Espinosa/Protocol Review Series (2023)

[cabaiguan juan]

Espinosa-09 Knuckle Sandwich Maduro toro is live.

Espinosa-09 Knuckle Sandwich Maduro toro

The logical 2nd review in the Knuckle Sandwich series, right? 1/3: Heavy in that black pepper spice! With a well cooked steak flavor too. New York Strip if I had to pick. 2/3: Au jus. 3/3: Heavy red pepper spice. Not an early day cigar. Strong and full of spice. If that is your thing then go...

www.cigarpass.com

 

[cabaiguan juan]

Espinosa-10 Knuckle Sandwich Habano perfecto is up.

Espinosa-10 Knuckle Sandwich Habano perfecto

This is the 3rd and last of the Knuckle Sandwiches. 1/3: Black pepper, and stray or a haybale. Eventually the pepper gives way to sweetness. 2/3: Sweet, almost like fresh cut hay mixed with some barnyard. The black pepper begins to creep back in towards the end of this middle third. 3/3...

www.cigarpass.com

 

[cabaiguan juan]

We are at roughly the 1/3rd mark in this series and I thought I would put together a quick list of the ones I liked and the ones I need to retry in order to keep a little organization to this.
Recommend & Liked:

• Espinosa-01 Crema robusto
• Espinosa-03 Habano robusto
• Espinosa-04 Wasabi robusto box press
• Espinosa-05 Laranja Reserva toro
• Espinosa-10 Knuckle Sandwich Habano perfecto
• Protocol-03 Green Cyber Crimes Unit churchill
• Protocol-05 Silver Official Misconduct toro

Ones to revisit:

• Espinosa-02 Especial toro
• Protocol-01 Probable Cause (Red) corona extra
• Protocol-02 Blue corona extra

 

[cabaiguan juan]

Protocol-07 Sir Robert Peel Natural toro

Protocol-07 Sir Robert Peel Natural toro

Sir Robert Peel established the London Metropolitan Police Force in 1829 and s known as the Father of modern policing. His Commissioners established a list of policing principles that is still relevant to this day. Given the background of Protocol's creators, it makes sense to name a cigar...

www.cigarpass.com

 

[cabaiguan juan]

Protocol-08 Sir Robert Peel Maduro toro is up.

Protocol-08 Sir Robert Peel Maduro toro

For the backstory on the name, refer to the Natural review. 1/3: Sweet chocolate and sticky buns with some coffee notes too. 2/3: Spice is working its way into this. As is BBQ bark. 3/3: The spice really kicks up. Heavy crusted meat. Not bad, but I much prefer the natural version. If you...

www.cigarpass.com

 

[cabaiguan juan]

Protocol-09 Bass Reeves Natural toro is up.

Protocol-09 Bass Reeves Natural toro

Bass Reeves was the first Black Deputy US Marshall west of the Mississippi river back in the late 1800s. Born into slavery, he never the less recorded the arrests of 3,000 dangerous fugitives and shot/killed 14 of them in self defence. Check out his history on Wikipedia. 1/3: After getting...

www.cigarpass.com

 

[cabaiguan juan]

Espinosa-11 Murcielago robusto box press is now a thing.

Espinosa-11 Murcielago robusto box press

Murcielago was around back in the day of EO Brands, before Espinosa was Espinosa. EO Brands split, the Murcielago line was stopped until Erik Espinosa began his La Zona factory. In 2015, Murcielago was relaunched. Half Wheel has the deets if your interested in going down a rabbit hole. 1/3...

www.cigarpass.com

 

[cabaiguan juan]

Protocol-10 Bass Reeves Maduro toro

Protocol-10 Bass Reeves Maduro toro

Again, see the Natural for the back story on Bass Reeves and who he was. 1/3: Getting past the initial heavy spice and pepper that I have come to expect with maduros from the La Zona factory, the cigar mellows out into a very sweet, grain cerial. Or maybe it is a sweet fresh cut hay, or...

www.cigarpass.com

 

[cabaiguan juan]

Espinosa-12 Murcielago De Oro TAA 2023 toro

Espinosa-12 Murcielago De Oro TAA 2023 toro

This uses a lighter claro shade leaf in place of the darker San Andreas leaf used on the regular production version. 1/3: Toasted wheat bread with what I can only describe as the smell of a bakery. 2/3: Frosted Mini Wheats with milk. 3/3: Black and red pepper with the associated spice. Quite a...

www.cigarpass.com

 

[cabaiguan juan]

Espinosa-13 Comfortably Numb Vol. 1 toro is live.

Espinosa-13 Comfortably Numb Vol. 1 toro

This kicks off the start of the next mini series of the Comfortably Numb line. Vol. 1 has a Habano wrapper and a psychedelic band on it. 1/3: Pepper and spice but it then transitions to vanilla cream. Like vanilla frosting. 2/3: Cinnamon sweetness with nuts. 3/3: Passion fruit and spice...

www.cigarpass.com

 

[cabaiguan juan]

Espinosa-14 Comfortably Numb Vol. 2 toro

Espinosa-14 Comfortably Numb Vol. 2 toro

2nd in this mini series. This one has a maduro wrapper. 1/3: Chocolate with a fresh baked bread component. 2/3: So if you were to pluck a rhubarb from a strawberry rhubarb pie, and you make sure it has some that pie filling on it, but just the rhubarb. No strawberries. Now sprinkle that...

www.cigarpass.com

 

[cabaiguan juan]

Espinosa-15 Comfortably Numb Vol. 3 toro is up. The last of the Comfortably Numb group.

