Cigar Review: Asylum 13 Ogre

The Asylum 13 Ogre is a 7×70 Candela and Habano Maduro-wrapped “barberpole” stick from Asylum cigars. The fourth blend in Fabricas Unidas’ Asylum cigar line, (a 5^th, the Asylum Corojo is slated for release later this month) the Ogre contains an undisclosed binder and filler blend, making it a bit of a mystery stick. While I don’t typically relax with a massive, candela-striped 7×70 cigar, as the saying goes, “fortune favors the bold”, so today I lit up the intimidating Ogre for review.

Wrapped in smooth candela and toothy Habano, the cigar’s green and brown color scheme gave it a cool “camo” look, and construction appeared to be solid, held together by a band of candela wrapper at the foot. Tasting notes on the pre-light were vague, but I did pick up a little bit of grass, wood, and mild spice before hitting the torch.

The cigar opened with a mix of vegetal and grassy notes punctuated by a tinge of mild spice on the finish. The burn-line was a little sketchy at first but evened out fairly quickly. I was expecting this stick to produce crazy amounts of smoke for some reason, but it was actually quite average. The profile was off to a pretty tame start and then about an inch into the smoke it hit me- a major blast of cocoa sweetness that made for an awesome contrast to the floral/vegetal notes at play. Things were beginning to get interesting.

Going into the second 3^rd, the cigar’s flavors had developed into a smooth taste of cocoa, cream, and hay, along with a slight earthy sweetness. I was now rocking a giant white ash and the Ogre continued to burn mostly evenly. Pepper came and went during this portion and as the smoke progressed I began to taste smooth and clean tobacco notes more and more between the cocoa and hay.

In the final third the “maduro” flavors were more pronounced with hearty notes of cocoa and spice taking the lead, accompanied by an ever-present sweetness. This profile remained consistent until finally, with a thick two inches remaining, I laid the Ogre down for the count.

If the Asylum 13 Ogre didn’t look and feel so ridiculously large in my hand I’d say it was a solid go-to smoke. This thing was loaded with layers of flavor and smooth as all get-out, and despite some minor burn issues, was fairly well-behaved. Everyone should smoke the Ogre at least once, if only for the experience, and I think many would be pleasantly surprised. This is a well-blended cigar and despite its extravagant design it should not be dismissed as a novelty or “gimmick” stogie. I give this beautiful beast a B grade and recommend it to anyone looking for a real change of pace from their usual stogie routine. Check out the video review here.