Warped Cigars – Flor Del Valle

Kyle Gellis

This years IPCPR has been great and there were new releases of blends from the manufactures at the show. But today, I am quite pleased to report that Warped Cigars introduced, by invitation only, their new Flor Del Valle (Flower of the Valley) cigar. This stick is one you must search out and find if you are looking for an amazing smoke. I sat with the owner Kyle Gellis at his booth and sampled this new introduction to the Warped family of cigars. Now before I mention the notes on this stick, I will point out that this blend was worked in collaboration with the Casa Fernández factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. For those that know Warped Cigars you know that Kyle has worked in the past with El Titan de Bronze in Miami but this time he chose Casa Fernández and they have got quite a hit here.

The stick has Corojo 99 and Criollo 98 binders and a Nicaraguan filler wrapped with a corojo 99 leaf from the Jalapa region. It had a sweet smell pre-light and the wrapper was flawless. The official label was not on this stick as they just were getting them in. The invite picture above shows the label insignia. Kyle did show us one with the label attached and I will say is is a beautiful design. The samples we tried were the Cristales (6 x 42). It also will come in a 5 1/2 x 50 and will be known as the Gran Valle.

Once I got past the pre-light, I fired it up and the early burn started with a little spice that pleasantly settled down as notes of sweet honey entered, that only got more pronounced as the burn continued. The Spice was in the background giving a pleasurable flavor unlike any stick I have had. There were hints of sweetness and even a touch of coffee. The ash was a nice light grey and needed only a small touch up probably because I was smoking it a bit fast. Others around me had perfect burns.

Kyle described the Flor Del Valle as medium to full and I would agree with him. The strength was a bit of surprise considering the flavor profile. I was not expecting to get a little lit especially since I only just finished lunch about an hour before. Maybe my sugar was still a little low. But I think it was this awesome stick.