The Don Pepin Garcia black series is the first blend Jose Pepin created in his factory in Estelí, Nicaragua and I think it’s the least expensive of all the lines that carry Don Pepin’s name. The different vitolas all have a year to their name instead of the vitola type, the 5 x 54 belicoso that I smoked is the 1970.

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The small belicoso has a nice wrapper, almost without veins, and oily. The construction feels good, I can’t detect soft spots of plugs upon inspection. The cigar has a sweet aroma. The predraw is fine and leaves a peppery flavor in my mouth.

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A fruity peppery coffee with wood flavor is what I taste when I light the cigar. The pepper and the coffee fade away quickly and I can taste some wood with wild fruit. For a moment I can also taste some sal ammoniac candy (a kind of liquorice that I love) with a fresh minty aftertaste. The flavors are very uncommon but also very nice.

Halfway the sal ammoniac disappears and the wild fruit flavor is getting milder, but I can still taste it on the background of the wood. This is the flavor I keep tasting towards the end, but the flavors pick up and get a bit spicier towards the end.

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The draw is fine and the cigar has light colored firm ash. I did get a bit of a crooked burn and lots of nice smoke. This cigar is full flavored and medium to full bodied.

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Would I buy this cigar again? Yes, I liked it a lot, but I must admit, the robusto will stay my favorite of the Don Pepin Garcia black blend, but if I want the same flavor palate with just a bit less peppery power, this is the stick.

Appearance: 7 / 10
Construction: 7 / 10
Draw: 8 / 10
Smoke & ash: 7 / 10
Burn: 7 / 10
Aroma (first part) 8 / 10
Aroma (middle part) 7 / 10
Aroma (last part) 7 / 10
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Great review. These have been a favorite of mine since I started smoking.
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Nice review! I love the robusto, but my favorite is the 1977 size (petit lancero) :-)
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Them is good smokes! I like these better than the blues! :-)
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Very good.
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I like these. I think they taste similar to the La Aroma de Cuba EE
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Nice review. I've only tried the robusto so far. Very tasty.
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Funny you posted this, I just finished the exact same smoke that Brent has sent me in NST. I am crappy at picking out flavors, just know it was good :-) mine had some wrapper issues like it was dried or so, not sure what was up with that. Been in my humi a couple weeks now and i store it at 65%.
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now that's what I call a review. Good work. blk's are a def. go to stick.
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DPG is known for wrapper issues, the wrappers are very thin.
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Excellent review, thanks as always...
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Nice review Ferdie...I enjoy these.
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Good to know, thanks!
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even with the wrapper being paper paper thin, even if you have to pull it off, it's going to smoke the same basically an YES taste the same. Only thick priming wrapper adjust the taste of a cigar. IMO
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I found these to be like smoking almonds... the flavor was so almond-y. May be time to revisit these, nice review!
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Thanks for the review & pictures Ferdie. These are great cigars.
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My favorite Pepin cigar:-) Thanks for the review.
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I love your reviews!


MCS
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Too funny... I just wrote Scott in a PM and told him the same thing... You are brilliant Ferdie!!!
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I used to think that. Now that I've tried several DPG sticks, I'm finding that my favorite is whichever one I smoked most recently. :-)
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