Eagles Descent

One of the most popular destinations for exclusive cigars is Hawaii’s R. Field Wine Co., part of the Foodland family of stores.

R. Field Wine Co. is the higher-end store for gourmet foods, alcohol and cigars. Over the years, the store had received a number of exclusive cigars, most notably, the Tatuaje T110.

One recent trend for some R. Field exclusives has been for the store to receive an exclusive size of a line before it becomes a national release. This happened in the first half of 2019 with HVC’s Serie A and again later in the year with Eagles Descent, a new line from Warped.

 

In November, R. Field received a 5 5/8 x 52 version of Eagles Descent, the first time it’s been publicly released. Ahead of its release, Warped said that the cigar would be released nationwide to stores in 2020, though in a different size and with different box-counts.

The cigar is made at the AGANORSA-owned Tabacos Valle de Jalapa S.A. (TABSA) in Estelí, Nicaragua. As is often the case with AGANORSA blends, it’s a Nicaraguan puro using corojo and criollo fillers.

MSRP for the R. Field Wine Co. release is $12.40, though the price in Hawaii is likely greater because of the state’s 50 percent tax on cigars. The release was limited to 400 boxes of 10 cigars.

• Cigar Reviewed: Eagles Descent
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: Tabacos Valle de Jalapa S.A.
• Wrapper: Nicaragua
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Length: 5 5/8 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 52
• Vitola: Robusto Extra
• MSRP: $12.40 (Box of 10, $124)
• Release Date: November 2019
• Number of Cigars Released: 400 Boxes of 10 Cigars (4,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

While there is a lot of oil on the wrapper, it’s not the prettiest looking presentation. There’s a fair amount of discoloration and some obvious black veins. The samples aren’t that great either: one seems to have a dent in it—I switched that out for another one in the box—another has a small crack on the foot. For what it’s worth, that’s what happened when I opened a full box, so it’s not like the damage was caused from me taking loose cigars home. The aroma from the wrapper is mild, just a bit of cedar and a touch of brown sugar. The foot has a great mixture of pecan, acidity, cake batter and some sawdust, while the cold draws feature licorice, bourbon, caramel, milk chocolate and some raspberry sweetness.

Eagles Descent begins with earthiness, a burnt cedar and some spice around the lips. The first third develops into a full mixture of earthiness, wet leaves, oak and cinnamon. Retrohales are similar, though the earthiness and cinnamon are more prevalent. It finishes with some cinnamon, creaminess and wet leaves. Flavor is full, but very homogenous, body is medium-plus and strength is medium-full. I certainly would appreciate a bit more diversity in the flavor, but my biggest issue is with the ash. It’s falling off the cigar after a quarter-inch or so and just proceeds to fall off with no warning, making a complete mess. It’s not something that factors into our score sheet, but it was annoying.

The second third of the cigar is creamier than the first third, though the core flavors still include earthiness, wet leaves and oak. In terms of smaller changes, there’s some added white pepper and soy sauce; but with less cinnamon. The finish is earthier and has white pepper. Retrohales produce lemon, French bread and more earthiness. Flavor is closer to medium-full, body is medium-full and strength is full. While the draw remains great, the smoke production needs some help. I was a bit curious to see if a relight would change the issues I had with the flaky ash; it didn’t. It’s not that I was anticipating this to change things, I just hoped that some small change would help things get back to normal; almost how turning on and off your computer can occasionally fix an error.

There are some noticeable changes in the final third of the Eagles Descent. It’s still got quite a bit of earthiness upfront, but the profile is drier with buttermilk creaminess, saltiness and leather. Retrohales have an earthiness and a touch of raspberry sweetness, while the finish has more of the wet leaves flavor and a touch of white pepper, milder than before. On paper, the changes might sound somewhat minor, but for my palate it made a big difference. Flavor is full, body is medium-full and strength is medium-full. The ash is better than before, but it still not great.

 

Final Notes

• Midway through the first cigar, I had managed to spill ash on the following:
  • My laptop
  • My pants
  • The table
  • The chair
  • The floor
• I can’t recall the last time I smoked a cigar that had such weak ash. I almost felt like this would be better smoked with a cigarette-like ash tap to avoid the mess.
• My largest issue with the ash is that it was just not predictable when it came to when it would fall.
• The ash on the other cigars was better, but trying to get the cigar to anything beyond three-quarters of an inch was a real struggle.
• Eagles Descent was one of the stronger Warped cigars I’ve smoked in quite some time.
• This is not the first time Warped has made an exclusive for R. Field Wine Co.
• The bands on these cigars were rather reflective which made them much more challenging to photograph.
• This version of orange and black really reminds me of Harley-Davidson. The name and eagle logo also further that association.
• Cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.