Warped Cigar released the La Relates, which means “The Stories” in Spanish, at this year’s IPCPR trade show. The blend is supposed to be one of the original blend’s Kyle Gellis created about 10 years ago for Warped Cigars. We caught up with Kyle at the trade show and he discussed the La Relatos in our interview which you can view here. Right now, the La Relatos is only available in a petit lancero, call The First, but other sizes will be available later. The La Relatos The First is available in a five pack and consists of a Nicaraguan binder with Nicaraguan fillers of Corojo ‘99 and Criollo ‘98 tobaccos wrapped in a Ecuadorian Habano wrapper.
- Name: La Relatos The First
- Size: 6 x 38
- Vitola: Petit Lancero
- Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
- Binder: Nicaraguan
- Filler: Nicaraguan Corojo ‘99 and Criollo ‘98
- MSRP: $9.30 per cigar/ $46.50 per five pack
Pre-Light
The La Relatos The First has a mottled brown wrapper with quite a large cap. After clipping the cap, I tested the draw which was spot on with that milkshake draw I like. The flavors on the cold draw is earth, cedar and salt.
First Half
The first of the La Relatos The First starts off a little…..odd. I get a mixture of bitter and sweet that almost seems like each one is fighting to be more dominant. I’m getting notes of caramel, cinnamon, earthiness, black pepper and sweet cream. I get much more of the pepper on the retrohale as well. The body of the cigar is medium bodied and the bitterness starts to dissipate slowly as the cigar burns closer to the midpoint.
Last Half
The middle of the cigar is a best part. I get more of the spice, caramel and cinnamon in the middle, but it starts to turn slightly from there something a little more savory. I’m getting a little nuttiness in the last half along with some of the bitterness starting to return. The further it gets to the end of the cigar, the more bitter the cigar gets.
Overall Impressions
This cigar had potential, but the bitterness is overwhelming to me. The bitterness is somewhat subdued in the beginning with the sweetness and disappears near the middle. The middle of the cigar is great where all the savory and sweet flavors merge well together. The bitterness returns with a vengeance in the end though and it’s just overwhelming. The size is perfect for me and I love smaller ring gauge cigars which Warped Cigar does great, usually, with cigars this size like the Lirio Rojo. This one, though, is a pass for me, even with the great flavors in the middle. Maybe a little age will improve these cigars which I will test with my last two.
