A Study in Intent
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Corojo
Binder: Ecuadorian Sumatra
Filler: Dominican Republic / Nicaragua
Size: Toro (6 x 50)
Strength: Medium → Full (nub)
Body: Medium-Plus → Full (home stretch)
Price: $18.25–$19.50 single / $142.00–$195.00 box of 10, U.S. retail/MSRP (varies by retailer)
Factory: Tabacos de Exportación / TABADEX, Dominican Republic
Blender: Michael Herklots / Quesada Cigars
Release: June 2024 for Toro vitola; Summa line originally released 2023 (Regular Production)
Smoking Time: 1:35–1:45
Experience Rating: 99
I reviewed this back in April and gave it a 98.
It was a complete experience. Incredibly structured and composed, it felt like a composition. It earned every point of what I gave it.
But this morning, I decided to take another look at it to see what some home añejamiento had done.
I wasn’t prepared for how just a few months of aging had transformed the cigar. While the roots of the profile were still there, the cigar revealed depths and behavior that hadn’t fully surfaced before. The same core remained, but now everything around it moved with order, ceremony, and intent.
It was transcendent.
When referring to balance, Michael Herklots said, “Well-balanced does not necessarily have to mean ‘even’ or ‘neutral,’ although it can. But it means that the totality of the experience, based on individual factors, makes sense.” Speaking specifically about Summa, he was quoted by Cigar Coop as saying, “The Summa blend highlights the incredible trifecta of body, flavor, and intensity… and maximizes those levels with wonderful balance.” [Cigar Coop, June 28, 2023]
My original review rewarded the cigar for that balance. This time, it earns a higher rating for maintaining that balance under pressure, as the profile bloomed into fuller complexity and its activity became far more sophisticated.
Synopsis
Strength begins at medium and holds steady through the settling-in stage before starting a measured climb at progression. From halfway forward, it rises more assertively, reaching full strength at the nub. Body starts slightly above medium, builds faster than strength, reaches full in the home stretch, and stays there through the end. Activity opens high, climbs into a sustained peak from halfway through the last couple of inches, then slows in the final inch before dropping at the nub as the cigar compresses into its core without collapsing.
The Summa feels packed from the start. The wrapper has a slightly rustic look, with mottled skin, visible tooth, and a glossy sheen of oil. The mottling gives it some roughness, but the double bands give the cigar bearing. It doesn’t look casual. It has presence.
The wrapper gives earth, faint sweetness, and white bread. The foot is more expressive, with sweet bread, cedar, and fruity sweetness. The cold draw brings more sweet bread and hay.
The aromas off the foot are immediate and unexpected: leather and grilled, charred meat. Then the cigar opens with sweet cedar and brown sugar.
What a greeting.
That sweetness is quickly followed by espresso, malt, sourdough bread, floral notes, dried mango, a touch of chocolate, marshmallow, a light bite of spice, and baking spices moving together as cinnamon, nutmeg, and mace. Strength opens at medium, giving the cigar enough presence to stand upright without pushing too hard, while the body is already medium-plus, carrying the early sweetness and darker core with real texture.
This is not how I remember the April cigar opening. That one was restrained and composed. This one is blooming.
The core forms around espresso, charred cedar, and flinty minerality. It isn’t loose or scattered, even with everything happening at once. The activity is already high, but it’s not frantic. The cigar stands up with immediate complexity, but it doesn’t lose its posture.
As the cigar settles in, an indistinct background sweetness begins to swirl through the profile like a gentle breeze. The baking spices return as a group, and sweeter elements start popping into view together, but they aren’t alone for long.
The savory side arrives next: salt, soy sauce umami, and grilled, fatty pork.
A light nicotine presence begins to register, but the strength stays at medium, giving the cigar enough force to carry the movement without taking over. Cream enters and joins the core, pushing the body to full-minus and giving the profile more weight and continuity.
What stands out most is the orderliness. Flavors take turns standing up. Each one seems to rise to the same height, hold for the same duration, then step back into the room. The activity remains high, but it’s symmetrical rather than restless. There’s a lot happening, yet the cigar never feels crowded.
The spice begins to assert itself, giving the profile a clean vertical lift. It doesn’t dominate, but it starts drawing the eye upward while the cream thickens underneath, enriching the body and making the cigar feel broader.
That orderly pop-up of flavors continues, but the groupings start to change. Sweet and savory elements begin moving in more varied combinations, and the cigar becomes more active without becoming less composed. Don’t let the smaller list of notes fool you. This is still complex. It’s just moving with more integration now.
Strength nudges slightly above medium, but the body has climbed further into medium-plus/full territory, giving the cigar more gravity. Activity also rises, not because the cigar becomes chaotic, but because the interactions become more sophisticated. Everything is working in concert.
