And the surprise of the year award goes to… LCA Dead Stock 2026! Here’s the marketing backstory…
Purchased: 6 Figurado 6 X 54
Store: West Coast Cigars
Price: $15.79
Buy Again: Yes. I found some and ordered ten more. But once these are gone, they’re gone forever.
Box Worthy: If boxes were still available, a resounding yes
Experience Rating: 98
Deadstock is Privada’s key to the hidden rooms of the cigar world. Forgotten inventories and abandoned projects that time has quietly perfected. These aren’t leftovers. They’re artifacts.
This year’s find: a 5-year-aged figurado wrapped in one of Jalapa’s finest leaves, rolled
at Tabacalera Fernández. Once bound for greatness, it was lost to red tape when taxes
and import disputes sank the brand. The stock was later absorbed by a giant in the
industry, its story nearly erased.Now, it returns not as a relic, but as proof that patience turns setbacks into treasures.
The idea behind Privada’s Dead Stock line is that they apparently look for forgotten inventories, abandoned projects, and cigars left aging in storerooms. They buy them then do release a limited release. Each year is a different cigar.
I love the concept. But I wasn’t really convinced of the story; that is, until I removed the wrapper from my 2025 version. It was stained, stained to a deep brown. Could they have gone to the trouble of staining the insides of the wrappers themselves? Sure, weirder things have happened… But the expense to do something like that would far outweigh the benefit. Nah, the five year aging is a real thing in this case.
As far as last year’s version is concerned, it was supposed to go to a small manufacturer. But due to high taxes and import issues, it crippled the company, which was then purchased by a much larger firm. The cigars then sat in a storeroom for five years until Privada found and released them under its name.
I’ve never gravitated towards figurados nor perfectos. It’s always hit and miss with getting them lit then having to deal with initial draw issues and an uneven burn. But I’ve had two of these now and not only was the initial draw just fine, the burn has been dead straight on both!
Pre-light draw is a different story. Figurados are notoriously tight before lighting them up, so trying to get any sense of a cold draw flavor profile is futile. But the aromas coming off the wrapper and foot are amazing: vanilla bean, cedar, molasses.
But instead of trying a cold draw, I sniffed the inside of the wrapper. Fuck me! It was like I was smelling one of those vanilla tootsie rolls!
As far as light-up is concerned, one thing I’ve learned is that even though it looks like the tip is the only thing to light, you have light a bit of the cone to get some airflow. For this cigar, lighting the tip to about halfway up the cone creates a perfect draw.
After an initial hit of black pepper, the cigar started out with a vegetal tone that was akin to we peppercorns from a pepper tree right after a rain. I must admit that it turned me off when I first tried the cigar, not because it was bad, but if you’ve ever smelled that smell, it can be overpowering. But that quickly went away after a couple of puffs. It was like a veil that concealed some real beauty underneath. And once that veil was removed, wow! The smoke immediately became creamy and layered with cedar and earth, but also a molasses-like sweetness, and just a hint of red pepper spice. It’s like this through the entire first third.
The ash finally came off on its own at the second third. But it was a stack of nickels. And look at the burn line! Just dead straight!
Into the second third, the spiciness picks up and there’s a lingering tingle on the finish. Dark coffee and roasted cacao nibs take a more prominent role. The creaminess morphs in a buttery silkiness and I get this sense of melted butter on the finish. Black pepper has always been present from the start but it remained in the background after that initial hit. Vanilla and caramel aromas waft from the end of the cigar. Wow!
There’s an indescribable elegance to the this cigar that I imagine is due to the years of aging. I’m at the halfway point right now (a little over 45 minutes) and this stick has acted like any long-aged cigar I’ve ever had. There are no sharp edges in the profile. While certain flavor notes are prominent, they never overwhelm and the transitions are silky smooth; no abrupt changes.
For instance, I’m now just past the halfway point, which is the sweet spot for this cigar. The spice is now much more apparent on the finish. But its build up was incredibly subtle. I noticed it when I hit the midpoint, but it wasn’t until I stopped to think about what I was tasting in the back half of the second third where I realized the spiciness crept up from behind me.
Once this cigar hit the halfway point, then all hell breaks loose. Strength and intensity pick up slightly to where the stick is about medium+. But then complexity takes over. There are so many things happening on the base of the black and red pepper spice (and mind you, while relatively stronger than the first half, it’s just there). More vanilla, dulce de leche, butter, lemon peel, roasted nuts and dark chocolate, contrasted by a pleasing earthiness and leather with a slight minerality to add to the finish. Fuck this is good!
Into the final third and I have not had to make a single correction to the burn line! This happened with the first one I smoked at the shop. It was so well-behaved! As far as the profile is concerned, strength is inching towards full, but it’s not quite there. The spice level hasn’t changed since the start of the second half, but the transitions keep coming. In two separate puffs I got vanilla bean and caramel, then on the next puff, I got what I can only describe as In ‘n Out french fries!
Nicotine has been generally well-behaved throughout the smoke, but I can feel it now as I reach the final stanza of this gorgeous poem of a cigar. But like everything else with this cigar, the buildup was subtle and a bit sneaky.
When I finished the first one I had, the thought that came to mind was, Now THIS is what an aged AJ cigar tastes like. It has that classic AJ Nic puro essence to it. But where other AJ cigars may telegraph that in a bold way, there’s nothing bold or stark about this cigar. And as I mentioned above, there are no sharp edges. I’ve loved the subtle and gradual buildup of the profile over the course of the smoke. And even down to the last inch where I’m at as I write this, the complexity reigns supreme.
I’m going to search for even more of these! BTW, total smoking time was one hour and thirty-five minutes.
Yesterday, I attended the graduation party of my niece who just graduated from UC Riverside. I’m so proud of her. Luckily for me, I’m not the only cigar smoker in the family. When we get together for parties, we usually have a herf. I bring sticks as does Sam, one of my cousins buddies from high school.
This time, Sam brought Cubans. Though he called them Behikes, having had a few over the years, I knew that what he had were Siglo VIs just from the size and wrapper. I didn’t say anything because you never look a gift horse in the mouth, but I was hoping he didn’t pay Behike prices for these. But no matter, the cigar was great all around.
Whether it was a real Cohiba, I don’t know. The label looked right with the proper holograms and it obviously was made from Cuban tobacco because there was that classic Cuban twang ever-present throughout the smoke.
Ever so gracious, Sam also gifted me a Montecristo No. 2, which is one of my all-time favorite cigars. Now that one I know was a real Cuban Monte. I’ve had lots of those.
But after smoking the Siglo, I thought about Cuban vs. New World cigars. I know that there are those who completely dismiss New World cigars as inferior to Cubans. And that’s fine. But one thing I can say about Cubans now is that from a quality standpoint, they pale in comparison to New Worlds.
Case in point. That Siglo was absolutely delicious. And paired with a gorgeous EH Taylor Small Batch bourbon and Forteleza tequila, it was an amazing experience. But as I expected with the Cohibas I’ve had over the past couple of years (excluding the Behikes I’ve had), this cigar was no exception in that it burned unevenly, forcing me to make occasional corrections throughout the smoke and it got a little plugged halfway through – luckily I had my PerfecDraw to correct that.
The funny thing is that I’ve found that with issues like this, there’s a lot of forgiveness paid to Cuban cigars. On the other hand, burn issues aren’t nearly as tolerated in New World cigars. I snicker when I read reviews from the professionals. They rarely mention burn or draw issues with Cuban cigars and certainly don’t dock them points for them, but they dock lots of points from New World cigars for their burn issues. Groupthink? Maybe.
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