No. 10 Cigar of the Year 2023 – Murcielago de Oro TAA 2023 Exclusive

First released in 2009, the Murcielago is among a small handful of cigars that predate Espinosa Premium Cigars itself. Murcielago first debuted under the now-defunct EO Brands, of which Erik Espinosa (owner/founder of Espinosa Premium Cigars) was a co-founder, inheriting the line when he started Espinosa Premium Cigars in 2012. Laying dormant for the first few years after Espinosa’s founding, Murcielago reemerged in 2015 with an all-new look. Changing factories from the original release, the cigar’s blend was described as being reverse engineered, dissecting original Murcielago cigars to recreate the blend at Espinosa’s own La Zona factory in Nicaragua. Two years later, the Murcielago was revamped yet again, updating the packaging once more and moving production from La Zona to A.J. Fernández’s northernmost San Lotano factory in Ocotal, Nicaragua.

Named after the Spanish word for Bat, Murcielago has always winked and nodded at Batman imagery, tying the cigar’s San Andrés maduro wrapper into The Caped Crusader’s preferred cloak of darkness. This changed for the first time in 2023, with Espinosa launching the Murcielago de Oro—a lighter-wrapped variation of the Murcielago blend—as a limited-edition exclusive for the Tobacconists’ Association of America (TAA) and their annual TAA Exclusive Series. Interestingly, where other such blend alternatives often opt for a different seed varietal (as San Andrés is commonly maduro), the Murcielago de Oro maintained its signature leaf, instead boasting a claro-shade version in order to bring out a new twist on an old favorite. The cigars were rolled out of the same San Lotano factory, boasting a single box-pressed toro gordo size that was limited to 1,500 boxes of 20 cigars. The first true blend change in the Murcielago line was openly embraced by enthusiasts, catapulting into the top four percent of cigars ranked on the Dojoverse all-time leaderboard upon its release in the spring of 2023. In our experiences with the blend, we found it to have all the body and texture you’d expect from a maduro, though with brighter flavor nuances, especially through the retrohale (almost like the blonde stout of the cigar world). With a thick texture and medium-full intensity, expect flavors along the lines of sweet malt, white pepper, butterscotch, and creamy black tea.

Murcielago de Oro TAA 2023 Exclusive Breakdown

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