Cigar Review: My Father Special S

• Vitola: Robusto
• 5” x 50 ring gauge
• Free with purchase of a box of My Father Cigars
• Gifted to me by the local rep

Background

Finally time for my first “full review” after over a month of sampling new blends that I picked up from the big trade show. And what do I choose to review? A cigar that is years old, has very little actually “known” about it, and I can’t rate the value portion because it’s an event-only cigar that you can only get if you buy a box of cigars. Great…just…awesome…well, I’ll tell you as much as I can and hopefully give you reason to seek it out…

The cigar in question is the My Father Special, also known as the My Father “S Special” if you pronounce both the “S” (which probably stands for “special”) and the wording underneath it. These first started being handed out at events around 2009…basically if you buy a box of My Father Cigars during an event, you would get a 3-pack box of these cigars for free. I also found references to a totally different, but similarly named cigar that was out around the same time, but in very different packaging.

I can tell you what the reps were saying about these…and hope they don’t get in trouble (I won’t mention their names, but if you know where I am, they aren’t that hard to identify). The scuttlebutt at our event was that these cigars were “100% Cuban Pelo de Oro leaf” and that “we can’t sell you a Cuban cigar, but we can give you one.” My personal belief on that is that it’s probably horsepucky. First, not much Pelo de Oro is grown in Cuba anymore because it is highly susceptible to disease. There is some grown in other countries, but it’s not even close to being a widespread crop. Second, you actually can’t give someone a Cuban cigar. Under terms of the Cuban embargo, it is unlawful for a U.S. citizen (or other person subject to U.S. law) to buy, sell, or possess any goods made in Cuba or from Cuban materials at any time or in any place. Yes, this means you can’t legally buy Cuban cigars in Canada or Europe. It also means I can’t give one to someone else at any time because that would involve possessing it. (The specifics of the law are very hard to uphold and it is rarely done. For instance, if I’m an American using cash to buy Cuban cigars in Canada, is the Treasury Department going to send out officials to stop me in the store? Hardly.)

So that’s probably what the cigars are not. Other stuff flying around the inter webs state that these cigars are close to the original Centurion blend that was released as Don Pepin Garcia’s first limited edition cigar. I’ve never had one of the original Centurions so I can’t say, although the banding style is definitely similar. It could be Nicaraguan filler and binder with an Ecuadorian Habano Rosado wrapper…or it could not be.

Mystery surrounding the cigar? Check. Rumors and lies thrown about as truth? Check. Full review possibilities? Not gonna happen. What? Yeah, it’s hard to give a full review to something when you don’t have a price tag. The sales people said if these were made for regular release they would be upwards of $20 a stick. That may be true, but considering the other things said about the stick’s Cuban origins, I’m not inclined to believe the price statement. One last thing, though…is it a good cigar? Yes…yes, it is. I’ve smoked two of the three given to me and I really enjoyed them. That’s the reason I decided to spend some time on one before they were all gone.

Prelight

This definitely doesn’t have the look of a high-high-end cigar. The band is nice, but not as nice as the standard My Father band, which adorns cigars in the $8 to $14 range. The peanut butter-colored wrapper was oily and attractive, but not even close to perfect. I say a large chunk missing in one place, with no attempt to patch the hole. Not the worst thing in the world, but on a really high-dollar cigar, I would have expected this stick to be rejected and/or re-wrapped with a better leaf.

I smelled notes of earth and wood and sweet hay on the wrapper leaf, while the foot had notes of barnyard and sweet dried fruit. The cold draw was sweet with primary hay notes and secondary notes of cedar and earth.

Flavor

The Special opens up with slightly astringent cedar notes, a wall of pepper spice and sweet hay bringing up the rear. There are definitely some familiar flavors in the mix that I am associating with a Habano Rosado wrapper, much like you might find on the Nestor Miranda Collection Habano. There was also a sweeter, almost-but-not-quite dried fruit note that I noticed after 5 or 6 puffs. This could definitely be the influence of Pelo de Oro in the mix. I got a lot of pepper on the retrohale, along with definite notes of cedar and roasted nuts.

Roasted nuts made up a good deal of the flavor profile in the second third, along with continued cedar and earth notes. The sweetness became more of a background constant rather than a front-and-center flavor. The pepper died down on the palate but was still fairly intense when I would retrohale.

The last third had the Pelo de Oro coming on strong with sweet hay and natural tobacco notes, along with a residual pepper burn. No, it probably doesn’t have any Cuban leaf in it, but this may be the closest thing I’ve had to a Cuban cigar.

Construction

I had nothing but great construction with these sticks. Great draw, great burn line, solid ash.

Value

Is it worth buying a box of cigars to get a 3-pack of these to try? Before I smoked them, I would have said, “Probably not.” After really concentrating on the blend and thoroughly enjoying them, I would change that to, “Find a My Father blend you really, really enjoy and buy a box…then take these as just a bonus…if you end up not liking them, you will still enjoy the hell out of the box of sticks you bought.”

Conclusions

Bottom line, folks, you should get your hands on these cigars. If you have a My Father event coming to a store near you, plan on buying a box so you can get them (ask the rep if they are part of the package before buying, though). Great medium-bodied smoke with tons of flavor of natural tobacco, earth, cedar, pepper, and dried fruit. Very complex and very special, indeed.