Ferio Tego Summa Toro (6×50)

Michael Herklots and Brendon Scott built Ferio Tego in 2021 from the ashes of Nat Sherman, and in doing so they made a quiet but serious statement: the best work was still ahead of them. The Summa is the proof. Launched at PCA 2023 as the brand’s first original regular production line, it was Herklots’ attempt to put everything Ferio Tego had learned into a single blend, and the name says it all. Summa means a comprehensive work, a synthesis of everything that came before. Rolled at the Quesada family’s Tabacos de Exportación factory in the Dominican Republic, the blend pairs an Ecuadorian Corojo wrapper with an Ecuadorian Sumatra binder and a core of Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers that Herklots deliberately skewed toward darker, richer flavors: leather, charred oak, espresso, black pepper, and vanilla, all delivered on a body that stays creamy and round throughout.

In the 6×50 Toro you get about an hour of that profile developing exactly as intended, building from cocoa and coffee in the first third into something deeper, spicier, and more complex as the burn progresses. The okume wood box is gorgeous. The cigar inside is better. Around $19 a stick for regular production this good is a genuine win.