La Escepción Don José (ER Italy 2015)

Back in 2011, Habanos S.A. brought back a marca that had been out of production for decades, La Escepción. The return was in the form of an Edición Regional for Italy, a country that is notoriously difficult to obtain ERs from because of their strict policy on not allowing retailers to sell to people outside of the country. Four years later, the second release for the marca again falls to Italy for another ER, this time in a Hermosos No.4 vitola called the Don José.

• La Escepción Selectos Finos Edición Regional Italia 2011 (6 1/2 x 38) — 2012
• La Escepción Don José Edición Regional Italia 2015 (5 x 48) — 2015

The Don José name is an homage to the man who started the La Escepción marca, Don José Gener y Batet. According to Wikipedia, Gener migrated from Spain to Cuba in 1831 and worked on his uncle’s tobacco farm. Starting the La Escepción marca in the 1850s, he used the farm’s tobacco to create the cigars for his new brand. Garnering enough success, he acquired another tobacco farm and created another marca: Hoyo de Monterrey.

While Hoyo de Monterrey became a much bigger success, one that continues to be a popular marca still today, La Escepción was discontinued in 1989 and didn’t see the light of day again until 2011.

• Cigar Reviewed: La Escepción Don José Edición Regional Italia (2015)
• Country of Origin: Cuba
• Factory: n/a
• Wrapper: Cuba
• Binder: Cuba
• Filler: Cuba
• Length: 5 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 48
• Vitola: Hermosos No.4
• MSRP: €15 (Boxes of 25, €375)*
• Release Date: December 2015
• Number of Cigars Released: 4,000 Boxes of 25 Cigars (100,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

*Using current exchange rates: $16.40 (Boxes of 25, $409.95).

The wrapper of the Don José is soft, but with some texture to it, stopping me short of calling it smooth. There is just a slight bit of give, but the cigar is more firm than not. Bringing the cigar to my nose there is a very light aroma of cinnamon, spice, with a light touch of vanilla and hay. The cold draw however, has a very interesting bubblegum sweetness to it, with vanilla, spice and fresh hay in the background.

Starting into the first third, I’m greeted with a slightly harsh overlay to the profile that is made up of oak, spice, pepper, and a damp earthy vegetal note. The draw is quite nice, falling right in the middle of ideal, and while the ash seems to be nice and dense, the burn has started to get rough almost immediately. Half an inch in, the harshness has dissipated, allowing the oak, spice, pepper and damp earth to flourish, turning into quite a nice profile, though not one I would pin immediately as Cubanesque. The ash retention is nice, holding on to around an inch before I roll it off, but the burn continues to be uneven, requiring a touch up to keep things going.

Shifting into the second third, the pepper has subsided to the point where it’s only noticeable on the retrohale, allowing the spice note to take over the profile, along with oak, earth, cinnamon and vanilla complimenting it. The burn is still finicky, requiring another touch up, though to be honest it’s almost more of a relight than a touch up. A sweetness has been increasing, coating the profile and turning it into something new, though familiar to what it was previously.

In the final third, the sweetness has held, creating a pleasant profile featuring more spice, cinnamon, vanilla, oak and some bitter espresso notes in the background. The burn continues to confound me, needing another significant touch up to keep things on track, though what surprises me more than anything else is how these burn issues don’t seem to be affecting the profile enough to be unpleasant. As the cigar wraps up, the profile doesn’t see much change, finishing up without getting harsh or hot.

Final Notes

• Like many of the Cuban marcas, the La Escepción name has been used by a non-Cuban company.
• All three samples seemed to have trouble with the burn, though two saw more issues in the first half while the third saw more issues in the second half.
• Brooks Whittington reviewed the last release, the Selectos Finos, which you can read here.
• As Patrick Lagreid noted in his news article about the Don José’s release, samples from the 1960s were smoked to try to recreate the profile as closely as possible with currently available tobacco.
• Cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.
• Final smoking time averaged a little over an hour and a half.