Cigar Review: Warped Cigars Flor Del Valle

Vitola: Gran Valle (gran robusto)
Size: 5.50″ x 50 ring gauge
Price $8.99
Obtained From SmallBatchCigar.com as a review sample

Background

I didn’t know a whole lot about this company until Drew from SmallBatchCigar.com starting mentioning them to me and that they would be getting their line in.  From what the website says Warped Cigars was founded by Kyle Gellis back in 2009.  I can’t say I’ve heard much about them before Drew introduced me to them.  They make their cigars at the El Titan de Bronze factory in Miami and the Casa Fernandez factory in either Honduras or Miami (I can’t tell from the website but I’m guessing Honduras based on the price).  The cigar I’m reviewing today was made by Casa Fernandez.  The cigar is comprised of Nicaraguan fillers, Nicaraguan Corojo ’99 and Criollo ’98 binders, all wrapped in a Nicaraguan Jalapa Corojo ’99 leaf.  These cigars come in two sizes the Cristales; a 6×42 corona, and the subject of this review the Gran Valle; a 5.5×50 gran robusto.  They come packed in 25 count boxes.  This was my first experience with this cigar.

Prelight

The band on this cigar caught my eye, it was very ornate but without being too ostentatious.  The wrapper on the cigar was a nice medium brown with some golden streaks to it.  It was almost velvety to the touch but without a lot of oils, probably owing to it wasn’t packed in a cellophane wrapper.  There were a couple greenish spots on the back of the cigar that looked almost like they might water spots.  When I gave the cigar a squeeze it was fairly firm and without any soft spots.  There was a light aroma off the wrapper of freshly cut wood, with some light barnyard coming from the foot.  After clipping it and taking a cold draw on it I noted some light wood with a hint of sugar with a good draw.

Flavor

The cigar starts off with a nice blast of wasabi spice on the retrohale with the tastes of cinnamon & sugar, wood and leather on the tongue.  The cigar was definitely in the medium range in regards to body and strength to start.  Towards the end of the first third I started to get some green herbal notes as well as some spice on the back of the throat.  As I moved into the second third the spice did start to mellow out a bit.  The sweetness definitely intensified, mainly on the finish.  The flavors changes slightly to graham, wood and leather.  It stayed firmly in the medium range during this third.  The final third saw the spice start to come back as well as the cigar crept up into the upper end of medium in strength.  The flavors changed again to cinnamon, hints of curry, leather, wood and earth, with the sweet finish being consistent from the second third.

Construction

The construction on this cigar was pretty much spot on.  The draw was great and the cigar burned only slightly uneven.  Rolling the position of the cigar cured the burn line.

Value

I think this cigar is a very good value at $9.

Conclusions

Overall this was quite an enjoyable cigar.  It’s slightly changing flavors kept me interested and the excellent construction didn’t have me fighting with the cigar.  I think that this cigar would go great with a cup of coffee in the morning or be a good first cigar of the day no matter what time it is.  Since the cigar stayed firmly in the medium range it should be approachable by most, and it reasonable price won’t break the bank.  I will be purchasing more of these cigars.  If you’d like to as well our site sponsor has them in stock here, as well as the other blends in the line.

By-The-Numbers

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10