My Father Blue Review: The García Family’s First Honduran Cigar

Being an avid tobacco enjoyer, I’m always trying cigars with regional mixes and hunting down puros whenever I can. My Father is a brand I’ve always found pleasure in smoking when I want rich Nicaraguan tobacco, and having tried almost every cigar they make, trying the Blue when it released last year was a no brainer. My interest was piqued when I found out it’s built with Honduran tobacco inside and a Connecticut Broadleaf Rosado wrapper. I’ve smoked a box and some extra since it released, aged two sticks, and it’s still in my monthly rotation.

My Father is known for their Nicaraguan production and the variety of lines showcasing it, from the Jaime García to Flor de las Antillas. Each one has its own character and recipe, and the lines perform like different stories from the same artist. The Blue is no different, except for the address. It’s produced in Honduras at their new Finca La Opulencia farm, their debut from the Talanga region and their first cigar made in Honduras.

Pre-light and first impressions

The wrapper is the first thing you notice, and it isn’t what Broadleaf usually looks like. Instead of the near black most Broadleaf ends up, this one carries a reddish rose hue, which is where the rosado in the name comes from. Box pressed, clean, no seams or blemishes worth pointing at. I cut it with a straight guillotine and light it with a double torch.

Smoking experience

The first third opens welcoming rather than loud. Bits of pepper and cocoa ride on an earthy base, and the pepper never crosses into spicy. The cocoa is dark chocolate rather than candy, not sweet and not tart but right between the two, which leaves the earthy tobacco to take center stage. By the end of that first third you can feel the wrapper oils building, and that’s what sets up everything after it.

The second third is where it earns the money. Cocoa turns into a sweet espresso note, the pepper holds steady without sharpening, and the earthiness moves into toasted almond and cedar as the rosado oils come through. The smoke thickens, the burn slows, and the body climbs to full. The retrohale is where the toasted almond really shows itself without going sugary, and the espresso leaves a finish that hangs around. Letting the cigar breathe is hard when the taste is this good, and sometimes as smokers we do our best to remember it. I couldn’t put it down for a minute.

The last third brings it full circle. The cherry burns a deep red, oils pool at the cap, and the almond sweetness stays subtle enough to keep you salivating instead of wearing you out. Espresso folds back into a deep, decadent cocoa, and the pepper steps up to give the finish some backbone. By then there’s a cinnamon level of spice lifting the dark cocoa and almond, edging toward leather, and it holds that concentration into the last centimeters.

Burn, draw, and construction

I’ve never had one canoe, tunnel, flake, or burn crooked, and that’s across boxes rather than a lucky handful. Whatever quality control My Father runs on this line is tight. The cap holds up to a guillotine, a V-cut, a crown cut or a punch, which isn’t true of every cigar, and the draw has just enough resistance to let the oils concentrate without the cigar running hot. I usually don’t knock the ash off until the halfway mark, and it stays put.

Value and buying perspective

The whole line is priced well under what a cigar this developed usually costs, and the robusto sits a little below the toro gordo. It does a phenomenal job of giving you deep notes, consistent construction, and developing smoke without hurting the wallet or raising alarms with the accountant. Definitely one for anybody looking to expand their collection on a budget. I smoke the toro gordo, but if you’d rather it didn’t finish full, the robusto gives you all the same notes and stops short of that.

Worth knowing that the Blue opened the door for the family in Honduras. The My Father La Lealtad followed it as their second regular production Honduran line, and it sits in similar territory.

Final verdict

A true Honduran cigar that’s going to become a classic from that region, and one worth every penny and every inch of smoke. Medium bodied that finishes like a full, with developing almond sweetness, dark cocoa that transitions into espresso, consistent pepper that never gets spicy, and an earthy note that keeps you interested the whole way down. The hype behind this line is real and authentic. I truly can’t wait to see what else they bring us from that new farm, and maybe a Honduran and Nicaraguan mix is in our future. Top pick.