El Oso Blanco (2025) | halfwheel

A little more than a decade ago, in 2014, Warped Cigars debuted a new line of cigars called El Oso, getting its name from the Spanish translation of the bear. Its blend drew on tobacco from several countries, with an Ecuadorian habano oscuro wrapper, an Ecuadorian binder and filler tobaccos from both the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.

Later that year, the company would add La Colmena, which uses an Ecuadorian desflorada wrapper covering dual Ecuadorian binders as well as both Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers, and gets its inspiration from custom-rolled Cuban cigars that can be found throughout the island’s cigar shops.

Then, seven years later, Warped woudl take those two lines and begin combining aspects of their respective blends to create new lines, including this cigar, the El Oso Blanco. It uses the Ecuadorian desflorada wrapper from the company’s La Colmena line, but the filler from the El Oso line, meaning Dominican and Nicaraguan tobacco, with an Ecuadorian habano oscuro binder in between.

According to Kyle Gellis, founder of Warped, there have been some blend tweaks as well. The company’s website described the original El Oso Blanco, which came out in November 2021, as “The Bear has eaten too much honey! Imagine if you could, a reverse Black Honey…,” a reference to Black Honey, a special version of the La Colmena blend.

After debuting in a 6 x 48 corona vitola, the company kept the dimensions for this second release, but made it a belicoso, meaning it has a pointed head that tapers to concentrate the smoke as it enters the smoker’s mouth.

Pricing is set at $23 per cigar and $230 for a box of 10 cigars, of which the company produced just 500 at El Titan de Bronze in Miami, making it a rather limited release. They shipped to stores in late September.

• Cigar Reviewed: El Oso Blanco (2025)
• Country of Origin: U.S.A.
• Factory: El Titan de Bronze
• Wrapper: Ecuador (Desflorada)
• Binder: Ecuador (Habano Oscuro)
• Filler: Dominican Republic & Nicaragua
• Length: 6 Inches
• Ring Gauge: 48
• Shape: Belicoso
• MSRP: $23 (Box of 10, $230)
• Release Date: September 2025
• Number of Cigars Released: 500 Boxes of 10 Cigars (5,000 Total Cigars)
• Number of Cigars Smoked For Review: 3

I’m fascinated by the vitola of this new El Oso Blanco, as most belicosos seem to have a 50 or 52 ring gauge, meaning I don’t see this slightly more slender belicoso vitola very often. The wrapper is a well-tanned color, approaching medium brown, but feeling like it’s not quite there. The wrappers are on the dry side without much oiliness, but they all have a touch of waxiness. The veins are small and fairly plentiful, but also unobtrusive, and all three cigars look rolled well with no apparent issues, with seams that vary in their visibility, sometimes even in the same cigar. The cigars are all firm with just a touch of give, and are consistent in their firmness both among the three cigars and each one on its own. The foot is pretty mild with some light cereal on the front and sneeze-inducing black pepper on the finish. Only one cigar has any appreciable sweetness, which I like as it’s subtle but gives the aroma some depth and complexity. The cold draw is smooth with a touch of resistance; the flavor is a bit creamier but not enough to warrant being called all-out creamy, backed by a softer, bread-like flavor that calls back to the cereal in the aroma but doesn’t quite repeat it.

The El Oso Blanco starts with a very pleasant profile, with more of the cereal grain leading to black pepper, joined by a bit of earthiness and woodiness that fill in the middle between those two spots. The third cigar is a bit different as it reminds me more of a honey graham cracker, which seems to correspond with getting sweetness from the aroma, which I didn’t get in the first two cigars. There’s some creaminess in the mix as well, while retrohales are much smokier than I’d anticipated, with some pepper tossed in that reminds me a bit of a well-used grill in action with a full rack of peppered steaks. That pepper gets a bit more focused as this section progresses, and while it doesn’t quite move into the lead of the profile, it does stand out very clearly from the creaminess, graham cracker and cereal which envelope it. Interestingly, the pepper is more integrated via retrohales, though the creaminess isn’t as much of a factor. Flavor is medium, body is medium, and strength is mild. Construction is very good, and I have no issues with any of the three cigars.