Espinosa-15 Comfortably Numb Vol. 3 toro

This last variant has a San Andreas binder under a Habano wrapper. For comparison sake, Vol. 1 had the Corojo binder under the Habano and the Vol. 2 has the maduro Corojo wrapper but I couldn't get information on its binder. 1/3: Vanilla cream with orange zest and a pinch of white pepper. 2/3...

www.cigarpass.com

 

[cabaiguan juan]

Espinosa-16 @Zucar Cana robusto is up.

Espinosa-16 @Zucar Cana robusto

Fuc, is this a flavored cigar? Cold draw is some weird drug store candy. 1/3: The smell of the clove cigarettes that the hot gothesque chick is smoking out at the Smoker's Tree. 2/3: Still clove-ie but I can taste some actual tobacco. It is in there somewhere. 3/3: Umm, so the tobacco taste...

www.cigarpass.com

 

[cabaiguan juan]

Espinosa-17 Espinosa Ten Years toro is live.

Espinosa-17 Espinosa Ten Years toro

This is a fan favorite from the Espinosa faithful. This is the first time I've had it. 1/3: Subtle hay with some spice. 2/3: Subtle sweetness. This is not a full bodied cigar which is a surprise given most of the Espinosa portfolio but the flavors are really nice. 3/3: Okay, I can see why...

www.cigarpass.com

 

[cabaiguan juan]

Updated Recommend & Liked:

• Espinosa-01 Crema robusto
• Espinosa-03 Habano robusto
• Espinosa-04 Wasabi robusto box press
• Espinosa-05 Laranja Reserva toro
• Espinosa-10 Knuckle Sandwich Habano perfecto
• Espinosa-13 Comfortably Numb Vol. 1 toro
• Espinosa-15 Comfortably Numb Vol. 3 toro
• Espinosa-17 Espinosa Ten Years toro
• Protocol-03 Green Cyber Crimes Unit churchill
• Protocol-05 Silver Official Misconduct toro
• Protocol-07 Sir Robert Peel Natural toro
• Protocol-09 Bass Reeves Natural toro

Ones to revisit:

• Espinosa-02 Especial toro
• Protocol-01 Probable Cause (Red) corona extra
• Protocol-02 Blue corona extra

There have been some more acquisitions and at some point I'll update the master list to reflect them.

 

[cabaiguan juan]

Espinosa-18 La Zona 10 Year toro is up.

Espinosa-18 La Zona 10 Year toro

1/3: Toasted oak and cherry wood. Very tasty. Le the Espinosa Ten Year it is very flavorful but not overpowering with spice or strength. 2/3: Some spice enters the picture but the wood remains. 3/3: Cherry or apple wood smoke. Some Red pepper spice builds throughout this last third. Very...

www.cigarpass.com

 

[cabaiguan juan]

After a cold induced hiatus, Espinosa-19 Fair Warning robusto is up!

Espinosa-19 Fair Warning robusto

This is a shop exclusive to Caravan Cigar Company. It has a barber pole wrapper of Brazilian Oscuro & Candella over top Nicaraguan binder and fillers. It is a great looking cigar! 1/3: I'm not completely convinced that this does not have a sweetened cap. There is a vanilla-esq sweetness to...

www.cigarpass.com

 

[cabaiguan juan]

Espinosa-20 Alibi toro

Espinosa-20 Alibi toro

This must be something special. I feel that La Zona reserves foot bands for Big Deals. It is part of the Backroom Series and is a Espinosa Lounge Exclusive, or so says the band. 1/3: Medium bodied. Kind of suprised that this isn't full bodied. White pepper spice, a dusting of nutmeg. 2/3...

www.cigarpass.com

 

[cabaiguan juan]

Espinosa-21 The Warzone rabito (6x46) iis live.

Espinosa-21 The Warzone rabito (6x46)

Ths cigar came out a few years ago. Espinosa teamed up with General Cigar and used some of their cameroon to make this. The name is in reference to the Cuba's war of independence from Spain from 1868-1878. 1/3: The sweetness of the Cameroon really stands out. A little bit of barn and a...

www.cigarpass.com

 

[cabaiguan juan]

Espinosa-22 Blood Orange rabito is up.

Espinosa-22 Blood Orange rabito

Thank you @PaulTra for this one. This is exclusive to Privada Cigar Club. It is supposedly an experimental Laranja yada, yada yada. I like Laranja. I like blood oranges. I like great stories. 1/3: It is smooth. Really nice. Some subtle tangerine or orangy type of fruit. Also a subtle...

www.cigarpass.com