Over the past few years, Ventura Cigars have been making a solid name for themselves in the premium cigar industry.  They were well known for their Pysko Seven line along with a few other smaller but highly regarded releases.  Then a few years ago, they brought Michael Giannini onboard as their General Manager.

With years of experience working on such established brands as La Gloria Cubana and tremendous creative imagination, Michael was the right guy to help bring Ventura to even greater heights.  It was with the stylistic and delicious Archetype line that he was able to do this.

The Archetype is more than just a cool name, its origins are deeply rooted in the works of philosopher/psychologist Carl Jung and mythographer Joseph Campbell.  Anyone who took a basic philosophy or psych course in college has heard of both of them.  Campbell wrote extensively on the “hero’s journey”, the blueprint of storytelling present in ancient myths.  The commonalities between these stories are known as a story arch, and the typical hero story is called an Archetype.

The brand, which was released in 3 chapters, is meant to explore this story, with each chapter depicting a different part of the journey.  In 2019, Ventura released Chapter 3 of the series, known as Sacred Scales.  This part of the journey is when the hero begins their return journey from the imaginary world to the real world.

For this blend, Ventura reached out to legendary cigar manufacturer Ernesto Perez Carrillo for a collaboration.  The cigar was hand-rolled at Tabacalera La Alianza in the Dominican Republic.  It uses aged Nicaraguan tobaccos for the filler, an Ecuadorian wrapper, and then a jet black Mexican San Andres wrapper.

From a visual standpoint, the cigar is stunning.  Its wrapper is a little rough but has an overall good texture and a good amount of oil.  There are a few pronounced veins but nothing crazy.  The band is one of the most conceptual I’ve ever seen.  It truly represents an almost dream-like state, which was the point.  The cigar has a nice sponginess to it, showing that it is has been well humidified.

With the cold draw, I immediately get notes of dark chocolate and raisins. Due to the Mexican San Andres wrapper, this is exactly what I was expecting.  However, the abundance of dark fruit notes was a bit more then I thought there would be, but I enjoyed it.

Upon lighting it, I was greeted with a bevy of rich and smooth flavors.  The wrapper is really the focal point and dominates most of the profile.  While there is a touch of spice and leather from the binder and filler, it is the chocolate and fruit notes of the wrapper that really shine.  The draw and smoke output are on point, while the burn is nice and even.  The ash is a little dark then I like but held firm throughout the first third.

As we enter the 2^nd third, the crux of the cigar, the strength and flavor begin to amp up.  The dark fruit notes start to subside and are replaced by richer dark chocolate and espresso flavors.  The slight spice remains in a secondary role but is not totally overshadowed by the rich tones.  The strength has gone from medium to medium-plus while the smoke output increases as well.  The burn did get a little wonky but was easily fixed with a quick touch up.  So far, this cigar is just as good as advertised and everything I look for in a complex smoke.