Atabey Cigars, owned by Selected Tobacco, are produced in very limited quantities in Costa Rica. The tobacco comes from the Caribbean and Central America. ‘Atabey‘ is the name of a female divinity of the extinct Taino people, who occupied a large part of the Caribbean islands.
The Lancero “Spiritus” was released earlier this year and shown off at the 2018 IPCPR trade show. It comes in boxes of 25. We reviewed the Divinos vitola in 2015 here and it scored a 92.
This cigar is 7 1/2 x 40. It has a beautiful hay colored wrapper that is silky smooth and smooth to the touch. The cigar has a little “fan” like cap on it, that can be broken off instead of cut for the draw. It has two bands, the one on the the top is gold, black and white. The word Atabey is embossed in gold with “the mother of waters” face above it. On the bottom it has a white and gold band with the initials ST in gold and the words Special Tobacco also in gold below it, on the side of the band looks like a village or a farm. This cigar is really light in my hand. I do not pick up any aromas on the body, and on the foot I get hay with honey.
First Third
On the cold draw I pick up honey and hay with some salt and sweet syrupy type flavors. First puff and my palate is met with sweet butter, hay, cream, and honey. It’s quite mild, but lots of flavor as I pointed out.
Second Third
This cigar is still a mild/medium, but leaning more towards medium, just to the point of being a medium. There is a little bit of spice and wood sneaking in to balance out all this wonderful sweetness.
Final Third
Still lots of hay to begin the final third. There is a still a small amount of spice, but still mostly just sweetness.
Overall Thoughts
This was a great cigar! I don’t get into the hype of $30, $50 or even $100 cigars, but this AtabeySpiritus was amazing! The draw was a bit snug, but I can’t blame that on the the cigar. This was given to my by the BMP’s staff to review. The construction was spot on, but by the end of the second half the head started to come off a bit, but that may have been my user error and I just got it too wet. Overall this cigar greeted me with lots and lots of sweetness with hay, and honey. It tipped the scales of medium, but just barely and only briefly. This was an elegant cigar that could be enjoyed at any time of the day, but I think in the morning would be the best or late at night as your last cigar of the day. They are not inexpensive, but if you get the chance I cannot recommend Atabey enough.
This was a great cigar! I don't get into the hype of $30, $50 or even $100 cigars, but this Atabey Spiritus was amazing! The draw was a bit snug, but I can't blame that on the the cigar. This was given to my by the BMP's staff to review. The construction was spot on, but by the end of the second half the head started to come off a bit, but that may have been my user error and I just got it too wet. Overall this cigar greeted me with lots and lots of sweetness with hay, and honey. It tipped the scales of medium, but just barely and only briefly. This was an elegant cigar that could be enjoyed at any time of the day, but I think in the morning would be the best or late at night as your last cigar of the day. They are not inexpensive, but if you get the chance I cannot recommend Atabey enough.
