El Centurion by Don Pepin

12-02-2008, 07:18 PM

El Centurion cigar, 5” 50 gauge.

This was given to me as part of a trade, and from looking at it’s appearance I was pleasantly surprised. It had reasonably large jagged veins compared to other cigars but apart from that it looked magnificent, a lovely dark-ish brown wrapper and a nice scent to match. I read that it is a Don Pepin production and is mainly a Cuban seed cigar.
Immediately it smelled like a Cuban, with a nice dark chocolate, warm coffee heavy scent almost welcoming me to commit arson.
It initially struck me as being pretty heavy without being too dense (plugged) and although it seemed to have been box pressed it still had a good amount of give in it and was quite springy. A nice fancy band adorned it making the image complete.

After punching it once it gave a perfect pre-draw, just perfect! A chocolate taste was left on my lips and the only CC cigar I’ve really had that happen with to this extent is RyJ PC’s. Man I was looking forward to the next bit…

After toasting it to and giving it a nice solid light, I was left with a spicy full bodied taste, but after the first inch or so the spices subsided and left a mainly cedar taste, but it was good and my gut feeling was that I had a really good “midway” cigar heading my direction. I started with a slightly uneven burn and regardless of touch-ups this continued throughout the entire cigar but it was consistent and I didn’t let that put me off.

I received a little fruity and sweet taste in the first inch or so, but this didn’t last long and the spicy, mild, amazing draw remained. Mellow, smooth, almost cooling on the mouth came to mind.
It burned reasonable fast for its size, and after getting into the 2nd inch or so I started getting what I was looking for, a more rich, chocolate-coffee taste. There was a slight earthy/ mushroom taste there but the sweeter tastes beat them down. The smoke was a lovely orange colour which I perceive to be from the better tasting cigars for some reason.

The tastes continued most of the way down but gave way to a slightly walnut taste mid-way and then the creamier, richer tastes started coming along too, this was turning into a fine cigar by any (CC) standards.

After getting into the bottom 1/3rd there was no “overspice” taste that NC’s generally leave me with and I’ve got to say that so far this has been my best NC to date…the good times just kept on coming, and kept getting better!

The final pic says it all, a real finger burner.

I’d recommend this cigar to anyone who likes anything above mild, even strong taste loving smokers will appreciate the creamy daytime-smoke that this has to offer. Enjoyed to the max!

12-02-2008, 07:18 PM	#1
dentonparrots Guest Posts: n/a	El Centurion by Don Pepin El Centurion cigar, 5” 50 gauge. This was given to me as part of a trade, and from looking at it’s appearance I was pleasantly surprised. It had reasonably large jagged veins compared to other cigars but apart from that it looked magnificent, a lovely dark-ish brown wrapper and a nice scent to match. I read that it is a Don Pepin production and is mainly a Cuban seed cigar. Immediately it smelled like a Cuban, with a nice dark chocolate, warm coffee heavy scent almost welcoming me to commit arson. It initially struck me as being pretty heavy without being too dense (plugged) and although it seemed to have been box pressed it still had a good amount of give in it and was quite springy. A nice fancy band adorned it making the image complete. After punching it once it gave a perfect pre-draw, just perfect! A chocolate taste was left on my lips and the only CC cigar I’ve really had that happen with to this extent is RyJ PC’s. Man I was looking forward to the next bit… After toasting it to and giving it a nice solid light, I was left with a spicy full bodied taste, but after the first inch or so the spices subsided and left a mainly cedar taste, but it was good and my gut feeling was that I had a really good “midway” cigar heading my direction. I started with a slightly uneven burn and regardless of touch-ups this continued throughout the entire cigar but it was consistent and I didn’t let that put me off. I received a little fruity and sweet taste in the first inch or so, but this didn’t last long and the spicy, mild, amazing draw remained. Mellow, smooth, almost cooling on the mouth came to mind. It burned reasonable fast for its size, and after getting into the 2nd inch or so I started getting what I was looking for, a more rich, chocolate-coffee taste. There was a slight earthy/ mushroom taste there but the sweeter tastes beat them down. The smoke was a lovely orange colour which I perceive to be from the better tasting cigars for some reason. The tastes continued most of the way down but gave way to a slightly walnut taste mid-way and then the creamier, richer tastes started coming along too, this was turning into a fine cigar by any (CC) standards. After getting into the bottom 1/3rd there was no “overspice” taste that NC’s generally leave me with and I’ve got to say that so far this has been my best NC to date…the good times just kept on coming, and kept getting better! The final pic says it all, a real finger burner. I’d recommend this cigar to anyone who likes anything above mild, even strong taste loving smokers will appreciate the creamy daytime-smoke that this has to offer. Enjoyed to the max!