Blog & Cigar News | Mardo Cigars

What's going on, everybody? This is Gerard, and you are watching Mondays with Mardo's.

All right everyone, we got the newest size of the Warped Flor del Valle, and it's called Seleccion de Valle. This is 6 X 52 ring gauge. It's got the new 109 style cap on it. It's a hybrid between a traditional cap and a Belicoso. So we're going to get into this cigar and we're going to tell you what we think.

Come Join Us

So before we get any further into the review of this beautiful cigar, I'm going to ask you guys to please subscribe to our YouTube channel, Mardo Cigars, and we're going to have coming out with new episodes for Mondays with Mardo's, and many, many other things. We're going to have inside look within the cigar industry, come up with new products, new things, boutique stuff, amazing, blah, blah, blah, I'll go on forever. So therefore, without boring you any further, subscribe to our channel so you can get all that stuff within little tiny snippets of episodes. So that's Mardo Cigars on YouTube. Subscribe and hit the bell to get notified every single time a episode comes out.

All right everyone, I'm very excited to have the new Warped Flor del Valle. This is the newest size, it's called Seleccion de Valle. Actually, in reality, the true name of this cigar is called Ghost Orchid. Now, due to naming rights, they weren't able to keep that name, so I'm a little bummed about that. But this, in my book, is AKA, Ghost Orchid.

Cut and Light it Up

Okay, so I'm going to cut this cigar. We're going to utilize our Mardo Double Blade Cutter, that we have on our website for just $3, and these cut very well. As you can see, there's my first cut, double blade. It's pretty cool, $3. And I'm going to use my Single Torch Mardo Cigar Lighter. We have these on our website as well. I think they're about $5.50. As well as Mardo cigar Stands, these are made out of aluminum. These only go for $12.99.

Here we are. Now Kyle is the owner of Warped Cigars and he started making cigars and working under El Titan factory in Miami, which we all know Willy Herrera, his family, I believe his wife's family owns El Titan. So Kyle started working there, came out with his own blend, and then he embarked on the wholesale side of business, or manufacturing, I should say, and he started making cigars there.

And as well as making cigars in Miami, they also make cigars in Nicaragua under an Aganorsa, which is known as Tabsa, that's the name of the factory. And then the Fernandez family also grows leaf in Nicaragua. So the Flor del Valle is made in Nicaragua. Aganorsa, also known as Tabsa. So this is where this is made.

The Ghost Orchid is a beautiful, beautiful looking cigar. I would say it's pretty dense, pretty well packed, not very, very heavy. Got a nice little shine on the Corojo '99 wrapper. I haven't taken a drag yet. I'm really babying this thing because I'm really, really excited. I'm a little bit salivating because I'm the Corojo tobacco fan.

So with that being said, let's take a drag. Very good. Very good drag. God, this is good. So why did I say that was good? When I took half of a puff, I taste, it was like the semi-dry draw, and then a little bit of smoke in there at the same time, gave it a lot of rich puff right off the ... It was like a little burst of the dry flavor of the tobacco, and there was definitely some scent of sweetness in there.

But now that I got a full draw out of it, definitely white pepper in there. Very, very distinct. And it kind of hits the back of your throat, which I like that. So we are in the first third, so let me get into it a little bit, and then I'll get back to you guys, see what I think.

First Third

Okay, so we're in the first third of the cigar. Actually the ash was a little bit longer, but half of it fell off. This cigar is a little unique more than the others. The reason why I say that, is it has this creaminess when you first draw the cigar, and completely different unique flavors as I retrohale. What is retrohaling? Whenever I take a drag of this cigar, I like to exhale, which they call a retrohale, through my nasal cavity, and therefore I get more of the flavor of the cigar.

Pretty complex cigar. I won't say fully complex, but I would give this so far a medium strength cigar. It doesn't knock me on my butt. And as I said, the first draw is very creamy, and when I retrohale, definitely the white pepper is definitely there. However, it's coupled with some creaminess of that deep coffee bean flavor, a little bit of cinnamon in there as well. That's what I'm getting so far, you guys. Very enjoyable.

