My Father Le Bijou 1922 100 Años Staff Review
I’m smoking a rare cigar from My Father called Le Bijou 1922 100 Años Limited Edition. It’s handcrafted in a 5.5-by-48 Corona Extra size. This is only the second batch of Le Bijou 100 Años cigars released by the folks at My Father. The first shipment came out in 2022 when the cigar was blended by José ‘Pepin’ Garcia to honor what would have been the 100th birthday of his father, José Garcia Alayón.
My Father Le Bijou 1922 100 Años is blended from a dark Habano Oscuro wrapper leaf grown in Ecuador. Underneath are special reserves of long-filler tobaccos harvested on the Garcia family’s Nicaraguan estates in San Rafael, Las Quebradas, and San Jose. The cigars come in classic 22-count Le Bijou boxes, and they’re available in two sizes, a 6.5-by-44 Corona Especial and the 5.5-by-48 Corona Extra I’m smoking now.
If you’re familiar with the original My Father Le Bijou 1992, you know this award-winning smoke earned an impressive 97-point rating with a ‘#1 Cigar of the Year’ title from Cigar Aficionado back in 2015. My Father Le Bijou 1922 100 Años Limited Edition is a darker and richer version drawn from tobaccos that have been fermented and aged even longer.
When I crack a fresh box open, the orange bands at the foot of each cigar pop out to identify them as “100 Años,” and the top row exudes a potent aroma of earth and wood with a hint of pepper. The head of each cigar is finished with a pigtail cap, which you can twist off instead of cutting the cigar. When I rotate the Corona Extra around in my mouth a few times, hearty notes of plum, hickory, raisin, and espresso create an inviting preview.
The draw is exquisite as the cigar comes to life when I slowly toast it with my Xikar torch lighter. My Father Le Bijou 1922 100 Años is smooth and strong with its dense, slow-burning profile. Notes of dark chocolate, dark fruit, and loads of black pepper make an impression in the first minutes. Pepin Garcia was a master cigarmaker in Cuba for many decades before he left to join his family in the States in the early 2000s. The cigars he makes today are born from Cuban tradition, and they’re very Cubanesque in flavor as a result. This limited-edition powerhouse is no exception.
You’ve got to smoke 100 Años slowly and steadily to appreciate its multilayered taste. You could easily pair this cigar with a peaty Scotch. A mix of black pepper and cayenne firmly settles in the nose, but the cigar offers balance with a leathery sweetness in the background. Enjoy this blend after dinner. It’s too powerful to smoke on an empty stomach.
Vibrant notes of plum and dark chocolate layer the palate while a steady foundation of pepper and espresso persists throughout the middle of the Corona Extra. A strong, white ash forms at the foot, showing the cigar is well made from tobaccos farmed in nutrient-rich soil.
My Father Le Bijou 1922 100 Años is a pleasant cigar to savor down to the nub as long as you pace yourself before you get there. The finish is woody, peppery, and sweet, with abundant flavor and a moist crescendo in the final minutes.
My advice is to buy a box of Le Bijou 100 Años cigars before they’re gone. For just $13 apiece, you’re getting a super-premium rarity you can rest in your humidor to taste how they age over the next year or two. You won’t regret it.
