Ferio Tego Timeless Limited 10 Years

When Ferio Tego acquired the cigar brands from Nat Sherman International, one of the brands it acquired was the Timeless Collection. The Timeless Collection is a very important brand in the history of both Nat Sherman and Ferio Tego. The brand made its debut in January 2012 with the Timeless Dominican, a cigar that today is called Timeless Prestige. It was released by Nat Sherman and it marked a new chapter for that company. Back in June 2011, Nat Sherman needed to rebuild its distribution channels and bolster its product innovation. At that time Michael Herklots was brought in as Director of Retail and Brand Development. At the 2011 IPCPR Trade Show, he worked on getting feedback from retailers on a set of test blends. Eventually, one of those blends became the Timeless Dominican. The cigar was released to critical acclaim, winning numerous awards (including a Top 25 spot on the 2012 Cigar Coop Countdown), and played a key role in rebuilding the distribution channel with retailers. Given its importance to Nat Sherman and Ferio Tego, it made sense to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Timeless and Ferio Tego released a limited edition cigar marking the occasion with the Timeless Limited 10 Years. It’s the cigar we will take a closer look at today.

Timeless consists of four regular production lines. Timeless Prestige and Timeless Sterling come from the Quesada’s TABADEX factory in the Dominican Republic while Timeless Supreme and Timeless Panamericana come from the Plasencia factory in Nicaragua. Sterling and Panamericana were previously standalone brands, but were added under the Timeless umbrella in 2018.

Timeless Prestige (formerly Timeless Dominican)
Timeless Supreme (formerly Timeless Nicaraguan)
Timeless Sterling
Timeless Panamericana

In addition, there have been several limited-edition Timeless releases. These have come from both the Plasencia and Quesada factories.

Without further ado, let’s turn our attention back to the Timeless Limited 10 Years and see what this cigar brings to the table.

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend and Origin

The Timeless Limited 10 Years comes from the TABADEX factory in the Dominican Republic. It is a Dominican-forward blend with Dominican tobaccos used for the wrapper, binder, and filler. The filler also contains some additional Nicaraguan tobacco. Given the first Timeless release came from Quesada’s TABADEX factory, it makes sense the ten-year-anniversary cigar would come from that factory.

Wrapper: Dominican
Binder: Dominican
Filler: Dominican, Nicaraguan
Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
Factory: TABADEX

Vitolas Offered

The Timeless Limited 10 Years comes in one size – a 5 3/4 x 54 Robusto Grande. There was a total of 2,500 ten-count boxes produced.

Appearance

The Dominican wrapper of the Timeless Limited 10 Years had a medium brown color with a rosado tint to it. Upon closer examination, some mottling could be seen on the surface. There was also a very light layer of oil on the surface of the wrapper. The cigar was void of any significant visible wrapper seams, but there were some prominent veins that were visible.

PERFORMANCE

Pre-Light Draw

A straight cut was used to remove the cap of the Timeless Limited 10 Years. Once the cap was removed, it was on to the pre-light draw ritual. The cold draw delivered a mix of sweet cedar, earth, and a slight cherry note. I judged this to be a very good pre-light experience. At this time it was time to toast the footer and move on to the smoking experience.

Tasting Notes

The Timeless Limited 10 Years opened up with notes of natural tobacco, wood, cedar, and cherry notes. Early on the cherry and wood notes moved into the forefront. The cedar and natural tobacco notes settled in the background. As the cigar moved through the first third, some red pepper emerged on the tongue in the background. There also was an additional layer of red pepper that was present on the retro-hale that was mixed with some cherry.

Late in the first third of the Timeless Limited 10 Years, the cherry notes subsided on the tongue and the earth notes replaced them in the forefront. The second third saw the earth and wood as the primary notes. The cherry, red pepper, and cedar notes remained secondary. In addition to the red pepper, there also was some black pepper that mixed in. By the second half of the smoking experience, the earth notes displaced the wood as the sole primary note.

The final third saw the earth notes primary. These were rounded out by the pepper, cherry, wood, and cedar notes. The pepper notes were the most prominent of the secondary notes. As the Timeless Limited 10 Years came close, it finished up with a soft, cool nub.

Burn

The Timeless Limited 10 Years had excellent construction and this was reflected in the burn and draw. The burn was low maintenance. It maintained a straight burn line and straight burn path with minimal touch-ups. The resulting ash was silver-gray with some dark streaks mixed in. This was an ash that was on the firmer side. As for the burn rate and burn temperature, both maintained ideal levels.

Burn of the Ferio Tego Timeless Limited 10 Years

Draw

The draw of the Timeless Limited 10 Years also performed extremely well. This draw had a touch of resistance to it – which is something that I consider to be ideal. At the same time, this was a low-maintenance cigar to derive flavor from.

Strength and Body

The Timeless Limited 10 Years delivered a medium-strength, medium-bodied smoking experience. Along the way, there was a slight increase in the intensity of the strength and body, but in the end, the Timeless Limited 10 Years remained medium strength and medium-bodied.

In terms of strength versus body, the body maintained a slight edge throughout the smoking experience.

BANDING AND PACKAGING NOTES

I’m a big fan of the new logo implemented on the Timeless Collection cigars. I love the throwback retro vibe it provides. I really like the maroon and gold color scheme of the Timeless Limited 10 Years. There are three bands on the Timeless Limited 10 Years. Normally I don’t like more than two bands, but this one seems justified. The primary band says it is a Timeless Limited Edition, the secondary band says it is the Timeless 10 Years. Finally, the tertiary band says “Exclusively for Ferio Tego” – which is a staple on the cigar brands Ferio Tego got from Nat Sherman.

Packaging from the Ferio Tego Limited 10 Years

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

Overall I found the Ferio Tego Limited 10 Years to be an enjoyable cigar. While the $18.50 price point is a little high, I can say this cigar delivers what I would expect from a limited edition and higher-end premium cigar. Credit has to go to the Quesada’s TABADEX factory. For the past couple of years, this factory has been on a roll (winning our Small/Medium Factory of the Year award in 2022) and this is another example of the quality coming out of this factory. In the end, this is a cigar I would easily recommend to any cigar enthusiast. As for myself, this is a cigar I would buy and smoke again. Coming in at 90 points, this cigar earns a Cigar Coop Standard of Excellence designation.

Summary

Key Flavors: Earth, Bing Cherry, Wood, Cedar, Pepper
Burn: Excellent
Draw: Excellent
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Medium
Body: Medium
Finish: Very Good