Hooten Young Operation Gothic Serpent

Purchased: Single Torpedo (6.25 X 52)
Price: $24.95
Store: West Coast Cigars
Buy Again: Maybe another couple of singles, but not at the B&M price
Box Worthy: Not for me
Experience Rating: 88

I picked up a single Torpedo at West Coast Cigars on a recommendation from Shane, who knows my palate well enough that I’ll follow his lead even when the band gives me pause. “Personality cigars” tend to lean on the story instead of the structure, and I’m allergic to cigars that expect the biography to do the heavy lifting. But the cigar looked clean, minimal, and well‑made—smooth wrapper, tidy seams, quiet confidence. Enough to earn a fair shot.

The first draws were warm, woody, and surprisingly narrow. Cedar offered the only early lift before surrendering to oak tannins, which flattened the profile and locked the cigar into a grounded, low‑tension posture. A soft sweetness drifted around the edges, the vegetal note clarified into bay leaf, and the cayenne hum became the only real source of motion. Not unpleasant—just static. A cigar waiting for something to happen.

And wait it did. Forty‑five minutes passed with almost no structural movement. A slow burner with no lift is a dangerous combination; the blend feels sealed off, like the cigar is conserving energy instead of expressing it. If this had been a cheaper stick, I might’ve let it die on principle.

Then, finally, the cigar opened up. Cinnamon appeared—small but unmistakable—followed by the return of cedar, a little nutmeg, a hint of black pepper, and a soft cream that rounded the mid‑palate. The cayenne sharpened. The intensity rose from medium‑minus to a comfortable medium‑plus. For the first time, the cigar showed intention. Not complexity—just backbone. A sense of direction. A pulse.

There are some cigars that reveal themselves early and fade. This one waited until halftime to admit it had a voice.

It wasn’t until the last couple of inches that the cigar justified its existence. A clean minerality arrived on the finish and brightened the entire profile. Suddenly, the warm spectrum had a vertical dimension. Yeasty bread. Cinnamon Danish. A fruitcake moment that resolved into ripe stone fruit flesh. The cayenne stayed anchored. The sweetness became structural instead of decorative. Was it holding its breath till then and only exhaled from lack of oxygen? That was what it felt like when the cigar finally revealed itself.

The burn was straight throughout, though the secondary band fought me and cracked the wrapper. A small correction took care of the flaking. Otherwise, the cigar behaved.

If the cigar started like it finished, I’d probably like it more. I prefer a fairly linear progression, and this one’s progression felt like a logarithmic scale — little happening for a long time, then a sudden upward burst. A cigar that hides its structure like this, especially at a $25 price point, is rarely one I reach for twice.

Total smoke time: One hour and twenty-five minutes.