Smoked: El Pulpo Octo Ocho Culebra

Smoked at: Fairfield, Ohio

I’ve been intrigued by images and the back story of the culebra. I had never seen one live and in person until a few months ago. The cigar(s) sold quickly and I missed out on buying one. So when I saw a culebra for sale online, I jumped at it.

The El Pulpo Octo Ocho Culebra is somehow a combination of Latin and Spanish for “8-8” and El Pulpo in Spanish means “octopus.” I though Caldwell was eclectic. The 3 panatelas are an AJ Fernandez blend. Thought that would be a pretty good introduction to the vitola or vitolas or whatever the size/shape of a tandem of 3 cigars might be called.

The cigars are Nicaraguan tobacco grown on AJ Fernandez’s fields. The dark brown, slightly oily wrapper is Mexican San Andres.

Thanks to Steve’s trusty cigar tool chest we unleashed the trio. Steve took one. Bob another. And I grabbed the last. The three of us are now culebra blood brothers of the burn.

The flavors begin to unfold with wood, earth, leather, mild pepper, a nuttiness like peanuts or peanut butter, espresso, and a hint of licorice. By the second third, emerging notes of bread, nuts and chocolate come and go. The wood now solidifies its tastes to oak. The cigar is as middle of the road as you can get in body and strength.

Smoking a oddly shapes twisted cigar looked like more of a challenge than it actually was. The burn line was generally good, solid smoke production and no draw or wrapper issues.

Since there were three of us smoking the culebra, I include all 3 assessments. Overall, we tasted similar notes with Bob or Steve tasting cream and a maple note in there as well. We all agree the El Pulpo Octo Ocho Culebra was a decent smoke. Give it a 3-plus – better than average.