After waiting for what felt like forever, the latest entry in the West Tampa Tobacco Co. core line has officially arrived: Circle of Life.

While first teased (and sampled) at PCA 2024 during our interview with Rick Rodriguez, the company founder and master blender held off on releasing the cigar until just recently. Apparently there were some issues with the box design that needed ironing out, so the launch was postponed by a few months.

Now, as for the blend itself, that consists of an Ecuador-born Sumatran binder, an Habano Oscuro wrapper of Ecuadorian descent, and a filler mixture forged from tobacco out of the Jalapa, Condega, and Estelí regions of Nicaragua, along with some Dominican Corojo '99 leaf.

The blend first began to be formulated when Rodriguez contacted his mentor, Ernesto-Perez Carrillo, and asked if the industry icon would be interested in creating a collab cigar with him. Naturally, EP Carrillo was thrilled by the thought of teaming up with his protégé, and before long the two had a dark maduro on their hands. Being that this blend took Rodriguez full circle, and back to his early days of blending as an apprentice, he tells us that it only seemed befitting to name the cigar Circle of Life.

Regarding the smoking experience, I found that it provides a very rich and dark vibe, that somehow still remains a medium-powered affair. Thus far, I have smoked two of the three pre-production sample sticks that Rodriguez handed to me at the PCA show. One at the show, and another shortly thereafter. The third I have been sitting on to see what little age will do for the malty maduro mixture.

One can expect top notes of vanilla and fudge, balanced by a bit of baking spice and cedar for dryness, a crunch of cashew, bittersweet dark chocolate-covered espresso bean, and a little bit of peppery heat the deeper in you go. All told this makes for one magnificent mixture, and with EP Carrillo's top rollers handling production, you know this cigar is destined to make a ton of top-ten lists this year.