Dallas that carries them. Janny García told me that every account that carries the Garcia & Garcia must be individually approved.
  • Burn issues existed throughout all the samples even with some dry-boxing.
  • Cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
  • Final smoking time was a lengthy three hours.
  • Site sponsor Corona Cigar Co. carries the My Father Garcia & Garcia.
85 Overall Score

Much like Patrick Lagreid stated earlier this week on a different review, this cigar is better than the score.Is it worth the $35 price point? No. Not now. But I smoked a cigar a few months ago and it was without the burn and draw issues that I found at many points with these three samples. High-priced My Father products have by-in-large been amongst my least favorite cigars the company produces, but for now, I will hold onto the memory of that one great cigar I smoked a few months ago and the hope this will mellow out and improve with age.

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Charlie Minato

I am an editor and co-founder of halfwheel.com/Rueda Media, LLC. I previously co-founded and published TheCigarFeed, one of the two predecessors of halfwheel. I have written about the cigar industry for more than a decade, covering everything from product launches to regulation to M&A. In addition, I handle a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff here at halfwheel. I enjoy playing tennis, watching boxing, falling asleep to the Le Mans 24, wearing sweatshirts year-round and eating gyros. echte liebe.