The Filthy Viking Toro Review (American Viking Cigars)

2026-07-04  Five-Pack · 3/4 My Money · Steal

Verdict: Five-Pack (3/4)... with a standing exception you should know about: catch these 20-25% off by the box, which they run about quarterly, and it's a Box Buy without a second thought. Verdicts here get judged at street price, and at street this is a very good easy-smoking five-pack cigar, not a box cigar. But right around $8 a stick delivered on those sales, it's stellar... that's how I bought mine, and that's how I'll rebuy.

The Setup

• Cigar: The Filthy Viking by American Viking Cigar Co., Toro (6 x 52)
• Blend: Habano wrapper over a Honduran blend... and that's as specific as the brand gets about it
• Street price: $11.44 for a single, $206 for a box of 20 (~$10.30/stick) direct... then those 20-25% box sales land it right around $7.75-8.25/stick shipped
• What I paid: $136.22 shipped for a box of 20 on a 25%-off sale last July... $6.81 a stick, receipt and all. My own money, nobody sent me this. The box price has crept up a bit since, so today's sale math runs closer to $8.
• Storage: about a year in a herf-a-dor with large 69% Boveda packs, room right around 68°
• When/where: 12:30 in the afternoon on the back deck... shaded where I sat, mostly sunny, 84° and 70% humidity
• Food beforehand: black coffee and an everything bagel with a good amount of butter... I like my butter
• First cigar of the day

Cold Draw and Light Up

Looking it over first: solid construction overall, but a couple of small imperfections in the wrapper, and the foot was a little cracked coming out of storage. I didn't think it would matter as we went, and it didn't... we burned right past that cracked section without a hiccup.

Cold draw is just a light tobacco sweetness... no spice, nothing else... and on a day this warm, headed into an afternoon smoke, I'm happy with exactly that. The draw is a little tighter than I want it. Not "work for it" tight, just a hair past where I like it... I want a touch of resistance but not much, and this has a little more than that. If I'd had a draw tool with me I probably would have used it.

First light: on the retrohale you get a very light spice, then tobacco sweetness, and a very, very light nuttiness on the finish. Skip the retro and blow it out your mouth and it's a creamy smoke with light tobacco sweetness and no bitterness at all. Smoke production is good... not excellent, I'd take a little more and a little thicker... but good. Solid start for an afternoon cigar.

First Third

Halfway through the first third a hint of bitterness shows up. Blown out the mouth it's tobacco sweetness, that's the best way I can describe it... the nuttiness doesn't come through that way at all. Retrohale it and the pepper is virtually gone, and instead you get that light nuttiness, tobacco sweetness, and almost no bitterness. This is a cigar you could comfortably retrohale the entire way through if you wanted to.

The ash is the star early... stacking like dimes, just slightly wonky ones. A couple flakes sticking out here and there, but a tight stack that held on beautifully through the entire first third. The burn went a little wonky on me, so I did my usual... flipped the slower side down and let it self-correct, which it did, almost 100%.

By the end of the third the profile settles in: a tiny bit of bitterness and tobacco sweetness out the mouth... on the retro a light spice, tobacco sweetness, a hint of nuttiness that shows up and fades, then a really light earthiness on the finish with the sweetness hanging on after everything else leaves. Is it complex? No. It's a very pleasant, easy, mild cigar you could smoke any time of day.

Second Third

Still zero touch-ups going into the second third. The burn line is a little wavy but nothing worth fixing. And it's basically the same cigar: slight earthiness, light tobacco sweetness, no spice at all blown out the mouth... on the retro the spice hasn't built any, just light spice, light sweetness, a bit more earthiness than the first third.

Here's the pairing note: this is not a bourbon cigar, and I like my bourbon. This is a coffee cigar, start to finish... black or with cream, either way it'd ride along perfectly. I know guys who smoke this first thing in the morning with their first cup and I completely get it now. If it wasn't mid-80s on the deck I'd have gone and made a pour-over myself... and I don't do the iced coffee thing, so I rode with water.

