My Father Humidor Deluxe

If there was a list of cigars with understatements for a name, My Father’s Humidor Deluxe would need to be on it.

As the name makes quite clear, it’s a cigar that comes with a deluxe humidor. I use the word, with and not in because technically the cigars ship in a separate box, though the only way for retailers to purchase the cigar was to buy it with a humidor. And if you are going to sell a deluxe humidor, there’s perhaps no better brand to start with than Elie Bleu.

Images via My Father Cigars, Inc.

The French humidor maker was commissioned to produce a large humidor, complete with a custom tray, two humidifiers, a hygrometer, and My Father branding throughout. As for the cigar, it’s a 6 1/2 x 52 toro that is made entirely of Nicaraguan tobaccos from the company’s farms.

It was released to celebrate the 70th birthday of the company’s founder, José “Pepín” García. As such, the company opted to release 70 humidors, though it made an additional five humidors which the García family kept.

The MSRP is a staggering $10,000 per humidor, which comes with a box of 100 My Father Humidor Deluxe cigars.

• Cigar Reviewed: My Father Humidor Deluxe
• Country of Origin: Nicaragua
• Factory: My Father Cigars S.A.
• Wrapper: Nicaragua (Corojo 99)
• Binder: Nicaragua
• Filler: Nicaragua
• Length: 6 1/2 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 52
• Vitola: Toro Extra
• MSRP: $100 (Humidor of 100, $10,000)
• Release Date: Jan. 27, 2021
• Number of Cigars Released: 70 Humidors of 100 Cigars (7,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

*That price includes the humidor, which My Father values at $5,000. More on that below.

While the color isn’t the luscious red that some of the prettiest rosado wrappers have, this corojo leaf is a pretty specimen. Once I take the cigar out of the cellophane I see a surprising amount of oil on the wrapper. I think some of this might have to do with the band, which seems to absorb some of the shininess of the wrapper. Aroma-wise, I smell some earthiness, leather, creaminess and a bit of sweet cocoa. While the wrapper aroma is medium-plus, the foot is a full intensity blast of sweet cocoa. One sample shows a bit of nuttiness, but even that cigar is still dominated by a cocoa flavor. The cold draw is much more balanced, though still led by cocoa with meatiness and a bit of pepper underneath it. The other sample is noticeably different than the other two. It’s still got cocoa and white pepper—though a much more balanced approach between the two of them—along with some sourness and a melon flavor.

The My Father Humidor Deluxe starts with earthiness, sweet cocoa, nuttiness, Ritz crackers, wheat bread, toastiness and some floral flavors. I’m not sure that any one sample has all those flavors, but there’s a lot going on with each cigar and it’s a race for my brain and fingers to record the flavors. What develops after that is a more common profile. It’s led by a vibrant cedar flavor, though there’s some great underlying sweetness that creates a pairing that reminds me of OpusX. Beyond that, there’s some earthiness and a bit of black pepper. The finish is drier though it retains the vibrant cedar, great creaminess, acorns, a bit of white pepper and some cinnamon on my lips. Retrohales have some more of the cedar, though it’s more balanced thanks to an array of nuttiness and leather. The finish sees nuttiness and cocoa initially, though acorns and woody flavors come in shortly after that. Once it’s been about 15-20 seconds since the smoke leaves my nose a black pepper flavor builds. Flavor is close to full, body is medium-plus and strength is medium-full. Construction is good, though the burn could be a bit more even.

While the underlying sweetness remains, the cedar decreases as I get closer to the halfway point. In its place now is a mixture of nuttiness and creaminess. Behind that is a sweet biscuit flavor and a touch of spiciness, albeit not pepper. The largest change is that both the smoke and the flavor profile of the My Father Humidor Deluxe have gotten a lot thicker. The finish is led by nuttiness with creaminess and walnuts behind it. There’s still some cinnamon that sits on my lips and the flavor profile in the mouth is a bit more acidic. Retrohales have a more pronounced nuttiness—walnuts and peanuts being the stand-out flavors—with some added meatiness. The finish has more meatiness, cinnamon, creaminess and leather. Like every other part of the profile in the second third, the retrohale’s finish is much thicker. The flavor is full, body is full and strength is medium-full. Touch-ups are needed on two of the cigars to help correct an uneven burn.