At the halfway point, the nicotine starts to assert itself and the spice steps forward with more intensity. The shift signals a darker turn in the core. Espresso moves toward ristretto, the cedar chars more deeply, dark earth joins the center, and the cream thickens again.
The first half felt like a painting using the full spectrum of colors. Here, the cigar starts narrowing the palette into earthy and savory tones. Baking spices remain, but now they’re joined by Herbs de Provence, sourdough bread, malt, and salted buttered popcorn.
Strength climbs into medium-plus, and the body is now pressing close to full. Activity also rises, but the cigar isn’t adding motion by throwing more notes into the air. It’s reducing the number of players while increasing their coordination. The profile is darker, denser, and more focused, yet still highly active.
This is where I really start to understand Michael Herklots’ intent with Summa. If balance is the totality of the experience making sense, this is balance under pressure. The cigar is becoming more intense, more active, and more concentrated, but it remains composed and fully coherent.
In the home stretch, the body is full now, and based on experience, it will stay there through the end.
The darker core turns darker. Nicotine notches up. Earth asserts itself more forcefully, and the earlier swirling sweetness fades completely. Spice begins to pulse and swirl around the mouth, predictable in its rhythm but still full of energy.
Then the meaty, grilled elements arrive: grilled steak, pork fat, grilled yellow corn, and venison jerky. The pork fat contributes to the texture, deepening the mouthfeel and making the body feel even more luxurious. A procession of roasted nuts follows: chestnut, cashew, hazelnut, and peanut.
Again, the orderliness is remarkable. The espresso is leading now, almost like a doorman. Flavors arrive, and he announces them. The spice behaves almost like a butler, escorting each guest into the room. It starts gently, intensifies after the coffee, steps slightly ahead of the next flavor, peaks as if preventing that flavor from rushing forward, then lets it join the rest of the gathering.
With all this formality, strength jumps again into fuller medium-plus territory, while body sits firmly at full. Activity remains high, but it’s highly governed. There’s motion everywhere, yet nothing breaks rank.
In the last couple of inches, the sweeter elements start popping back into view. Sweet bread, fruit, and floral notes never really left. They were just admitted to the party early, then pushed toward the edges as the room filled.
Now that everyone is here, the darker elements are the loudest voices in the room. They’re the life of the party. The sweeter notes keep trying to reassert themselves, but the pressure from the darker elements squelches them almost as soon as they appear.
Strength is now moving toward full, and the body remains fully settled at full. Activity stays very high, but the shape of it has changed. The cigar is no longer expanding. It’s managing a crowded room, keeping the sweeter, darker, savory, and roasted elements in motion without letting any one of them turn the experience into noise.
In the last inch, the core steps forward.
These are the hosts of the party.
Nicotine builds a little more, pushing the strength close to full, while the body remains full and saturated. Activity slows, but not because the cigar is losing steam. It’s more like the guests have turned their attention to the hosts. I can still make them out, but they aren’t moving as much.
The remaining flavors begin filing out: roasted nuts, Herbs de Provence, and meaty elements. The espresso, charred cedar, minerality, dark earth, and cream are still holding the room together.
Everything remains orderly, balanced, and composed. The cigar is no longer throwing new motion into the profile. It’s gathering itself.
At the nub, there’s nothing left but the core.
The cigar sits there fully content, like the end of a successful gathering. Strength reaches full, body remains full, and activity drops as the profile compresses inward. But this is compression, not collapse. Everything is still articulate and composed.
The room is quiet now.
But the event is complete.
The organization in the second half is remarkable.
The first half feels like guests arriving and queuing up to enter. The second half is when the doors open. People begin filing in, the room fills, the darker elements get louder, and the whole thing turns into a formal gathering with motion, hierarchy, and direction.
Somewhere in the background, that early sweetness is still there, almost like music playing behind the conversation. It no longer leads the profile, but it gives the room lift. Then the darker core takes over, the hosts gather everyone’s attention, and the cigar brings the event to a close with full strength, full body, and deliberate compression.
Four months of home añejamiento didn’t change the Summa into a different cigar. It revealed the cigar more fully. The profile was familiar, but the behavior was transformed. The balance was still there, but now it had to hold under greater flavor complexity, greater activity, and greater pressure.
Summa is truly a study in intent.
What’s amazing to me is that while the basic shape of the profile didn’t change, its internal organization became far more visible. The April cigar gave me the architecture. This one showed me how the rooms connected.
The core was still espresso, charred cedar, minerality, cream, and dark earth. The surrounding notes were still recognizable. But with four months of home añejamiento, those elements no longer felt like they were simply arranged around the center. They moved with purpose. Sweetness arrived early, savory elements entered later, spice managed the transitions, and the darker core eventually took command.
The cigar didn’t become less balanced by becoming more active.
It became more balanced because the activity had somewhere to go.
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