My Father Le Bijou 1922 L.E. Corona Gorda Review (3rd Year Update)

[Cardinal]

Cigar: My Father Le Bijou 1922 Limited Edition
Size: Corona Gorda 5 5/8" x 46
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano Oscuro
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Price: MSRP ~$8.50

Initial Impression/Prelight
The Le Bijou 1922 had an almost black wrapper, with a nice sheen of oil and almost no veins except for a couple moderate sized ones near the cap which I reckoned wouldn't affect the smoke.

The aroma was strong from the wrapper and foot, with dark chocolate, leather and barnyard most evident. The cold draw had good resistance, and I could taste pepper and coffee from it.

I bought a box of these last year with the intent of smoking one each year around my daughter's birthday. She's 18 months old now, but I wanted to get a better bead on a cigar that might stand up well over time and I didn't have any expertise at all when she was born. I still have a lot to learn about cigars, but I do think this box has a chance to age gracefully. I enjoy the regular production Le Bijou, and besides that I like both the "My Father" part of the name and the "Le Bijou" part, which translates from French to "The Jewel". The name definitely works for my purposes here.

Since I got started late, I decided to sample one today, then I'll do another in 6 months on her 2-year birthday and thus be on track. If I'm still into cigars by then, I figure I'll do this until her 18th, then have five cigars left for special occasions like getting married. Who knows, maybe she'll even smoke one someday. My bold plan is to come back to this thread yearly and do a quick write-up to see how they age in addition to keeping entries in my little cigar journal. I'm a sentimental person and I love traditions, so whether the cigars age well or not I think this will be a fun journey.



1st Third
The initial 2015 Le Bijou tasting led with a huge black pepper blast, which dominated all other flavors for at least the first 1/2". After that, I got a rich brownie taste along with some woodiness and coffee flavors. The retrohale was just pepper and more pepper. The profile is slightly dry, but not too much so. The cigar gave off massive smoke, burned well, and came out right away at full flavor and med-full strength.



2nd Third
The profile turned from a little dry to, if not creamy, then creamier. I also got some slight fruit sweetness, along with ever-present black pepper. There was also some leather and a fairly strong coffee flavor. Burn stayed great, while the grey ash only held for about 1/2"-3/4" and flaked quite a bit.



Final Third
I continued to get a bit of a rich, fruity sweetness in the last section, along with strong coffee and more of the dark chocolate flavor from the first third. The retrohale pepper eased slightly, but the pepper was still fairly strong throughout. The cigar ended easily full flavor and pretty full strength as well.



Overall Impression
This was a powerful cigar with good, strong flavors and just enough complexity. It burned beautifully and put out a ton of smoke too. I enjoy the regular production Le Bijou, but I understand this is a tweaked version. Whatever the differences, this one is quite good.

I don't know much about aging cigars from first-hand experience, but from what I read this one has a chance to age nicely. I can imagine the pepper smoothing out a bit, and if it does and the rest of the flavors mellow a bit but remain, I think this will continue to smoke well for a while. Check back in a few years for an update.

This isn't a typical review in the sense that I'm not going to assign a score, but rather I'll try to record changes over time. That said, this was a really fine cigar and I'd be happy to have a box even for smoking at a normal pace so if you're interested in a recommendation, I'd say buy a 5-er or box with confidence.

[Cardinal]

It's only been 6 months since the last one, but since I got started late this was always going to happen. My daughter's birthday was 9 days ago, and I smoked this cigar a couple days later on Father's Day. She turned two, and this is my second cigar from the box. Now I'm on track for a yearly My Father around Father's Day for the next 16 years.

I'm pretty sure I got this box in August of 2014, so it's been in the humidor for close to a year now. I smoked the first cigar from the box on January 25th of this year, and honestly I didn't expect much change from 5 months ago. I made a point not to read my old notes until after I wrote this review, so at least we'll see how well I do here.



1st Third
I tasted light black pepper and some baking spices and coffee in this section, but the flavors were dominated by a rich, brownie sweetness. Smoke output was a touch better than average, burnline was straight, and strength and flavor were medium and medium+ respectively.



2nd Third
The pepper picked up in the second section, especially on the retrohale which made me cry like a 2 year old girl (a simile with which I'm now intimately familiar). I still got a lot of that chocolatey brownie, coffee, tobacco sweetness, and some leather. Strength and flavor might have ticked up a little bit here.



Final Third
The black coffee and sweetness really picked up in the last section, with some cedar, black pepper, and cocoa too. Leather increased slightly. Strength and flavor ended at med+, whereas I recall feeling like the first cigar was more on the full side.

Overall Thoughts
The profile stayed fairly creamy throughout, while my memory bank tells me that the first cigar I smoked had a slightly drier profile to start. I also remember thinking the first one was more on the full side of strength and flavor.

I actually liked this cigar even better than the first, and I'd say it borders on top-shelf goodness for me. I'm even more excited now to smoke the next one, and I kind of wish I had another box so I could enjoy them more regularly. Either way, this will be a fun tradition for the next 16 years. I'll try to remember to check in again in 2016 and see if it changes at all.

[CoachDread]

Great review! Really nice to see them together! The profile sounds right up my alley for the way my tastes are running these days. I'll have to be on the lookout for one or five.

[Cardinal]

Quick explanation in case you didn't read the first post: I bought this box a bit after my daughter was born, with a plan to smoke a cigar each year on or around her birthday. It's a fun little tradition that I look forward to, and I thought it'd be interesting to see what happens to the cigars over the years. Here's the 3-year update for the 3rd cigar smoked from the box.

My daughter's birthday was a few weeks ago but I was a little under the weather and it's taken me a couple weeks to get back to 100%. I finally had a chance to sit down this morning and enjoy this cigar as it was meant to be enjoyed. I made some espresso and got down to business. Once again, I deliberately didn't read my notes from last year and although I have a pretty good memory of the last couple, I tried to experience this at least without bias from my notes.



First impression was that a few years have not caused the cigar to lose much aroma. I got a big, strong whiff of barnyard from the unlit foot. The wrapper still looks good, fairly flat and well-rolled.

In the first third I got some mild pepper, but mostly light coffee and a stronger chocolate flavor. Retrohale was smoother than I remembered from years past, with pepper and a lot of sweetness through the nose. Draw was perfectly firm, and the cigar produced a good amount of grey-white smoke to go along with a flaky ash.

The second third gave a darker and richer earthy flavor, but still plenty of sweetness. I got a bigger coffee-with-sugar flavor in this section as well. The pepper picked up too, especially on the retrohale. It was fairly strong through the nose, much more what I was expecting. The strength ticked up a little to medium-full, and the burnline stayed perfect.

The last third was where the cigar shined the most, with a rich fudge or brownie flavor being the most dominant. Pepper and earth were fairly strong as well, and the finish lengthened even more towards the end. I only bothered retrohaling once after I got punished with a pepper blast in this section. I gave the cigar one minor touchup, but that was more just keeping it tidy rather than really needing it. It finished up towards the upper end of med-full and held up just fine to my strong coffee.

Overall, I nubbed it wishing I had another box or two in the humidor. As it is, I'll have to wait another year to try the next one. I'm now a few years in, and it doesn't seem like the flavors are diminished or muddled at all.

[TreySC]

Somehow I missed the first 2 goes at this. I have to say I love the concept, every time I see something like this it makes me wish I had got into cigars sooner. Looking forward to further updates.

[Brimy]

@Cardinal
Good to see you reviewing again Tim!
Another job well done!