Oh, I can hear you now, another Edición Regional review; what is the point? Well, I know there are what seems like a thousand ERs coming out of Cuba these days, and while I am right there with you on the seemingly overwhelming numbers, there are a few gems in the multitude, and the Ramón Allones Phoenicio is one of them.

A little background, for those of you who don’t know: the Ramón Allones Phoenicio Edición Regional Exclusivo Líbano, is one of the REs released to the market for 2008, which means they actually got to the market closer to 2009. Originally only 6,000 boxes of 30 cigars each were supposed to be sold in Beirut’s duty-free shops, the only place you could buy them on the market, but the cigar’s huge popularity prompted the trader to release a secondary production run of 3,000 boxes of 15 cigars. Phoenicia Trading is the exclusive Habanos distributor for the Middle East, parts of Europe and most of continental Africa. The Phoenicio is made at the former Partagás factory, now known as Francisco Pérez German, in Havana.

Ramon Allones Phoenicio  ER Libano 2008 1

  • Cigar Reviewed: Ramón Allones Phoenicio (Edición Regional Líbano 2008)
  • Country of Origin: Cuba
  • Factory: Francisco Pérez German
  • Wrapper: Cuba
  • Binder: Cuba
  • Filler: Cuba
  • Size: 6 1/2 Inches
  • Ring Gauge: 54
  • Vitola: Sublime
  • MSRP: $20.00
  • Number of Cigars Released: 6,000 Boxes of 30 Cigars & 3,000 Boxes of 15 Cigars (225,000 Total Cigars)

 

First off, this is a big cigar. The sublimes size always has been a big vitola to me, and whenever I put one in my mouth, I think, “this is almost (but not quite) too big to smoke.”

The wrapper is a nice golden-reddish brown, and it is a very firm stick, with very little give when squeezed. The smell coming from it was a nice barnyard scent with a little bit of hay, which is to be expected from a Cuban.

Ramon Allones Phoenicio  ER Libano 2008 2

It lights up fairly easily for such a large ring gauge, and the first hint of flavor that I got was a nice mellow sweetness that is present in almost all Cuban cigars. There was a little bit of spice as well but not overly much, and it added a nice contrast to the sweetness. The flavors stayed pretty consistent in the first third of the cigar, but at about the middle point of the third, I detected a faint taste of what I wrote down as cucumber. It did not last long, but was very noticeable for about eight puffs.

Ramon Allones Phoenicio  ER Libano 2008 3

In the second third, the pepper and spice picked up, but again, not enough to be a distraction by any means. The aforementioned sweetness morphed into more of a cedar flavor, with coffee undertones that were very enjoyable.

Ramon Allones Phoenicio  ER Libano 2008 4

The last third is where this stick really shines. The pepper and spice all but disappear and what was left was a wonderful creamy honey taste that really made me sit up and take notice. It really was quite nice, and it is fairly unusual for a cigar to totally change flavors so drastically at the end, especially to something so creamy.

 

Final Notes:

  • As I said, this is a fairly large cigar, both in ring gauge and in length, and I was very impressed at the flavors that were present, especially since a lot of the larger ring gauge cigars tend to have less.
  • This stick is not a pepper bomb by any means, in fact, it is a fairly mild to medium cigar, but extremely well-balanced for such a young production. I can’t wait to try one in about a year after resting, to see how the flavors meld.
  • There was very little nicotine kick.
  • The burn was razor sharp the whole stick, and the draw was great.
  • Final smoking time was one hour and 43 minutes.
93 Overall Score

If you can get a hold of one of these, I would do it. While the general consensus is that most of the ERs are over-hyped and overpriced, a consensus I agree with, for the most part, this is one of those sticks that bucks the trend. And as good as they are now, they will only get better with age.

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.