Para José Seijas | halfwheel

I like the blue and white color combination of the bands, as well as the bronze foil detailing. The pale brown wrappers on all three cigars are smooth to the touch, thanks in large part to the abundance of oil that is present. There are also multiple veins running down the length of each cigar, but only the first one protrudes enough to be obvious. All three cigars are nicely firm when squeezed, but the second cigar has a bit more give than the other two. Sweet cloves and woodiness lead the aromas coming from the wrappers, along with baker’s spices, nutmeg, earth, barnyard, creamy nuttiness and a bit of a perfume-like note that is strongest from the first cigar. Scents from the feet of the three cigars are divergent, with sweet woodiness and leather dominating the first cigar, cinnamon and wood from the second cigar, and raisins and wood from the third cigar; all three also feature black pepper, earth, coffee beans and a touch of a floral note. After straight cuts, dark chocolate and earth are the main flavors on the cold draw, followed by sweet hay, white bread, tree bark, milk chocolate sweetness and a light, generic vegetal note.

Coffee beans and black pepper start the three cigars off, but the profile quickly shifts to main flavors of creamy oak and almonds. Secondary flavors of sourdough bread, nutmeg, gritty earth, chalk and sweet hay flit in and out, and there’s a very light note of cloves is on the finish of all three cigars. While there is about the same amount of white pepper on the retrohale of all three cigars, the sweetness I taste is different: vanilla bean on the first and second cigars, while the third features a more interesting dark fruity sweetness. Flavor ends the first third at full, while both the strength and body hit solid medium. Construction-wise, there are no issues whatsoever, as all three cigars feature great draws, straight burn lines and plenty of dense smoke.

As the second third begins of my first cigar begins, a mint leaf note replaces the clove flavor on the finish, while the clove note on the other two cigars has been cut in half compared to the first third. All three cigars feature a new combination of toasted bread and creamy oak at the top of the profile, followed by additional flavors of coffee beans, plain popcorn, baker’s spices, almonds and a touch of floral. White pepper is still present on the retrohale of each cigar, but the first and second cigar now feature a distinct honeycomb sweetness while the third sticks with the dark fruity sweetness that now reminds me of cherries. Flavor remains at full and the body remains at medium, but the strength increases just enough to push it to a point just over the medium mark. When it comes to construction, all three cigars need a minor burn correction from my lighter at different points, but the draws and smoke production continue to be excellent across the board.

During the final third, my first and second cigars continue to exhibit extremely enjoyable flavors of creamy oak and toasted bread, with secondary flavors of almonds, earth, cinnamon, coffee beans, hay, leather and a light floral note. Both cigars also feature similar amounts of white pepper and honeycomb sweetness on the retrohale, but my first cigar adds a bit of mineral salinity into the mix as well. Unfortunately, the final third is where the last cigar jumps the rails. Just after the burn line passes into the final third, the cigar goes out suddenly. After relighting and trying to continue smoking, I realize that the tobacco has turned jet black and is refusing to burn. The flavor profile also has issues, as the previously enjoyable flavors become acrid and bitter. Hoping it is a temporary issue, I try to smoke through it, but after about 20 minutes, I finally give up and have to call it. Flavor for the first two cigars ends up at full, strength at medium-plus and body at a solid medium. In terms of construction, my first cigar needs a quick touch-up to stay in line, but the second cigar has no problems with the burn, and the draws and smoke production are trouble-free for both cigars until I am finished with each one.

Final Notes

• This is not the first time that the words “Para José Seijas” have appeared in a cigar’s name, albeit, the last time the words “TAA” and “by” were included.
• During Seijas’ career, he was instrumental in helping the Tabacalera de García factory transition from a machine-made cigar factory to one that also made handmade cigars. It eventually became the largest handmade cigar factory in the world, producing the non-Cuban versions of Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta, H. Upmann and others that are sold by Altadis U.S.A.
• Enrique Seijas does a fantastic job telling the story behind this cigar in this video, which was shot during our coverage of the 2025 PCA Convention & Trade Show.
• Enrique is one of the people I truly look forward to visiting with every year during the PCA Convention & Trade Show. He is warm, genuine and extremely down to earth, just a great guy who loves what he does.

• As mentioned above, the final third of my last cigar was a hot mess. As you can see from the photograph above, it is obvious that there was some problematic tobacco that caused the cigar to basically stop burning. I tried to keep it lit and smoke through it—a process that worked the last time I had this issue—but I finally had to give up the ghost. Thankfully, the problem occurred during the final third, and the two-thirds before I ran into the issue were very much in line with the other two cigars. This is an issue we run into every once in a while and it rarely ever goes well.
• Editor’s Note: The difference between the score of the third cigar and the average scores of the first two cigars was more than 20 points. — Charlie Minato.

• The packaging for this release is extremely well done. Not only do I love the blue and white color palette used for the boxes and bands, but the tissue paper inside the box is printed with handwritten descriptions of flavors and details about the cigar along with and drawings of the burn. It is a very personal touch that I have not seen very often with cigar packaging.
• The cigars for this review were purchased by halfwheel.

• These cigars are listed as being 6 x 52. Above are the measurements we took when we measured them.
• The final smoking time was extremely close for the first two cigars: one hour and 40 minutes for the first one and one hour and 39 minutes for the second one. However, it took me two hours and eight minutes before I decided the third cigar was finished.

Brooks Whittington

I have worn many hats in my life up to this point: I started out as a photojournalist for the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, then transitioned to photographing weddings—both internationally and in the U.S.—for more than a decade. After realizing that there was a need for a cigar website containing better photographs and more in-depth information about each release, I founded my first cigar blog, SmokingStogie, in 2008. SmokingStogie quickly became one of the more influential cigar blogs on the internet, known for reviewing preproduction, prerelease, rare, extremely hard-to-find and expensive cigars, and it was one of the predecessors to halfwheel, which I co-founded.