Midway through, either the draw opened up or I got used to it. Flavor-wise, maybe a touch more bitterness and a touch less sweetness, and noticeably more spice on the retro... though still not much. The nuttiness is gone completely at this point and never really came back.

Near the end of the third the smoke thinned out on me and the ash split personalities... dime-stacked on one side, flaky on the other, which may be why the burn wasn't keeping up on that side. The bitterness stepped up a little... not off-putting, just there... alongside that same tobacco sweetness. You can still retrohale a full mouthful comfortably: it's moved from a sweet spice toward a mellow black pepper. I'll be straight with you... I don't have the palate the pro reviewers have where they're pulling out seven flavors a third. "Mellow pepper and tobacco sweetness" aren't fancy descriptors, but that's what's there.

I still hadn't touched it up at all through two thirds... I don't like burning good tobacco off with a lighter chasing a razor-sharp line. Rotate the slow side down, be a little patient, and this one kept fixing itself.

Final Third

I gave it its first touch-up starting the final third, just to square everything up... and it paid off immediately. With an even burn the bitterness backed off and the tobacco sweetness came forward again. No dip yet, no drop-off... still a pleasant cigar.

Band came off once the burn got within about a finger's width... my usual routine... perfectly clean, no tearing, no sticking to the wrapper. Exactly how every band should come off.

Halfway through the final third the smoke production actually hit its best of the whole cigar... solid where it had been running slightly under all day. The profile: slightly more earthiness, a little bitterness, sweetness drifting toward the back but still present. On the retro, light spice, tobacco sweetness, then that slight bitterness... and the bitterness and sweetness linger on your palate pretty much equally.

Then the burn got genuinely wonky... about a quarter inch of difference from one side to the other, and rotating wasn't saving it this time. I knocked the ash, touched it up with about a half inch to go, and got one more clean stretch... same flavors, spice ramped up a bit on the retro but still comfortable. That slow side never did burn right, even freshly touched up... it crawled while the rest of the cigar moved on, so I'm chalking that up to a construction issue in that last inch, not a flavor problem. The flavor did dip at the very end... bitterness forward, sweetness back, spice up... nothing horrendous, but a definite final-third dip.

Construction

• Wrapper/roll: a few small imperfections in the wrapper and a slightly cracked foot right out of storage... none of it affected a single thing once lit
• Draw: a little snug the whole way... not effort, just tighter than my preference. Opened up (or I adjusted) by the midpoint
• Burn: self-correcting for two full thirds with zero touch-ups... then 2-3 touch-ups in the final third, where one side went stubborn-slow and stayed that way
• Ash: dime stacks, slightly wonky... held through the entire first third
• Smoke output: good, not great... thinned in spots, then ironically its best in the final third
• Band: came off perfectly clean... no tears, no sticking

Bottom Line

This is not a complex cigar, and it doesn't pretend to be. It's mild to mild-plus... I don't care what anybody rates it, it's not a full medium... with basically one gear: light spice on the retro, tobacco sweetness everywhere, a little earthiness late, and a manageable dip at the very end. No nicotine hit either, and I'd barely eaten all day. What you get in the first inch is what you get in the fifth, and there are days that's exactly the assignment.

Would I smoke it again? Five-Pack... judged at street price, same as every verdict here, and I'll spell the ladder out. At the $11.44 single price: no. At full box price, $10.30 a stick: yes... a few of these live in the humidor, and that's the verdict. Now the exception: they discount boxes 20-25% about quarterly, which puts a stick right around $8 shipped... and at that number I break my own rule and buy the box without a second thought. That's not hypothetical... I bought mine that way and I'll rebuy that way. Just don't pay full freight for a box of these... the sale is always coming.

Best for: the morning smoke with your first cup of coffee... or any time you want a cigar going while the conversation, not the cigar, is the point. Grab it, light it, don't think about it. It'll hold up its end without asking anything of you... just expect a couple of touch-ups at the end.

My rating scale, one question only... would I spend my own money on this again? 4 Box Buy (box on hand, always) / 3 Five-Pack (yes, a few live in the humidor) / 2 Hand-Me-One (wouldn't buy it, wouldn't turn one down) / 1 Not Even Free (I'd rather smoke nothing).

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