The cedar reemerges and seems like it wants to find its way back to being the strongest flavor, but it doesn’t get that close to knocking off the nuttiness from that top spot. To be honest, the creaminess is stronger than the cedar as well. There’s also some toastiness and a ketchup sweetness. The finish of the My Father Humidor Deluxe has white pepper, nuttiness, creaminess, leather and cinnamon. Retrohales are even spicier thanks to a red pepper that accents everything in those. There’s also toastiness, leather, barnyard and creaminess. Retrohales finish with hay, creaminess, cedar, cinnamon and a building sweetness. By the time the cigar is down to the last inch and a half, the profile has thinned out to levels similar to the first third. It’s not thin by any means, but it lacks the thickness that was there in the first third. Flavor is full, body is medium-full and strength is medium-plus.

Final Notes

• In an email to halfwheel, Janny García—vp of My Father—said that the value of the humidor is $5,000 and “we value the cigar with a retail price of $50.00 per cigar.” This led to a bit of a debate internally because on one hand that makes sense, but on the other hand, the only way to get the cigar as a retailer was to buy the whole package. I left the MSRP as a price with the humidor factored in because that seemed like the easiest explanation here.
• The price of the humidor is very important for retailers and customers in some states, particularly those that charge a cigar tax based on the percentage of the wholesale price of the cigars. If My Father invoiced this as a singular item with an MSRP of $10,000, the taxes in many states would be double what they are if the items are invoiced separately.
• There have been some humidor releases where those who purchase the humidors have been given the opportunity to buy more cigars at a future date, most notably with Padrón’s humidors. My Father hasn’t said whether it plans on doing this.
• For those unfamiliar with Elie Bleu, it’s the name I think of when someone asks which company makes the most expensive humidors. There are other companies that make humidors that cost around the same amount of money, but no one—to my knowledge—makes the wide variety of high-end humidors quite like Elie Bleu. The company has partnered with a variety of manufacturers over the years including Habanos S.A., Altadis U.S.A. and La Flor Dominicana.
• While I’m not 100 percent sure, from the pictures, Altadis U.S.A.’s Montecristo Cincuenta humidor and the My Father Humidor Deluxe humidor look to be the same basic model, albeit with different designs and a different tray. Interestingly, both were limited to 75 units, came with 100 special cigars, and have an MSRP of $10,000.
• I am planning on doing a series of reviews—similar to the $175 pricepoint ones that I’m currently doing—of high-end humidors, including one model from Elie Bleu.
• The 6 1/2 x 52 toro size is the size My Father has long used for its limited edition and special cigars.
• My Father’s blending profile oftentimes leads to cigars—at least to me—that have an aggressive pepper note. Typically, it’s balanced out, but there does seem to always be an edge. This cigar didn’t have that. It’s not to say there wasn’t any pepper, but it lacks that signature pepper that I find in so many blends in the My Father portfolio.
• The ramp-up in thickness of the profile in the middle parts is truly something unique and enjoyable. I’m not sure what My Father did to achieve that build up, but I’d love to taste more of it.
• I haven’t smoked every special cigar My Father has sold, but I smoked what I would say was the previous king of the hill of “special My Father cigars,” at least based on specialness. In 2010, the company released the My Father Limited Edition 2010, its first major foray into high-priced, limited editions beyond some unique sizes here and there. The cigar was packaged in coffins, quite limited, came in a special box with a gigantic metal My Father logo and a DVD; and most importantly, every cigar was said to be bunched by Jaime García and rolled by José “Pepín” García. While the cigars were rolled well, it wasn’t my favorite blend, though that cigar also used the García’s pelo de oro tobacco.
• I don’t think I was alone in my thoughts on the My Father Limited Edition 2010, and I think it highlights that sometimes the special cigars aren’t always the best cigars. The My Father Humidor Deluxe is one where the stars align. It’s the best thing I’ve had from My Father that’s come out in the last decade.
• Unfortunately, it’s not perfect. The burn isn’t perfect and while I think the flavor is good enough to put it in the pantheon of the special scores we’ve given at this site, the slight issues with the burn will likely cost the cigar a bit. It’s a shame too because flavor-wise this is as good as anything I’ve had in the last year or so.
• This is one of those wrappers that is just a bit prettier than what you typically find in a cigar. If you are going to spend this much money on a cigar, you should get something that seems like it’s special. The wrapper appearance is definitely special.
• I really hope that most of these cigars get smoked. I get that the humidor looks prettier—and holds its value better—with the cigars inside, but this is a cigar that deserves to be smoked.
• Cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel. We paid $49.95 per cigar from Atlantic Cigar Co., which was selling singles. Atlantic has taken down that page for whatever reason.
• Final smoking time varied between each sample, but it averaged around two hours.