Don Pepin Garcia manufactures these cigars exclusively for Cigar King. The cigars honor the famous Cuban baseball team the Habana Leones.

The wrapper is a cinnamon brown with a pungent aroma of chicken coop and hay. I tend to like a cigar that has an “in-your-face” aroma to the wrapper; it really heightens my anticipation of the smoke.

It is interesting to note that, in my previous two reviews, this same wrapper, which is so enticing today, had a huge dose of ammonia. At the time, I thought that the cellophane wrappers might have been responsible for holding in the ammonia and I was going to remove the cello from the remaining cigars... but I forgot. What a difference a little aging can make! Though these cigars have been sitting in my humidor for over a year, they have a box date of April 2005. You do the math, but suffice it to say, they have some age on them.

The wrapper leaf, which is smooth and velvety to the touch, is a fine example of a Nicaraguan Corojo (probably a Corojo 99 hybrid). The band looks conspicuously like the Cuban Partagás Serie D band, but who cares?

I experienced significant burn problems with both of the cigars I have previously reviewed. However, this cigar burned near perfectly, perhaps another example of the benefits of aging.

Though the cigar has shown some beneficial effects of aging, its power and fullness are still coming through. Pepin blends this one strong and full-bodied: no doubt about it. The filler is 70% Ligero tobacco!

The flavors at the outset were full of pepper spice. In fact, the pepper spice dominated the first half of the cigar. The pepper was heavy on the tongue and the cigar did not show much balance. However, as I approached the halfway point, the spice mellowed and I was treated to some sweet spice, tobacco and hay.

If you retro-hale (blow smoke out through the nose) this cigar, you will definitely experience the after-burn of jet propulsion. Show this cigar some respect! This is a full-bodied, and full-flavored stud.

I was quite impressed with how much the flavors have improved with age and how much better this cigar burned than my previous samples. I am actually very excited about smoking this cigar again in another couple of months. I will be back for my fourth and final review in this series in about 6 months. Sorry to keep you in suspense.

~Doc