About stoic
Vance Taylor premiered Stoic Cigars in November of 2024. Taylor’s fascination with tobacco began when he smoked his first cigar when he learned he was expecting a child. He dove into the world of cigars, making frequent trips to the Dominican Republic to visit factories. In early 2024, Taylor left the corporate world, where he worked in the health technology industry, to dive fully into Stoic Cigars and pursue his dream.
Blend Details
Stoic launched with its core line available in 4 vitolas. Each vitola is named after a pillar of Stoicism: the 5 x 50 Robusto “Courage”, 6 x 52 Toro “Justice”, 7 x 48 Churchill “Wisdom”, and the 5 1/2 x 46 Corona Gorda “Moderation”. The blend is made up of an Ecuadorian Habano wrapper, an Ecuadorian Habano binder, and fillers from the Dominican Republic, the United States, and undisclosed sources. Vance Taylor partnered with Klaas Kelner to handle production and assist with the blending. Stoic’s cigars are rolled at Klaas’s Kelner Cigars, S.A.S. in Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic.
Visual Inspection & pre-Light
The wrapper is rich, oily, and earthy brown with light mottling. The aromas are of yeasty bread and wet leaves. The draw is slightly snug with more notes of yeasty bread.
A few small details on the cigar bands: the band indicates the vitola with the gold circle highlighting the corresponding vitola, and has a QR code on the back that takes you to Stoic’s online portal. There is a secondary band beneath the main band with a unique one-time code that can be logged on the portal.
First Third
Smoke output is excellent out of the gate. The notes on the palate are of yeasty bread, sweet malts, fresh cedar, and light minerality. The retrohale has notes of malted milk, light roasted coffee, and a sprinkle of white pepper. The strength of flavor is medium. The finish is soft with notes of cedar and white pepper. The overall profile is medium and complex. I’m finding myself digging into the blend to understand its nuances. The ash is tight, the burn line is sharp, and the draw is excellent.
Second Third
The palate has tones of moist earth, hay, cocoa powder, toasted oak, and fragrant cedar. The retrohale is showing medium roast coffee, barley, cedar, nutmeg, and a sprinkle of white pepper. The strength of flavor has grown to medium plus. The smoke output remains excellent. The finish has grown to medium with notes of white pepper and toasted oak. The blend has gotten a notch richer with that fragrant cedar taking center stage. The ash, burn, and construction are nothing short of fantastic.
Final Third
I’m seeing notes of fresh cut grass, fragrant cedar, minerality, and dry earth on the palate. The flavors on the retrohale are of light roast coffee, cinnamon, mint, and nutmeg. The strength of flavor has regressed slightly to medium. The smoke output remains excellent. The finish is medium with notes of cedar and mint. The overall profile is nuanced and shows impressive transitions. The ash, burn, and construction have been perfect throughout the smoking experience. Past the band, the flavors continued to evolve. I put the Stoic Moderation down, leaving just under an inch.
Conclusions
Vance Taylor’s Stoic Cigars are blended for a more mindful and meditative smoking experience. The nuanced flavors had me contemplating the blend at almost every puff. The core of the profile is a fresh and fragrant cedar note, but secondary flavors evolve into some really fun transitions. As great as the flavors were here, the star of the show was really the construction — Klaas Kelner and his team built this cigar like a tank. The biggest takeaway from this cigar is the level of care put into every detail. It’s rare to see a brand make a specific band for each vitola in a line, and their online portal is a unique way to log your experience with their cigars. At $12, these are right in the sweet spot. The Stoic Moderation earns my recommendation; it’s a thoughtfully crafted cigar that lives up to its philosophical namesake.
