Jeremy Jack Libelula Cigar Review – No Bite On This!

I have been talking a lot about Jeremy Jack cigars lately and why not,  they have some terrific offerings and they all  have to be reviewed before the end of the year so we can make our top 25. The company introduced a bunch of new product to the market this year at the IPCPR. Today we are going to discuss the Jeremy Jack Libelula, a cigar with a name that doesn’t echo “Cigar” when you hear it but there is an interesting story behind the name.

First off,  for those that don’t know a Libelula is a dragonfly, and one might they named the cigar because of some exotic cocktail that stung them one night but nope,  the simple story as described by Jeremy Jack is:

“while leaving for a blending trip to Nicaragua last year, I was waiting for my Uber car to arrive to take me to the airport. While I was waiting, two Libelula’s landed on my luggage and I thought it just seemed appropriate to name the next blend the Dragonfly.”

That’s it – simple, easy peasy!

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An Entomology Lesson

Before I asked Jeremy about the name,  I did go off into cyber space to research Libelula. In case you did not know, these friendly insects were once the size of large predatory birds with two foot wing spans,  back 325 million years ago. They evolved over time and refused to become extinct. I wanted to say that as a segue to a little comment about the FDA regulations. You see, this industry may be like a dragonfly and continue to evolve to stay in business and bring us, the consumer, the best products in spite of whatever roadblocks the government throws at us.  So maybe the name does make sense in the cigar world. Kudus to you Jeremy. By the way, contrary to popular belief, the dragonfly does not bite or sting and one of their favorite food is the pesky mosquito.

Now that I got that out the way, let’s talk about the Libelula cigar from Jeremy Jack. I received the sample from the company for the purpose of reviewing on Stogie Press

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The Jeremy Jack Libelula Cigar

Jeremy Jack offers the Libelula Cigar in just one vitola – a 5 1/4 x 54 packaged in 25-count boxes.  The blend is described as:

• Wrapper – San Andres Maduro
• Binder – Nicaraguan Aganorsa Leaf
• Filler – Nicaraguan Aganorsa Leaf

The Libelula is being manufactured at Tabacos Valle de Jalapa S.A. in Estelí, Nicaragua. and they retail for an easy on the wallet $8.30 USD.

Pre-Light Examination

The San Andres wrapper on the Libelula is dark and mottled, with some decent tooth to it and minimal veins . The shaft was solidly packed and had good weight in the hand.  There is a slight oily sheen to it when presented to the light.

The band on the cigar is unique – silver with a black silhouette of a dragonfly. There is no other markings on the band other than that. No company name, no “hecho a mano” no country of origin. Just a dragonfly!

Running the Libelula across the nose I picked up a sweet spicy fermented barrel and enticing foot aromas including spice and pepper, hay, and a subtle graham cracker.

The cold draw had a mild restriction and delivered is peppery foreground note with an earthy back note. Rolling it about before lighting it, the pepper starts to reveal itself as cayenne.

With the pre-light exam done it was time to light up the Libelula.

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Cigar Review Notes

• Initial light is as expected a deep pepper hit to the nasals
• But hiding in that pepper is some soon to be exposed notes of savory spice, syrup, and oak and malt
• Light grey ash develops resting on a thick char line
• Pepper fades after a half-inch and the aforementioned notes come forward
• The aroma at this point is savory spice
• The sweet malt moves forward after an inch of burn
• Strength is solidly medium already – In fact I got a slight case of the nicups
• Ash is solid and the burn is straight
• Ash fell moving into second third revealing a nicely formed, centered, burn cone
• Earthy notes enter at this stage
• Espresso notes follow
• Strength moves up to full at the midway point
• Burn got a tad wavy and required a mild touch up
• Profile is consistent entering final third
• Touch more spice enters
• The touch up worked fine and burn is on track
• Cedar and  dry leather notes enter as it moves into the final third
• Strength has a given me a few beads of sweat on the brow
• Total Smoking Time was one hour and 15 minutes

Overall, the Jeremy Jack Libelula was a delicious smoke that had no bite and only a mild sting to the nasals on the first few puffs. The flavors transitioned well through the burn. The midway wave in the burn may have been caused by the higher humidity of the day I was sampling it and it behaved perfectly after the touch-up. This is not a light cigar by any means and probably should be enjoyed after dinner with a fine glass of highland malt. So far this is my favorite of the Jeremy Jack offerings but I have more to review to stay tuned. You can find these at Jeremy Jack Retailers found here.