Caldwell The Last Tsar

Earlier this year—shortly before a plethora of releases for the Lost&Found project—Caldwell Cigar Co. announced an ambitious release: последний царь.

That translates into the last king, but that’s not actually the name of the cigar. Instead, it’s The Last Tsar, a limited release made in honor of the company’s first anniversary. Caldwell limited the cigar to just 500 boxes of 10, and limited the amount of retailers to 49.

Those retailers are referred to as the First 49, described as the first 49 retailers who supported and continued to support the company. The Last Tsar debuted in a 5 1/2 x 52 belicoso, although the plan is for another vitola to come later in the year. It’s made at Tabacalera William Ventura using a “hybrid Connecticut Arapiraca maduro wrapper” and undisclosed fillers.

• Cigar Reviewed: Caldwell The Last Tsar
• Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
• Factory: Tabacalera William Ventura
• Wrapper: Hybrid Connecticut Arapiraca Maduro
• Binder: n/a
• Filler: n/a
• Size: 5 1/2 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 52
• Vitola: Belicoso
• MSRP: $18 (Boxes of 10, $180)
• Date Released: May, 4, 2015
• Number of Cigars Released: 500 Boxes of 10 Cigars (5,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked for Review: 3

While I enjoy the great red color of the cover leaf, the wrapper could be applied better. That being said, it does smell quite good, reminiscent of some of the older AGANORSA blends: big cocoa, some barnyard and a touch of red pepper. From the foot, there’s a lot more leather, barnyard and more red pepper. As for the cold draw, The Last Tsar makes it a bit difficult. There’s an intoxicating amount of pepper, like swallowing crushed black pepper and a jalapeño seed at the same time. Behind that, there’s some cocoa and barnyard, but the pepper is overwhelming.

Compared to the cold draw, it’s a mild start with the only real flavors being a barrage of cedar. There’s still quite a bit of residual pepper stuck on my lips, but that’s from the cold draw and not the result of any new flavors. Once the cigar gets going, The Last Tsar has a base of cedar and barnyard with cocoa and pepper around it. I get a big vanilla bean flavor on the finish. As the cold draw indicated, strength is very much full. Construction-wise, the draw is good, but the burn is a bit uneven with a very flaky ash.

The Caldwell becomes creamier in the middle portions of the cigar. The cedar and barnyard are still a core flavor, but nuttiness and cocoa have caused the profile to seem milder, even if it isn’t. On the finish, I pick up somewhat of a flat cola note, which seems to work well with the rest of the profile. Strength continues to build, easily cementing this as the strongest cigar I’ve reviewed this year. Construction-wise, the burn is no longer uneven, but the ash is still very much flaky. In addition, The Last Tsar seems to have slowed down.

Not that I was particularly waiting for it, but the pepper makes a triumphant return in the final third, now annihilating the back of my throat as a mixture of chalkiness and fresh soil are upfront on the tongue. Whatever concept of balance that was found in the early thirds is completely gone, now replaced by an annihilating pepper. That being said, it’s still oddly smooth with the pepper only lasting 30 seconds or so before my palate is clean. Of course, another puff on The Last Tsar and the barrage returns. Strength finishes predictably full, not much fuller than before, but certainly not any lighter.

Final Notes

• I honestly had no idea this cigar was $18 until I looked up the news story for basic details after smoking my samples. That caught me a bit off guard.
• Strength was full, the strongest cigar that I have smoked this year.
• Between the two of those features and the general marketing, Caldwell is really limiting down the market for this cigar to a very specific smoker: likely newer age, willing to spend $20 on a single cigar and someone that can handle a barrage of pepper and nicotine.
• This was probably the most intense pepper I’ve had on a cold draw. Not the variety of peppers like the Fuente Fuente OpusX Pussy Juice, but a lot of peppers.
• Final smoking time was a relatively lengthy one hour and 50 minutes.
• Cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
• Site sponsor Stogie’s World Class Cigars is one of the First 49.

Update (Feb. 28, 2024) — The original version of this post listed the cigar’s dimensions as 5 x 50, it is 5 1/2 x 52.