I think we will all remember how much of a dumpster fire the year 2020 was. It was a strange time, but for All Saints Cigars it was a great year. After being in the cigar business for many years, Micky Pegg was convinced by his two friends Martin Corboy & Frank Layo to start his own brand. The three of them teamed up and created All Saints. In April of 2020, they released their debut production cigar, Dedicación. The cigar was dressed in a Mexican San Andres wrapper and the binder & filler from Nicaragua. A few months later the Habano line extension was released. According to All Saints, while the filler leaves are the same, the ratio is different between the two lines. I think I may have received a very early version of the Habano because the band that was on mine did not say Habano. I looked at the cigar in hand and then compared it to the cigar shown on the All Saints website. The bands were the same, but I was confused. The cigar was supposed to have a San Andres wrapper, but the shade was crazy light! After doing some digging I realized that the band on the Habano version is a little different and I either got a factory mistake or the cigar was made before they had a new band indicating Habano. Crazy, eh?! Never had a mislabeled cigar before. It won't matter once it is lit, so let's fire it up and begin the analysis.
The Deets
Cigar: All Saints Dedicación Habano Berkey
Origin: EstelÃ, Nicaragua
Factory: Tabacalera Villa Cuba SA, "TAVICUSA"
Size: 5.5 x 50
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano Oscuro
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Appearance 9/10
A delicious looking cigar to hold. The well-applied bands look fancy with the cross of Saint James, the patron saint of Nicaragua. Multiple caps lay cleanly together. The wrapper has vanished veins and a gentle, soft feel. The seams are tight and proper, but the soft box-press is a little out of whack. I'm assuming it got pushed around at some point and lost some uniformity. This was probably due to the cigar being quite light and squishy, allowing for easy deformation. Overall I do like the look of Dedicación.
Draw 8.5/10
Considering how spongey the cigar felt, I decided to go with a punch cut. Despite the tiny punch being used, the draw was still on the open side. This made the session run a little on the warm side, but there was certainly no shortage of smoke output.
Burn/Construction 8/10
I had some issues here and I wager that they all came from the fact that the cigar was underfilled. It ran warm, the burn line was wavy, and there was swelling that got worse by the last third. That said, it wasn't too hot to handle, corrections were somewhat responsive, and I still smoked the cigar to the nub even with the swelling. The ash wasn't all that dense and needed a watchful eye to ensure my lap stayed spotless. Those issues may be non-existent with a sample that is stuffed more, but one issue I had was not related at all. Removing the band pulled a chunk of wrapper off. That drives me bonkers and should never happen. Don't spend all that time growing tobacco, fermenting, aging, and rolling just to screw it all up with a bunk band job....tisk tisk.
Taste 8.5/10
1/3 - Bright cedar kicks the show off with a backup of dusty peanuts. Early on I pick up baking cocoa and some vanilla in the back. The finish is somewhat lengthy, yet on the light body side. Retro is all cedar.
2/3 - Old leather enters and cedar remains center stage. The cocoa bitters pull forward and join cedar in the retro. The vanilla has grown and pulled out some cream with it. The flavor profile is fairly straight forward and simple, but still enjoyable.
3/3 - The final third feels dustier than before, but with the same previous notes. Cedar, peanut shells, bitter cocoa, and vanilla that is now very noticeable.
Overall 8.5/10
With all the high praise I've heard about All Saints, I did expect this to score a little better than it did. As with any review and especially with only one sample, the analysis should be taken with a grain of salt. I'm not turned off by this one, but I definitely need to try another sample and the original with the San Andres wrapper. Since everything is connected, my money says a properly filled sample burns cooler, draws better, burn line is straighter, and perhaps even a more complex flavor profile. An open draw seem to have a domino effect on the overall experience. I still say go pick one of these up and try for yourself.
**Number of cigars smoked for the review: 1