Warped New Day comes from Kyle Gelis. We got this cigar in a cigar of the month from Small Batch Cigar and have put off reviewing it for a multiple of reasons.
According to the Warped website, “This special project is offered to only 12 retailer partners throughout the United States. This project was a first for Warped for a multitude of reasons, but this project was entirely voted on by the retailers, a new and unique way for them to involve their retailer partners in the process and let them ultimately choose the cigar that they would exclusively get to offer to their customers.
The result is today’s review.
Cigar Review: Warped New Day
Size: 5 7/8 x 52
Wrapper: Ecuador Sumatra Rosado
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler Nicaragua
Factory: Tabacalera La iSLA
Release Date: December, 2024
Production: Limited Edition (1,000 Boxes)
Box Size: 15 Cigars
The Cigar: The band of the cigar utilizes colors of red, black and a light yellow which comes off as busy to me. The rising sun logo for some reason reminds me of the movie Tora, Tora, Tora which I consider to be the best WW2 movie in existence. The Sumatra wrapper has some significant veins visible and under the fingers the cigar is coarse to the touch. There is a nice amount of oils visible and the cigar is firm to the touch with no voids of tobacco.
The Taste: The cold draw has a very Dominican taste to it that I equate with the time I spent working for a manufacture that was based in Santiago. The cold draw sums up the aroma of walking the rolling room floor. The foot of the cigar serves up notes of wood and tobacco, nothing that overly stands out but it is enticing as well.
Once the cigar is toasted and lit there is a subtle brown sugar to start along with a touch of apple skins. As we move deeper into the first third I find my eyes watering from the smoke and my wife comments on the pungent aroma telling me not to smoke the brand indoors anymore. While the aroma might not be enjoyable to flavors are until a definitive sour note begins to appear as the first third comes to a close where it also lacks balance. The retrohale adds to the sourness with a touch of cream.
The second third sees the Warped New Day remain sour with continued notes of apple skins, brown sugar and sugar wafer cookies. Thankfully the sourness begins to pull back some around the halfway point which sees the addition of cocoa notes. As the second third comes to a close there are notes of mocha, brown sugar and a touch of leather. The retrohale has an abundance of pepper and it does create some sourness as well so I have opted to retrohale far less often.
The final third sees some sourness creep back onto the palate where it joined by brown sugar, cream, coffee and leather. There is a nice amount of flavor but the cigar doesn’t feel balanced at times which has me putting it down from time to time. As we remove the band the sour aspect of the cigar is back in spades while the retrohale serves up even more sourness.
Conclusion: It feels like the cigar industry becomes wrapper obsessed at the same time. For a while everyone was coming out with a cigar featuring San Andres. Now that obsession is with Sumatra and I for one have lost interest in keeping up with new releases due to this current trend. Over the years Sumatra has gotten better, but the primary sour component isn’t for me.
With that disclaimer out of the way looking at the Warped New Day objectively there is a lot of flavor and the cigar burns exceptionally well. However the aroma leaves something to be desired and at times the cigar seems unbalanced at times which detracts from the experience.
Score: 86
Price: $14.75 (Before any local or state taxes0
If Sumatra is your jam these are worth a try and one of the 12 shops to carry them is Small Batch Cigar.