Now, I usually tend to smoke cigars very fast. But the Flor del Valle Warped product, for me personally, I tried to baby it a little bit more and slow down due to that white pepper flavor. If I smoke the cigar really, really fast, I'm going to miss some of the subtle hints, like creaminess. You really got to take your time. For me, I speak for myself, I really need to take my time to really indulge the smoke within my palate, within my nasal cavity, to really notice that and take my time. So before we get into the second third, I'm going to take one more drag to make sure that the hints that I'm describing are truly, truly there.

The draw is very, very easy draw, not hard. A very well rolled construction. It's very good. But yeah, the white pepper actually is getting a little bit less, but it does hit the back of my throat, which is very nice because that leaves a little bit of lingering after I set it down on our beautiful Mardo Cigar Stand. You guys, I keep telling you these are only $12.99 on our website. Save yourself some money. This is almost half the price of the competition out there and they work phenomenal. So anyway, stay tuned. We're going to get into the second third as I baby this bad boy.

Second Third

Okay, everyone, so we're in the second third of this cigar, and it has definitely switched gears here. One of the things I notice, a lot of people, that when they smoke a cigar, they wait for that pop. And what does that pop mean, is a shift in flavors, and then they want to see that abundant flavor of the cigar, its true nature, what it's supposed to do. I would definitely say the second third or the beginning of this second third, this cigar definitely pop. It got into that deeper flavor. And what happened is that the white pepper has definitely gone faint. It's still there, however, it's not as exaggerated as it was in a first third.

The flavors I'm getting now is definitely some toasted nuts, but more than anything I'm getting that caramel flavor that I really like. It's definitely there now. This is becoming very enjoyable. The draw is still really good, and more than anything else that I noticed that the draw is not becoming hot. So it's almost like halfway in the cigar, but we're still in the second third.

Yeah, the white pepper is still there. Definite flavors of caramel, a little bit of cinnamon as well. That toastiness is definitely there on the back of my palate. But that flavor that was hitting down here in my throat has definitely balanced out, and it's become a very, very smooth cigar. So we're going to get into the last third of this cigar, and I still have a little bit to go in the second third. Yeah, it's definitely balancing itself out, and we'll see what the last third of it will do. So stay tuned.

Final Third

All right everyone, so we're in the last third of the Warped Flor del Valle, their newest addition to the line, a 6 X 52. As you can see, I had to remove the band, came off very easily. One thing I definitely noticed is that it produces a lot more smoke now. And as you can tell, the smoke is a little denser, definitely white, gray smoke.

The second third definitely is the wow factor where it popped, where all the flavor, the caramel flavor was definitely there. The white pepper has definitely dissipated, and what I'm getting now is the toasted flavors, very nutty, toasted flavors coupled with a little bit of a milkiness. It's hard to describe that, but milky is the best thing that I can say. Very good construction. Very, very good burn.

One thing that I did notice, that this thing does not keep a very good ash. At least this exact stick did not keep an ash very, very thick. If you're like stacking dimes, for me, this one did not do that. That ash was falling very easily on its own. So other than that, I would say the construction is definitely up there. Very good burn. I didn't have to do any re-lighting. It burned very well. There did not tunnel or have any canoeing whatsoever.

So that is my take on this cigar. This is the newest size, Warped Flor del Valle, Seleccion de Valle. But however, as I mentioned, they called it a Ghost Orchid and they couldn't keep that name because of the naming rights within the United States. So if you go on our website, if you search "Ghost Orchid," it will pop up because we did give it that name, as well as Flor ... excuse me ... Seleccion de Valle.

Closing Thoughts

So if you're interested in this, go to mardocigars.com. It does taste and burn a lot different than any other sizes. So that's just my take on it, I'm a big Toro guy. So yeah, that's it guys. A very good stick. I'm very happy with it. Still burning, not a hot draw. It's still nice and cool, and producing a lot more smoke now. So that's my take on the last third.

Let me know what you guys think in the comments. Other than that, this is Gerard, I'm signing out. Thank you.