El Septimo is a cigar brand that was founded in France in 2005 but was acquired by Zaya Younan in 2019 to reinfuse the brand with an extra sense of luxury and provide the world with an exquisite new collection of smokes to enjoy. In celebration of the return of El Septimo to Havana House, we explore the history and cigars this brand has to offer.
El Septimo Origins
El Septimo was founded in 2005 in France, although they later relocated their headquarters to Switzerland. They prided themselves as a luxury brand on producing high-quality and innovative smokes. El Septimo took a hands-on approach to crafting their luxurious cigars, developing their own tobacco plantation in the mountains of San Jose, Costa Rica.
What Does El Septimo Mean?
The name ‘El Septimo’ is Latin for ‘the seventh’, in reference to the seventh day of the creation story in the Bible. In the book of Genesis, God created the earth in six days and, on the seventh day, rested. With this rest day in mind, the El Septimo brand was created with the intent of relaxation and luxury.
El Septimo Acquisition by the Younan Collection
In 2019, the El Septimo brand was acquired by Zaya Younan, the CEO of Younan Collection, an international investment firm. Younan Collection owns a number of luxury hotels, resorts, wineries and golf courses, so acquiring a cigar brand is the logical next step for their portfolio to curate a luxury lifestyle.
Since taking on the El Septimo brand, a number of new cigar ranges have been released, including the Zaya Collection, Emperor Collection, Luxus Collection, Sacred Arts Collection and Gilgamesh Collection.
El Septimo Cigar Production
El Septimo uses the entire tobacco leaf throughout their cigars for a rich and full flavour, as each cigar is hand-rolled with 100% long filler tobacco using the Entubar Method.
For an enhanced tasting experience, the tobacco fermentation process includes the addition of white rum and vegetable oil, which helps to draw out extra flavour from this full-bodied smoke. The vegetable oil also gives a luxurious look to these cigars, making them a deliciously appealing smoke.
El Septimo Tobacco
Costa Rica provides the perfect conditions for growing tobacco, with a tropical climate, fertile soil and high altitudes. El Septimo grow their tobacco in Costa Rica with precision farming techniques to boost their crop yield.
Wrapper leaves are grown at high altitudes, which gives the cigars a silky texture with a rich, deep shade and flavourful taste.
El Septimo Cigars are completely organic, with zero preservatives or chemicals added, and are free of nitrosamines, tars, and impurities.
El Septimo Blends
The El Septimo brand now features over 45 blends, each hand-rolled and checked with strict quality control. The precise blend and age of tobacco used varies across the collections, as well as the amount of filler used. Usually, their cigars use tobacco that has been aged between seven and fifteen years, and between three and five filler tobaccos will be used.
El Septimo Zaya Collection
In celebration of the new owner of El Septimo, the Zaya Collection is blended from a selection of high-quality tobaccos aged up to 15 years. Each cigar in the Zaya Collection is rolled with five fillers, giving them larger ring gauges as they are packed with so much tobacco. As a result, these are complexly flavourful smokes.
Each cigar in the Zaya Collection features a dark, shiny and stain-free wrapper. They are medium and full-bodied cigars, offering an intense leather aroma, balanced strength and smooth, rich finish. Providing a complex range of flavours, from sweet marzipan and vanilla to bitter roasted walnuts.
Cigars in this collection include the El Septimo Short Dream Topaz and El Septimo Mirifico Sapphire Cigar.
El Septimo The Emperor Collection
The Emperor Collection celebrates Emperors from history, including Napoleon, Augustus Ceasar and Alexander III. The collection includes cigars with Connecticut or Maduro wrappers, with some cigars available in both formats. The tobacco in the Emperor Collection has been aged for five years before being hand-rolled. These cigars are mostly lighter-bodied, smoother and creamier than other offerings from El Septimo.
Cigars in this collection include the El Septimo Augustus Cesar Connecticut Cigar and the El Septimo Emperor Yao Connecticut Torpedo Cigar.
El Septimo Luxus Collection
The Luxus Collection is the most diverse range from El Septimo – in fact, we bet you have never seen cigars like some of these before! Comprising of ten tobacco lines, each aged for ten years and matured for up to a year, the Luxus Collection includes some of the brand’s bestsellers.
The cigars in the Luxus Collection range from 2-inch speedy smokes to tasty Torpedos. Regardless of size, the cigars in this collection all offer a velvety smoke with a refined aroma. They each have oily, supple, dark wrappers and offer full draws with plenty of depth.
Cigars in this collection include the El Septimo Precioso Pink Cigar and the El Septimo Bullet Blue Cigar.
El Septimo Sacred Arts Collection
The Sacred Arts Collection takes inspiration from the art world, with each cigar named after some of the world’s best painters. These cigars come in traditional size formats, including Toro, Robusto, Lancero, Torpedo and Salomon. Cigars in the Sacred Arts Collection are medium-bodied and have been aged for ten years.
Cigars in this collection include the Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Da Vinci and Botticelli.
El Septimo Gilgamesh Collection
The Gilgamesh Collection has been created to symbolise one of the oldest stories in existence based on historical records of the Assyrian King Gilgamesh. Cigars in this collection range from medium to full-bodied. Each cigar is 6 inches or over with a ring gauge of 50 or over, providing a longer smoking experience. As you light a cigar from the Gilgamesh Collection, you’ll notice a milder start than other El Septimo cigars, as these offer a more gradual pace of smoking.
Cigars in this collection include the El Septimo Gilgamesh King Sargon Cigar, El Septimo Gilgamesh Sable Samesh Cigar and El Septimo Gilgamesh Aqua Anu Cigar.
