The Ferio Tego Summa Corona Gorda is a 5.75×46 Dominican cigar with an Ecuadorian Corojo wrapper, an Ecuadorian Sumatra binder, and aged Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers. Michael Herklots and Brendon Scott build it at the Quesada family's TABADEX factory, and Norm scores it 91/100. It's an $18 stick running cocoa, black pepper and cedar at medium to medium-plus body, and while this size has a reputation for going out, Norm's burned clean.
- The Ferio Tego Summa Corona Gorda (5.75×46, $18) pairs an Ecuadorian Corojo wrapper with an Ecuadorian Sumatra binder and aged Dominican and Nicaraguan fillers, rolled at TABADEX in the Dominican Republic.
- Expect medium to medium-plus body, cocoa and coffee up front, charred oak and bread pudding through the middle, dark chocolate and a quiet sweetness on the close.
- This size has a reputation for going out on people. Norm's didn't, his burned straight through with an easy draw and no touch-ups, but the reports are consistent enough to plan for. He scores it 91/100 with a ROTATION WORTHY call.
FROM THE PORCH
[FROM THE PORCH placeholder. Norm's story and photo pair go here before this page ships.]
BEHIND THE BLEND
Ferio Tego is Michael Herklots and Brendon Scott, two former Nat Sherman VPs who started their own company in January 2021 after Altria shut Nat Sherman down. Summa, shipping since June 2023, is their first regular-production blend, and it's an original, not a revival of any older label. Herklots, who blends Ferio Tego's cigars, says the name means a comprehensive work, a summing-up of what the company makes.
The Quesada family rolls it at their TABADEX factory in the Dominican Republic, and Davidoff of Geneva USA handles distribution. This exact size picked up a year-end top-25 placement for 2024.
BLC BLEND BREAKDOWN
BLEND SPECS
THE VITOLA LINEUP
| VITOLA | SIZE | MSRP |
|---|---|---|
| Corona Gorda ← reviewed | 5.75 × 46 | $18.00 ($180/box-10) |
| Robusto | 5 × 50 | $19.00 |
| Toro | 6 × 50 | $19.50 |
| Torpedo | 6.25 × 52 | $20.00 |
| Gordo | 6 × 60 | $21.00 |
The Corona Gorda is the cheapest way in and it's the size that landed the year-end top-25 nod, so that's where I'd start you. Every size ships in a hinged Okume box of 10, and the whole ladder sits inside three bucks, $18 to $21.
The Toro came along later, around June 2024, for anyone who only smokes 6×50.
THE COLD DRAW
Off the foot I get damp hardwood and a sweetness like molasses bread, a little nutmeg behind it. The cold draw runs the same direction, bread and leather, nothing sharp or sour. Mine drew beautifully cold. If yours feels snug, take a slightly deeper cut, some sticks in this line run tight and the deeper cut helps more than you'd think.
BLC CIGAR PROFILE
Burn: Straight and even the whole way, and mine never went out. That is worth saying, because this size has a reputation for exactly that.
Draw: Easy, right in the sweet spot on my stick. Others run snug enough to want a deeper cut.
Treat the complexity mark as an open argument, sessions with this blend genuinely disagree on how much it moves. Balance rests on one reviewer's note of oak and a faint sweetness showing up at times, so hold that one loosely too. The burn split looks like stick-to-stick variation, keep the lighter close and move on.
THE FIRST THIRD
First light is cocoa powder, the unsweetened kind, with coffee right behind it. That coffee reads sweeter than straight espresso, Kahlua territory in my opinion. Toasted cedar and a little leather fill in as it settles, and there's black pepper on the retrohale at conversation volume.
Mine kept the spice on the quieter side. Yours may throw more, it swings stick to stick. Body opens at medium and starts climbing.
THE SECOND THIRD
This is the best stretch of the cigar. Charred oak on top, a gingersnap sweetness underneath, and on a few draws something close to bread pudding. I even caught a salty pretzel note I didn't expect. Pepper and cedar split the middle about evenly, and the body pushes to medium-plus.
This is also where people report losing it. Mine kept burning without a thought, dead straight, no touch-ups, and I wasn't nursing it along either.
THE FINAL THIRD
The last stretch turns thick, almost syrupy, the smoke gets chewy on the palate. Dark chocolate takes over from the cocoa powder, earth and cedar move up front, and the pepper backs way off. A quiet sweetness hangs on all the way down.
Give yourself close to two hours for this size, more if the lighter comes back out.
OVERALL RATING
BLC OVERALL RATING
Let me be straight with you about why this isn't higher. My stick was flawless. Perfect burn, easy draw, not one touch-up, two hours of cocoa into bread pudding into dark chocolate. On my cigar alone I'd have gone into the 90s without much argument. I didn't, because this size has a well-earned reputation for going out on people and one clean cigar doesn't erase it. You might get mine. You might get one that needs the lighter four times before the halfway mark. At $18 a stick that spread is the risk you're buying, and it's the whole reason the number sits at 91. The tobacco itself is some of the better stuff you'll find under twenty bucks.
WHO GRABS THIS CIGAR
Flavor-first smokers, that's who. If a touch-up or two doesn't wreck your afternoon, you're getting one of the more complex medium-plus smokes in the $18 range, a cocoa-and-pepper profile that actually changes as it goes.
If you want a light-it-and-forget-it cigar for the golf cart, this isn't that. Pick something that stays lit on its own and come back to this one when you can pay attention.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Common questions about the Ferio Tego Summa Corona Gorda.
