Today, we review the Don Pepin Garcia Vegas Cubanas in the Generosos (Toro) size. Vegas Cubanas goes back to the early days of Don Pepin Garcia. In fact, Garcia created it before the launch of My Father Cigars. The cigar was originally produced at Garcia’s El Rey de los Habanos factory in Little Havana. Sometime after My Father Cigars was formed, Vegas Cubanas was pulled out of regular production and made available on a limited basis for select accounts. In 2017, Vegas Cubanas returned as a regular production offering. Fast forward to 2023, and Vegas Cubanas was revamped. The most significant change was around the packaging, making it more in line with the other Don Pepin Garcia branded offerings. The blend itself also got tweaked.

If you are familiar with the Don Pepin Garcia branded cigars, one that is most popular is the Don Pepin Garcia Original – which is called the Don Pepin Garcia Blue label. Vegas Cubanas is now unofficially being referred to as the Don Pepin “Green Label.” It now shares a consistent design with the other Don Pepin Garcia offerings. The following are the cigars released under Don Pepin Garcia:

Don Pepin Garcia Original (Blue)
Don Pepin Garcia Cuban Classic (Black)
Don Pepin Garcia Vegas Cubanas (Green)
Don Pepin Garcia Series JJ (White)
Don Pepin Garcia Series JJ Maduro (Beige) *
Don Pepin Garcia El Rey de Los Habanos (Red) *

* Not in regular production by My Father Cigars

Let’s break down the Vegas Cubanas Generosos without further ado and see what this cigar offers.

Don Pepin Garcia Vegas Cubanas Generosos – Cigar Review

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend and Origin

The blend for Vegas Cubanas consists of a Corojo wrapper and Nicaraguan tobaccos grown and harvested at the Garcia family farms in Nicaragua. As mentioned, production now comes from the My Father Cigars factory.

Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Country of Origin: Nicaragua
Factory: My Father Cigars S.A.

Vitolas Offered

The Vegas Cubanas is offered in five sizes. Each size comes in 20-count boxes.

Coronas: 5 1/2 x 44
Invictos: 5 x 50
Generosos: 6 x 50
Imperiales: 6 1/8 x 52
Toro Gordo: 6 x 60

Appearance (*)

My Father Cigars classified the Nicaraguan Corojo wrapper of the Vegas Cubanas as a rosado shade, and this definitely comes through with the samples of the Generosos that were smoked. This cigar has a classic dark Colorado tint to it. There was a very light sheen of oil on the surface. Upon closer examination, a slight amount of mottling could also be seen. There were also some visible veins and some minimally visible wrapper seams.

PERFORMANCE

Pre-Light Draw (*)

A straight cut removed the cap before lighting up the Vegas Cubanas Generosos. Once the cap was removed, it was on to the pre-light draw stage. The cold draw yielded notes of vanilla with a touch of cherry sweetness and notes of earth and cedar. Overall, this was a simple but excellent pre-light draw. At this point, it was time to toast the Vegas Cubanas Generosos and see what was in store for the smoking phase.

Tasting Notes

The Vegas Cubanas Generosos opened with notes of earth, wood, natural tobacco, and vanilla with hints of cherry. Early on, the cherry vanilla note moved into the forefront with the natural tobacco notes. The wood and earth notes settled in the background early on. Toward the end of the first third, some black pepper surfaced on the tongue. The retro-hale had a combination of vanilla and black pepper notes.

The cherry vanilla and natural tobacco combination remained primary at the start of the second third of the Vegas Cubanas Generosos. As the cigar progressed through the second third, the pepper and wood notes increased in intensity. The wood notes moved into the forefront just past the midway point, displacing the cherry vanilla and natural tobacco notes. Later, the black pepper notes joined the wood in the second third.

The final third saw the wood and pepper notes primary. This normally does not make for an exciting profile for me, but the cherry vanilla and natural tobacco notes balanced each other nicely. In the more distant background were some earth notes. This is how the Vegas Cubanas Generosos came to a close. The resulting nub was soft to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn

Overall, the burn of the Vegas Cubanas Generosos performed quite well. The cigar had little trouble maintaining a straight burn line and burn path, and it did not require much in the way of touch-ups. The resulting ash was light gray and skewed toward the firmer side.

Draw

The draw of the Vegas Cubanas Generosos was open but not loose. Normally, I prefer a little more resistance on the draw. At the same time, there were no adverse effects in terms of combustion or deriving flavor.

Strength and Body

The Vegas Cubanas Generosos started out mild to medium in terms of strength and body. By the second third, both attributes progressed into medium territory and pretty much stayed in that range for the duration of the smoking experience. Throughout the smoking experience, the body seemed to have a slight edge over the strength.

BANDING AND PACKAGING NOTES (*)

On the one hand, I was sad to see Vegas Cubanas’s old packaging go. I always liked the way this brand presented itself with that packaging.

My Father Vegas Cubanas — Old packaging of the of the Vegas Cubanas

On the other hand, making the Vegas Cubanas the “Don Pepin Garcia Green Label” was a stroke of genius. I really liked the green band.

Packaging of the Don Pepin Garcia Vegas Cubanas

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

I have always liked the Vegas Cubanas brand and found it delivered outstanding value. For under $9.00, this cigar performs better than many cigars two to three times the price. The Vegas Cubanas Generosos isn’t an overpowering cigar in terms of nicotine or bold flavors. It’s just the opposite. At the same time, it delivers some unique and different Nicaraguan flavors. Coming in at 89 points, this is a cigar I could recommend to all cigar enthusiasts. As for myself, not only would I buy this cigar to smoke again, but I would get multiples to have.

Summary

Key Flavors: Cherry Vanilla, Wood, Earth, Natural Tobacco, Pepper
Burn: Excellent
Draw: Very Good
Complexity: Medium
Strength: Mild to Medium (1st Third), Medium (Remainder)
Body: Mild to Medium (1st Third), Medium (Remainder)
Finish: Very Good