Robert Caldwell’s approach to cigar making is not to just grow his company bigger and better every day. Instead, a lot of his focus is on finding excellent partners to help him create small runs of special blends that showcase interesting and/or exotic tobaccos. In this case, the partner is none other than E.P. Carillo, winner of the Cigar Aficionado 2018 Cigar of the Year for his Encore Majestic.

The Caldwell Anastasia, also known as the Anastasia H, features a beautiful brown Habano-seed wrapper around a prized grouping of Dominican and Nicaraguan long-fillers. The smoke comes out creamy smooth and is medium to full bodied, with flavors of leather, caramel, and spice. It’s a pretty fine smoke and one that we’d be glad to visit a few times here and there when we’re in the mood for an off-the-beaten path E.P. blend.

As for Anastasia herself, she was one of the last Grand Duchesses of Russia.

Russia has been through many changes in the last couple hundred years, but one thing is clear: they respect strong leaders, and devour the weak ones. The last man to hold the title of “Tsar” (what we might render in English as “emperor”) was Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov – Tsar Nicholas the Second. We don’t need to detail his missteps as leader here, but suffice to say that the people of Russia decided to move in a different direction. Nicholas, Anastasia, and other family members were all executed in the Bolshevik Revolution that brought Lenin to power and formally kicked off the start of communist rule in Russia. (Rumors of her escape and survival have been shown to be just that. Her end was just as sad as that of her other siblings.)

This cigar was released once and vanished quickly. This is the re-release. Perhaps Anastasias are taken from us too soon. Appreciate her while she’s here, folks.

Please browse our selection of Caldwell Anastasia cigars at your leisure.