Espinosa Knuckle Sandwich Chef Special 2024 Toro Review

2026-08-08  Not Even Free · 1/4 My Money · by Eric

Filed under: Box-Pressed · CT Broadleaf · Tight Draw · Nicaragua · Relighting · Retrohale · Strength vs Body · Bitter Cigar?

Verdict: Not Even Free (1/4). It opens mild and a little chocolatey, then slides into leather, earth and pepper, turns bitter, and goes full strength, and that whole back end is the part of cigars I like least. I smoked as much of it as I wanted to and set it down right as it hit the final third, and I've got one more that I'm giving away instead of lighting. Nothing here is broken. The construction was fine and the ash was great. It's just blended for a palate that isn't mine.

Knuckle Sandwich is Espinosa's line with Guy Fieri, and the Chef Special is the annual limited edition that comes out of it. The 2024 is a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler, rolled at A.J. Fernández's San Lotano factory in Ocotal, Nicaragua, and it came out as a limited run of 2,000 boxes of ten. I went in wanting to love this one. I like Guy, or at least the persona and the passion he brings to the things he gets into, and a cigar called the Chef Special sets a bar in your head before you ever light it. It didn't get there for me.

The Setup

• Cigar: Espinosa Knuckle Sandwich Chef Special 2024, Toro (6 x 54), an oval box press. Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and filler, made at A.J. Fernández's San Lotano factory in Ocotal, Nicaragua. Limited edition, 2,000 boxes of ten.
• Street price: these ran around $16 to $18 a single when they dropped in 2024, and it's a limited run that's mostly sold through now.
• What I paid: around $16, my own money, picked up at a B&M while I was out of town. I don't remember the exact shop or the exact price.
• Storage: a year and a half to two years in my Herf-a-Dor at 69% the whole time. The cello had yellowed and the wrapper had sucked into the binder a little, so it wore the age.
• When/where: about 8 at night, back porch at home, first night back after a week of traveling for work. Sun wasn't quite down when I lit it.
• Weather: 77°, felt like 79, 80% humidity.
• Food beforehand: a chicken quesadilla, a mozzarella stick with marinara, and water at Applebee's, about 15 minutes before I lit it.
• First cigar of the day, and my first in about a week, paired with water.
• Where I stopped: right as it hit the final third.

Light Up and First Third

Clipped the double cap and it cut clean, no issues. Cold draw was a little tight, but there was a nice tobacco sweetness on it and no tingle at all on the retro. The foot ribbon slid right off and did its job, and the band had a little play in it, so I figured it'd come off easy later.

On the light up it's chocolate, somewhere between a milk and a dark, with a little bread coming in behind it and a bit of spice lingering on the palate. Nice start. Retro it early and it's a cross between baking spice and red pepper spice, and every time I did it I got a little spice down in the back of my throat that I'm not used to getting, even off a spicy cigar.

The draw stayed snug. I gave it a while before I did anything, then ran the PerfectDraw tool about an inch in to open it up. It helped a little, it didn't fix it, and I wasn't going to go deeper and risk messing up the construction. It was workable, just never where I wanted it.

Through the first third the flavors pulled way back. A little bread, a little nuttiness, maybe a touch of coffee, and the chocolate dropped into the background. Everything got subtle, the kind of thing you have to hunt for. Nothing off about it, just quiet, and quiet is not what I expected out of something called a Chef Special. Smoke was a little thin, the burn a little wavy, and the ash was stacking tight. I'd have called it about medium on strength right here. Near the end of the first third the retro gave up a good hit of chocolate and black pepper, so I thought maybe it was about to turn a corner.

Second Third

The spice ramped up hard here, on the palate and the retro both, and I'm not sure how it climbed that fast. After a touch-up you get a smooth nuttiness first, not a roasted one, then a little chocolate behind it, some coffee, and a white pepper that lingers on the tongue. Then the earth and leather came in, earth first and leather right behind it.

Here's the story of this cigar. Single draws gave me the better flavor by a good margin, a woodiness, pepper, a light nuttiness, leather, and a black coffee. Two draws buried all of that under a heavy dose of earth and leather and coffee with a bitterness hanging in the background, and it dried my palate right out. The catch is the wrapper is thick, and on single draws the burn goes wavy and wants to quit on you, so I kept having to take a double draw just to get the ember back around the whole wrapper, which throws you straight back into the earth bomb. So it was a balancing act the whole way, flavor against keeping it lit. Smoke production did pick up here, better than the thin first third.

Final Third

The draw finally opened up a bit right as I got into the final third, the first time it did that all night. The flavor went the other way. It was black pepper, leather, a dark roast coffee and earth, with a tiny fleeting bit of tobacco sweetness and nuttiness up front that's gone before you can name it, and the bitterness taking over. The pepper ramped so far up I could only retro a little bit of it without it blowing my sinuses off. And it went full strength in here. It started medium back in the first third and finished full.

At that point it was an earth, leather and pepper bomb and not much else, and it wasn't enjoyable anymore. I'd been drinking a lot of water just to keep my palate clear between draws. So I set it down. I finished as much of it as I wanted to, and I was done.

Construction

• Wrapper: dark, slightly rustic, a little veiny, barely any tooth. The cello had yellowed and the wrapper had pulled into the binder from the age. It's a thick wrapper, and that thickness ran the whole burn story.
• Draw: tight from the cold draw and tight most of the way. I ran the PerfectDraw about an inch in and it helped a little, but it never got where I wanted it, and it only really opened up once I hit the final third.
• Burn: wavy, and I touched it up a bunch. That thick wrapper wouldn't stay lit on the single draws I wanted for flavor, so it was constant touch-ups and relights the whole time.
• Ash: the best thing it did. Tight, stacked well, and when it dropped it fell about two feet to the deck and held together in one piece. No point on it when you ashed it.
• Smoke output: thin through the first third, better after that.
• Band: came off perfectly clean, nothing grabbing at the wrapper, and the construction underneath was good. The foot ribbon slid right off at the start too.

Bottom Line

This one started with some promise, a little chocolate and bread at a medium strength, and then it climbed into earth, leather and pepper, turned bitter, and finished full. The thick wrapper made me choose between the flavor I wanted and a clean burn the entire time, and neither side of that trade was worth much. Nothing about it is broken. It's built for the earth, leather and pepper lane, and that lane is the one I like least in a cigar.

Would I smoke it again? Not Even Free. I wanted to like this one. I like Guy and the passion he puts into what he does, and I pulled for it start to finish. It just isn't blended for me. I've got a second one and I'd rather give it away than smoke it. And that doesn't move on price. Cheaper doesn't fix where the flavor goes, so it stays a 1, and that's what I'd do with my own money and my own night, not a claim that the cigar is bad.

Best for: people who live in the earth, leather and pepper lane and want a full-strength smoke with a thick broadleaf wrapper on it. If that's you, my 1 is worth nothing to you, go grab one before they're gone. Not for anyone chasing sweetness, balance, or a burn you don't have to babysit.

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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