While the pepper and creaminess hold steady as the second third of the El Oso Blanco gets underway, there’s a subtle pivot away from the cereal and graham cracker flavor and towards some dry crackers. Specifically, it’s a thin, dry cracker flavor that I’d expect to find on a charcuterie board. It begins to take hold of more of the profile, and as it does that, the creaminess fades little by little, until it seems nearly completely gone around the midway point. Retrohales are still peppery, but they mellow a touch as well, with the pepper giving my nostrils a subtle tingle. Past the midway point, creaminess starts to make a return, which I think is for the betterment of the cigar. A touch more pepper joins the retrohales and makes for a brighter, more nose-tingling experience than I had earlier, and I find myself surprised the sudden change. There’s also a bit of effervescence in the profile, not quite what I’d equate to Champagne or sparkling wine, but it feels like there are some bubbles of floral aromas carrying the sensation to my nostrils. In the second cigar, the tail end of this section gets a bit sharp and almost harsh, not quite with chalk or mineral, but there’s something in that vein going on that does not sit well on my palate. The other two cigars don’t get that change, holding to a much better course of flavors, which sits around medium-plus while the body is still medium, and the strength is mild. Construction remains very good, though the second cigar’s combustion is a bit more erratic than the other two and I have to touch it up.

The final third of the El Oso Blanco starts with a bit of nuttiness, a new flavor for the profile as well as a new aroma for the retrohale, but one that doesn’t feel like that much of a departure from where the profile has been thus far. Retrohales also pick up some pepper, which gives them a fairly intense sensation, but one that is very enjoyable and pleasant, thanks to a balance of all the components. The flavor gets a bit earthier as the burn line begins to eye the home stretch of the cigar, a subtle change that brings a bit more weight to the smoke and robustness to the flavor, which makes for an interesting counterbalance to the creaminess that is still lingering in the profile as well as the dry cracker flavor that shows up on the front of my tongue. There is a matchstick flavor that joins the flavor as well as a bit of heat in the very final puffs, sharpening up the flavor and turning each puff into a more focused sensation that now goes after my taste buds on an almost individual basis as opposed to the more tongue-coating sensation from earlier. Prior to the heat setting in, the flavor sits around medium-full, body is medium-plus, and the strength has bumped up to medium-minus. The second cigar is the only one that has any combustion issues, and they are fairly minor but still require relights. Beyond that, the draws, burn lines, and smoke production of all three cigars are all very good.

Final Notes

• Warped showed off the El Oso Papa, also 6 x 48 belicoso, alongside the El Oso Blanco at the 2025 PCA Convention & Trade Show back in April. It was the first time that line has been released since 2018. That cigar is a bit more plentiful, with 1,500 boxes produced as opposed to the 500 boxes of the El Oso Blanco.
• I really like the bear face logo that the El Oso line uses; it reminds me of something I’d see a sports team might use, specifically the Memphis Grizzlies.
• Unless I’m missing it, I don’t see the El Oso line listed on Warped’s website.
• Only one of the three cigars, the third, hit me with any nicotine strength, though I could feel a build happening in the final third of each cigar.
• The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.

• The company lists these as a 6 x 48 belicoso. The numbers above are the measurements we found for the three cigars used for this review.
• Final smoking time was two hours and 10 minutes on average.
• Site sponsor Atlantic Cigar Co. carries the El Oso Blanco (2025).

Patrick Lagreid

I strive to capture the essence of a cigar and the people behind them in my work – every cigar you light up is the culmination of the work of countless people and often represents generations of struggle and stories. For me, it’s about so much more than the cigar – it’s about the story behind it, the experience of enjoying the work of artisans and the way that a good cigar can bring people together. In addition to my work with halfwheel, I’m the public address announcer for the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks during spring training, as well as for the Salt River Rafters of the Arizona Fall League, the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and the G-League’s Valley Suns. I was previously the Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League, and Goodyear Ballpark, spring training home of the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Guardians. I also work in a number of roles for Major League Baseball, plus I’m a voiceover artist. Prior to joining halfwheel, I covered the Phoenix and national cigar scene for Examiner.com, and was an editor for Cigar Snob magazine.