At the 2010 IPCPR show in New Orleans, there were two special cigars in the My Father booth: the My Father Limited Edition 2010 and the My Father Baseball Bats. Turns out, both would ship to retailers in limited quantities later at different points later in the year, the latter being a surprise to many.

Alongside the Baseball Bats that shipped just before Christmas were cigars that were rolled in the shape of a pipe, or a saxophone to some, something that Pepín has been rolling for years. To my knowledge, this was the first time that they were offered for sale. At the time, very little was known about these cigars. Last year while shooting Janny García’s Icons of Cigars™ portrait, we asked her about these cigars. She gave us a bit of info. First, there is no actual blend and it’s unknown what tobacco was used. This means that each Baseball Bat or Pipe could contain entirely different tobacco than every other one made. In addition, these are said to be rolled by one of two people: José “Pepín” García or Jaime García’s wife, Dany, who is also a highly skilled roller.

Cigar Reviewed: My Father Pipe

My Father Pipe Country of Origin: n/a

n/a Factory: n/a

n/a Wrapper: n/a

n/a Binder: n/a

n/a Filler: n/a

n/a Size: 5 1/4 Inches

5 1/4 Inches Ring Gauge: 50

50 Vitola: Pipe

Pipe Est. Price: $40.00

$40.00 Date Released: December 2010

December 2010 Number of Cigars Released: n/a

n/a Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 1

I don’t really understand those that say saxophone. There’s a bunch of tobacco coming out of the bowl, identical to a pipe, but I digress. Like the My Father Baseball Bat there are two different shades of tobacco on the outside, a lighter shade that makes up the majority of the cigar and darker tobacco that is used more as accenting. At the head the cigar is tiny and actually closed off with a sharp torpedo cap, really reminiscent of a pencil. It gets progressively thicker, widening out at the top of the bowl. There’s a pretty sharp angle for the bowl and as you can see there is actually pieces of tobacco at both end of the bowl to help keep the bowl in place. The aroma off of the foot of the My Father Pipe is unbelievably strong: it reeks of ammonia, which is a bit odd given that these are over a year old. Depending on the angle, there’s a bit of a woodsiness. Cold draw is a bit tight, which makes sense with a decent plum, touch of coffee and a bit sour.

As expected, it takes a bit of time to get the first third of the Pipe going. It starts with a really simple cedar nut note; one dimensional, but not bad. Despite the cold draw and the unique shape, the draw is actually wonderful and the smoke production is a joy to watch. For me, the first third is burning through the bowl, which produces a nutty and earth mixture with touches of cedar. After about fifteen minutes, a harshness begins to emerge, but it’s not a problem, yet.

The second third for me is burning the angle of the bowl. There’s no easy way to define third, but I end up doing it based off of the different stages of burn rate. The flavor is bland: earth and harsh, definitely getting harsher. That’s not really what I’m paying attention to. As you can see above, the ash holds all the way through the bowl and burns around the bend, leaving just two pieces of the tobacco that was wrapped around to hold the angle unburned. It’s unbelievable, yet from what I’ve seen of the few pictures that exist of people smoking pipes, this concept of holding through the turn seems quite common. Draw is still excellent and the smoke production is picking up.

There’s a lingering question going into the final third: why am I still smoking? The flavor is not getting any better and turning what was once a very plain cigar into something disgusting. At this point, it’s not just the flavor. The width of what’s left of the My Father Pipe is just too narrow and despite my best efforts, the cigar just goes out. I should mention the draw is borderline pain-inducing pretty soon after the bend ends. At this point, I determine that there simply is no reason for me to attempt a continuation.

Final Notes

Of all the cigars in my humidor, none have gotten the attention like the Pipe and Baseball Bat. However, smokers and non-smokers all seem to phrase the same question: can you smoke it? It’s a bit concerning, because with most cigars you ask, how does it smoke? That’s partially why they are being reviewed today of all days.

These were actually wrapped in clear plastic, almost like something from a candy store.

The ash is truly a work of art and quite frankly, the cigar burned pretty much perfect all the way through.

If you asked, I would say these were rolled at My Father Cigars S.A. Like most things involving this cigar, little is known.

I’m not a pipe smoker, just in case you were wondering.

While this was not a great flavor, construction was impeccable up until the point where I think it was physically impossible.

I cannot reiterate enough: there is no blend and it’s it’s seemingly unlikely that there is going to be much consistency between Pipes because of that.

If you didn’t think blending took talent and time, the Pipe and Bat are great examples that you cannot just take random tobacco roll it together and create average cigars each and every time.

When I did the State of the Brand last year, I mentioned that John Gonzales of My Father Cigars Inc. indicated that these would be available year round, I’ve yet to see any reports of the My Father versions being sold outside of the original shipment in late 2010.

Pricing has ranged from $30-$100 per single for both the Pipe and Baseball Bat. By far the most common pricing was $40.00.

As is mentioned about, this is not a new concept. Ernesto Perez-Carrillo Jr. used to make them at El Credito in Miami, Sam Leccia would roll them at NUb events and El Cubano Cigars still makes them today. Casa Fernandez indicated last year that they were rolling them again, Pepín, who was associated with Tabacalera Tropical in the early 2000s, has been rolling them at events for years. And there’s other examples here, here and here.

Final Smoking Time is one hour and five minutes. I have no clue what it would be like trying to smoke it all the way down, quite frankly I don’t think you would actually smoke it: you would just have to burn it.

We don’t know of any retailers who are actually selling these any more (I bought mine over a year ago), but if anyone does know of any, please leave the info in the comments.