My Father Cigars – Don Pepin Garcia 20th Anniversary Limited Edition

By Tony Casas | September 5, 2023

This week I take a look at a cigar the celebrates one of my all-time favorite blends, and one that changed my personal cigar-smoking palate years ago, the Don Pepin Garcia 20th anniversary limited edition.

The Good Stuff:

Many of us remembered when My Father Cigars stormed into the market releasing the original Don Pepin blend which has stood the test of time. To commemorate 20 years of that debut blend My Father cigars is releasing the Don Pepin Garcia 20th Anniversary Limited Edition. Rolled at the My Father Cigar factory in Esteli, Nicaragua the 20th Anniversary features a Nicaraguan Habano 2000 wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan filler which includes the rare Pelo de Oro tobacco. The rareness of the tobacco comes from how difficult it is to grow the tobacco without contracting mold which could easy take out masses of crops. The cigar is offered in a single 6 1/2 x 52 format which comes packaged in boxes of 20 with only 5,000 boxes being produces. The US market will see 3,900 of those boxes while 1,100 will be sent to the international markets. The cigar runs $40 a stick or $800 a box. I purchased mine over from our good friends at Cuenca cigars.

• Size: 6 1/2 x 52
• Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano 2000
• Binder: Nicaraguan
• Filler: Nicaraguan (including Pelo do Oro)
• Body: Full
• Strength: Medium/Full
• Price: $40

Prelight:

The wrapper on the Don Pepin Garcia 20th Anniversary Limited Edition is a very consistent milk-chocolate brown with a neat orange tint to it. The wrapper’s texture is slightly toothy with a large amount of oils coating it. The wrapper feels thick and dense while the cigar is packed perfectly with no soft spots to be found. There are a few small veins in an otherwise smooth wrapper which is laid seamlessly over itself leading up to the cigar’s double-wrapped cap. The cigar features a huge, extravagant gold, blue, and red band that looks very fittingly like a royalty version of the original Don Pepin label. It states “Don Pepin Garcia 20th Anniversary” in the same script that the original used along with the My Father crest on the front, 2003 – 2023, and “Limited Edition”. There is also a blue ribbon foot band which has “DPG 2023” printed in gold ink across the front.

The Don Pepin Garcia 20th Anniversary Limited Edition, wrapper gives off some soft cinnamon over light spice while the foot of the cigar is much more spice and pepper forward with notes of earthiness underneath. The cap cut clean and easily using my Xikar XO double bladed cutter. The cold draw produces notes of oak, pepper, and a ton of earthy flavors.

First Third:

The Don Pepin Garcia 20th Anniversary Limited Edition starts out with a subtle blast of black pepper which faded quickly after the first few puffs allowing the cigar to release bold notes of honey, vanilla, and cedar over lighter notes of graham cracker, pecan, and raspberry. But not the raspberry fruit, the fake raspberry tea flavor. Odd connection, I know. The draw is as perfect as the construction. Each little puff kicks out huge clouds of thick, white smoke which dissipates quickly while the cigar releases a good amount of stationary smoke while it rests in my ashtray. The burn line is pretty even and razor thin leaving behind a trail of tightly compacted light and dark gray ash white held on for an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Don Pepin Garcia 20th Anniversary Limited Edition and that raspberry tea flavor has become much more intense and is now leading the charge backed by vanilla, honey, and a nice mixture of oak and spices. It’s a very enjoyable flavor profile and the retrohale adds a bit of body as it brings the spice and pepper to the forefront of the profile. I close out the second third with no signs of nicotine.

Finish:

Wow, the strength in the Don Pepin Garcia 20th Anniversary Limited Edition really ramps up here in the final third. The flavors are now lead by a strong spice that has been mostly tame up until this point backed by vanilla and honey, as well as that raspberry tea with lighter notes of oak and herbs. It took me almost two hours to smoke this bad body down to the nub. I experienced no harshness, nor any extended heat or sap. The cigar did leave me with a little bit of a nicotine kick however.

Overview:

While not as power-packed in terms of strength as the original, the Don Pepin Garcia 20th Anniversary Limited Edition is a much more complex and flavor-packed version of the cigar. The delicate mixture of flavors is decadent, and extremely enjoyable while the cigar performed like a star from start to finish. While I normally don’t gripe about costs, this cigar is very pricey and while I loved it, the price keeps it out of contention for something that would fall into my regular rotation. Which it should. This isn’t a cigar for casual smoking. This is a celebratory cigar created to go alongside any of your accomplishments and celebrations and does a great job at doing so.