Saint Luis Rey Herfing 2017 Middle East Regional Edition - 10 cigars

Saint Luis Rey Herfing 2017 Middle East Regional Edition - 10 cigars [5.5” x 54]

Announced in 2017 but only released in 2019 for the Middle East only

• • Medium to full body cigar with plenty of rich Cuban flavor: cedar, leather, pepper, coffee and floral notes
• • Announced in 2017, it was only released in 2019, it is now ready to smoke
  

Make sure to have some time on your hands to really appreciate this beauty

Presentation:

The Saint Luis Rey Herfing 2017 Middle East Regional Edition comes in a numbered semi boite nature box (only 7,500 boxes were produced) of 10 cigars with Habanos packing code SBN-UW-n-10-n-10

Dimensions:

Length: 140 mm (5.5 inches)

Ring Gauge: 54

Shape: 

Robusto Extra

Appearance:

The Saint Luis Rey Herfing is of the same vitola, called Duke in Cuban factories, as the very popular Partagas Serie No.2, but it is a size rarely used by Habanos. It was only used seven times before, mostly for Regional Edition cigars, such as the Romeo y Julieta Duke (2009) and Bolivar Soberanos (2018). It is a beautiful cigar with pleasing proportions, 54 ring gauge, 5 ½ inches long, so its shape is classified as Robusto Extra. As every other Regional Edition, it comes with an additional Regional Edition band that reads Medio Oriente (for Middle East in Spanish). Only 7,500 boxes were made in Cuba, so it is a rare item, and it is only the first Middle East regional Edition in over ten years. The cigar itself looks nice and the wrapper has a nice Colorado brown color. It has an overall rather rustic look, the wrapper is not silky smooth, but feels slightly dry, like some very fine sandpaper, but it is of good construction nevertheless. The triple cap is beautiful, so we have great expectations about the smoking experience.

Smoking Notes:

Before lighting up

At cold, there are some beautiful aromas of barnyard and forest ground. The smell is pretty powerful and very enticing.

Burn/ Draw

The cold draw is good and reveals floral flavors with a good amount of spice to it.

Initial third:

Upon lighting up the Saint Luis Rey Herfing, the main flavors are cedar, leather, coffee and with a good amount of spices, mostly black pepper. After a few puffs, the flavor profile settles on more woodsy flavors coupled with some earthiness, coffee and leather. It feels very good on the palate, it is quite a powerful cigar so far, especially for a Cuban cigar. The mouthfeel is dry and there are now some notes of hay, nuttiness and a fair amount of pepper. The draw is good, the burn line is slightly wavy but it doesn’t affect the smoking experience and corrects itself.

Middle third:

In the middle third, the Saint Luis Rey Herfing evolves beautifully, the flavors become more rounded while the body is a solid medium-to-full. The flavor profile offers more nuttiness, mostly due to walnut and also more floral notes. The pepper has significantly increased while there are also some salt notes. The underlying flavor is still the cedar, which is very enjoyable. The burn stabilized and is not a concern anymore, while the cigar now emits a thick and creamy smoke. Beautiful cigar so far.

Final third:

In the final third, the Saint Luis Rey Herfing really shows why it is a special cigar, the flavors get even more rounded and balanced. The main flavors are of cedar, nuts, pepper while it becomes creamier with some notes of salt. The body is still at a solid medium-full, while the flavors are at medium-full level. The construction is still on point, the draw remains good until the end while the burn line is still wavy at times, but doesn’t affect the smoke too much and the ash has a nice dark grey color which is pretty solid and doesn’t fall unless we tap it down.

In short, the Saint Luis Rey Herfing is one of the best Regional Edition, which now enjoyed a few years of ageing and is ready to deliver a unique Habanos experience for at least a couple of hours.

Smoking time:

2 hours 30 minutes - 3 hours