Miami-Made El Oso Blanco From Warped Comes To Market
Warped Cigars has mixed and matched two of its existing lines by taking the wrapper from one brand and putting it on the other. The result is the new El Oso Blanco, a lighter version of the core El Oso series. While it’s made with the original El Oso internal blend, Blanco is draped in the same Ecuador Connecticut cover leaf found on La Colmena.
The limited-edition cigars are made in Miami at the small El Titan de Bronze factory, which also produces La Colmena and the core El Oso lines for Warped.
El Oso Blanco comes in only one size, Papa, measuring 6 inches by 48 ring gauge. If you notice the bear motif on the label, Papa is a playful reference to papa bear, and is also a vitola that appears in the original three-size line. The words el oso are Spanish for “the bear.”
Save for the new, lighter wrapper, the blend for El Oso Blanco is identical to the core line—Nicaraguan binder around a combination of Dominican and Nicaraguan filler. According to brand owner Kyle Gellis, the Ecuadoran Connecticut-seed wrapper brings a “depth of sweet creaminess and subtle honey” to El Oso’s earthy, spicy blend.
First shipments of El Oso Blanco began shipping last week and are still channeling to retailers. The cigars retail for $18 each before taxes and come in 20-count boxes. Only 600 boxes are being produced.
Gellis hasn’t decided whether or not he’ll make El Oso Blanco in the other two El Oso sizes—Mama and Cub.
“I’m not saying it’s out of the cards,” he told Cigar Aficionado.
