EH Cigars – Pasion

Edgar Hoill Cigars has become another line of cigars under Christian Eiroa’s Tabacaleras Unidas umbrella.  Hoill is best known as a photographer for his precision style that became known as “One Shot One Kill”.  Hoill established a name in the cigar industry in 2012 as he collaborated with Room 101’s Matt Booth on the limited release Room 101 OSOK (One Shot One Kill – named for Hoill’s style).  Late last year, Hoill moved over to Christian Eiroa’s company.  While he has taken the name OSOK with him, he has also launched a new line of cigars known as EH Cigars (an actual OSOK cigar line will follow later in 2013).  I have had an opportunity to sample one of the vitolas – the EH Pasion.  Overall, this was a great cigar experience and has become a nice launch for this new line of cigars.

Last year, we named the return of Christian Eiroa as one of the 12 Top Cigar Stories/Themes for 2012. The reason is Eiroa has not just returned with a boutique cigar company, but as he refers to it – a “business incubator” (as mentioned on the December 1st, 2012 Kiss My Ash Radio show).  This incubator provides a people with good ideas to produce cigars.  With EH Cigars, it appears that the unorthodox vitolas are a key differentiator of what Hoill is doing (this was started with the Room 101 OSOK line).

While unorthodox vitolas are always great to look at, the ultimate question is – how do they smoke?   Let’s take a closer look at the EH Cigars line and see what this brings to the table.  We will examine the Pasion vitola in this assessment.

Blend Profile

The EH Cigars line is a Nicaraguan puro:

Wrapper: Nicaraguan
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan

Vitolas Available

As mentioned it are the vitolas that distinguish this brand.  All three vitolas are shapes that you commonly would not find on a cigar.   These cigars are all packaged ten per box.

Cultura: 4 1/2 x 38/54 (A vitola that tapers from foot to cap almost a horn-like shape)
Vida: 4 1/2 x 38/52/22 (An unorthodox diadema with a very thin ring gauge by the cap)
Pasion: 6 5/8 x 52/38 (Another unorthodox diadema that has more of a torpedo tip)

Appearance

From an appearance standpoint, the EH Pasion has a mix of classic and contemporary.  The contemporary aspects are obviously the unique shape of the vitola.   However the cigar itself is packaged with some onion paper containing a spider web design on it.  The onion paper is somewhat sturdy and does protect this unorthodox shaped cigar.

Onion paper wrapping of the EH Pasion

When examining the wrapper of this cigar, it is very classic looking.  The wrapper is a classic medium brown wrapper.  It is slightly oily and somewhat toothy.  The wrapper has several visible veins as well as several visible wrapper seams.  The construction overall for this unusual shape is outstanding.

There is no banding to this cigar.

Preparation for the Cigar Experience

For my cigar experience of the EH Pasion, I clipped the torpedo tip of the cigar.  It was then time to start the pre-light cigar experience.  The cold draw didn’t do much for me here as  I got notes of wood, natural tobacco, and some light spice.  Since we do not factor the pre-light experience into our final rating or score, there is no loss of points here.   It was now time to light my EH Pasion and see what the cigar experience would bring to the table.

Flavor Profile

The start to my EH Pasion provided me with notes of oak and red pepper.  As the burn passed the diadema tip, additional notes of coffee, earth, and cedar sweetness emerged.  There was no dominant note in the early stages.  By the five percent mark, the oak and pepper notes surfaced as the primary flavors.  The coffee and earth notes were secondary.  The cedar sweetness was more prominent on the retro-hale.  The EH Pasion produces some nice abundant thick smoke. This is the kind of cigar you want to retro-hale on to appreciate it to the fullest.

The flavor profile above held throughout the first half.  The oak and pepper notes vary from point to point, but overall they remain as primary flavors.

By the second half, the red pepper notes took over as the main primary note.  The oak notes joined the coffee and earth notes as secondary notes.  The cedar sweetness pretty much dissipated in the second half.  This would be the flavor profile for the remainder of the smoke.  The resulting nub was cool in temperature, but soft to the touch.

Burn and Draw

Many times I am skeptical about an unorthodox vitola because many tend to have issues with the burn and draw.  No such issues here.  This one scores outstanding with both attributes.

The burn was amazing.  It required virtually no maintenance to keep the burn line straight.  The resulting ash was tight with a salt and pepper color.  In the early stages, the ash almost has a pencil point shape to it.  The burn rate and burn temperature were ideal.

Near pencil point burn in the early stages of the EH Pasion

The great burn continues with the EH Pasion

The draw was outstanding as well.  This was one of the best scores I got on a diadema vitola.

Strength and Body

From a nicotine standpoint, the EH Pasion starts out medium strength.  By the time the cigar reaches the last third, the EH Pasion moves to medium to full strength.   As for the body, the EH Pasion also starts out medium-bodied.  By the second half, the flavors progressed to medium to full-bodied.  At the very end, the notes had inched to the full-bodied range.

Overall, the strength and body balance each other nicely for the majority of the smoke.  There are a couple of points where the body has a slight edge, but nothing where the equilibrium falls out of whack.

Final Thoughts

A lot of times many will assume an unorthodox cigar vitola is a gimmicky cigar.  This is not the case with the EH Pasion.  This is a well constructed cigar that delivers an overall great cigar experience.  While the cigar has some contemporary aspects from a visual aspect, the flavor profile is very classic – and one that can appeal to many cigar enthusiasts.  Not only is this a good cigar for an experienced cigar enthusiast, but I’d recommend this to a novice cigar enthusiast looking for something a little stronger.  As for myself, this is a cigar I would smoke again and keep in my smoking rotation.

Summary

Burn: Excellent
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium (Medium to Full last third)
Body: Medium (1st Half), Medium to Full (2nd Half), Full (toward end)
Finish: Good
Assessment: Nice to Have
Score: 91

Source: The cigars for this assessment were purchased from Smoke Inn Cigars in West Palm Beach, Florida.