Cigar Review: Warped Cigars El Oso

Vitola: Papa (belicoso)
Size: 6″ x 48 ring gauge
Price $9.99
Obtained From SmallBatchCigar.com

Background

Today I’ll be looking at the other one of the Warped Cigars made by El Titan de Bronze, the El Oso.  This cigar is a bit stronger than the La Colmena that I reviewed here.  These cigars are comprised of fillers from Nicaragua & the Dominican Republic, an Ecuadorian binder all covered in an Ecuadorian Habano Oscuro wrapper.  They come in three sizes, a 4″x44 petite corona (Cub), a 7″x38 lancero (Mama) and the subject of this review a 6″x48 ring gauge belicoso (Papa).  They come packed in 10 or 20 count boxes and they all retail for around $10 each.  This was my third chance at smoking this cigar and the second time smoking this size.

Prelight

The wrapper on this cigar is a nice, even medium brown in color with lots of tooth to it.  There aren’t a lot of oils but that is probably due to it not being packed in cello.  There were some medium veins to the wrapper as well.  The band is very simple, but classy, showing the name and the picture of a bear letting you know what cigar it is.  When I gave it a squeeze it was fairly firm without any soft spots.  The wrapper gives off some leather and wood while I get a light cedar and hay from the foot.  After clipping and taking a cold draw on it I noted flavors of balsa with a tight draw.

Flavor

The cigar starts off with very thin smoke that didn’t impart a lot of flavor to the mouth.  I did get some slight sweetness and some leather flavors.  The retrohale had a bit of spice on it as well.  It was definitely in the medium range to start.  As I moved into the second third the smoke was still very thin.  I did get some change in the flavors to leather, wood and cinnamon with a slightly sweet finish.  When I got into the final third the draw had opened up to where it should have been all along and I started to get a lot more flavor from it.  The spice started to build back up and I noted flavors very similar to the second third, but noticeably more intense.  The cigar moved into the medium-full range by the end.

Construction

The draw on this cigar was extremely tight to start off with.  A second cut and some poking with my MTX didn’t help open it up.  It finally opened up to where it should have been about the time I started the final third.  If it was there the entire time it would have been a much more enjoyable cigar.  The burn was fairly uneven as well.  Of the three cigars (1 Cub and 2 Papas) I smoked of this blend both of the Papas had extremely tight draws while the Cub was perfect.

Value

This cigar represents a very fair value for a very small batch company.

Conclusions

If this cigar didn’t have the construction issues it would have been a much more enjoyable cigar.  I know the Cub I smoked was great.  I’ve mentioned the construction issues to Drew at Small Batch and he says that he has never had this problem.  I don’t know if the cigar gods don’t like me or what.  I think that if this cigar drew well it would be awesome.  How about a parejo shaped cigar like a robusto or toro in this blend Warped?  I will be trying this cigar again as I want to see what this cigar is like when it doesn’t have a draw problem.  You can purchase and try Warped cigars from our sponsor here.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 1/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 8/10