Some cigar brands launch with a marketing blitz. This one launched with a letter under the lid. Schöelen Cigars appeared in 2025, sells through a short list of shops, and dresses its boxes in sharp black-and-white livery, the counter card promises “European vision, Cuban inspiration.” You have almost certainly never heard of it. That is exactly why it belongs on this site.
The Schöelen Originell is the brand’s Connecticut: a 5⅞×52 parejo, which just means a straight-sided cigar, wearing an Ecuador-grown Connecticut-seed wrapper over Nicaraguan tobacco. It is made in Nicaragua for founder Samuel Schöelen, ships in boxes of 20, and comes in exactly one size. The company lists it at $20 a cigar, Florida shelves run closer to $25. New brand, old-world manners, one cigar to make the case.
- Schöelen Originell, 5⅞×52, the debut Connecticut from boutique Schöelen Cigars. Ecuador Connecticut-seed wrapper, Nicaraguan filler, made in Nicaragua. One vitola, boxes of 20, launched in 2025, listed by the company at $20 a stick.
- Opens with a real pepper burst, then swings sweet: dark chocolate, raisin, vanilla cream, and caramel through the middle, milk chocolate at the end. Roughly 90 minutes of mild-to-medium smoke.
- BLC Rating: 95/100, exceptional and box worthy. A first-year boutique Connecticut that smokes nothing like the category, with a full three-act flavor arc at serious Connecticut money.
FROM THE PORCH
This one started with a dare. At an event recently I got some time with the owner of Schöelen Cigars, and when I walked him through my flavor profile he laughed and said, “Well, I guess you would not be interested in my Connecticut cigar.” He had his whole lineup there to choose from, and I told him he was right: that is not my lane. So he handed me one anyway: “I’m going to challenge you tonight. Smoke this cigar and come back and tell me what you think.”
Most people hear Connecticut and think lighter, creamier, politely forgettable. I did too. That night I lit it in a room full of people, and apparently my face said everything, because my buddy across from me leaned in with “What’s going on?” Just give me a sec, I told him. The cigar was blowing me away and I was too busy enjoying it to explain. I went back the next day and told the owner he was 100% right. He offered me one of his other blends. I stuck with the same cigar he handed me the night before. As you can see, Dallas wore almost the same expression I did. He enjoyed the afternoon, I enjoyed a great cigar with a completely different profile than I expected, and it is officially Dallas-approved. My notes are below.
Some cigar brands launch with a marketing blitz. This one launched with a letter under the lid. Schöelen Cigars appeared in 2025, sells through a short list of shops, and dresses its boxes in sharp black-and-white livery, the counter card promises “European vision, Cuban inspiration.” You have almost certainly never heard of it. That is exactly why it belongs on this site.
The Schöelen Originell is the brand’s Connecticut: a 5⅞×52 parejo, which just means a straight-sided cigar, wearing an Ecuador-grown Connecticut-seed wrapper over Nicaraguan tobacco. It is made in Nicaragua for founder Samuel Schöelen, ships in boxes of 20, and comes in exactly one size. The company lists it at $20 a cigar, Florida shelves run closer to $25. New brand, old-world manners, one cigar to make the case.
- Schöelen Originell, 5⅞×52, the debut Connecticut from boutique Schöelen Cigars. Ecuador Connecticut-seed wrapper, Nicaraguan filler, made in Nicaragua. One vitola, boxes of 20, launched in 2025, listed by the company at $20 a stick.
- Opens with a real pepper burst, then swings sweet: dark chocolate, raisin, vanilla cream, and caramel through the middle, milk chocolate at the end. Roughly 90 minutes of mild-to-medium smoke.
- BLC Rating: 95/100, exceptional and box worthy. A first-year boutique Connecticut that smokes nothing like the category, with a full three-act flavor arc at serious Connecticut money.
FROM THE PORCH
This one started with a dare. At an event recently I got some time with the owner of Schöelen Cigars, and when I walked him through my flavor profile he laughed and said, “Well, I guess you would not be interested in my Connecticut cigar.” He had his whole lineup there to choose from, and I told him he was right: that is not my lane. So he handed me one anyway: “I’m going to challenge you tonight. Smoke this cigar and come back and tell me what you think.”
Most people hear Connecticut and think lighter, creamier, politely forgettable. I did too. That night I lit it in a room full of people, and apparently my face said everything, because my buddy across from me leaned in with “What’s going on?” Just give me a sec, I told him. The cigar was blowing me away and I was too busy enjoying it to explain. I went back the next day and told the owner he was 100% right. He offered me one of his other blends. I stuck with the same cigar he handed me the night before. As you can see, Dallas wore almost the same expression I did. He enjoyed the afternoon, I enjoyed a great cigar with a completely different profile than I expected, and it is officially Dallas-approved. My notes are below.
BEHIND THE BLEND
Samuel Schöelen is the whole company, and the flat-cap gentleman inked on the box lid is no accident, that is his own trademark look. He is a German-American enthusiast who spent more than 30 years smoking his way across Europe’s cafés and lounges, decided the rounder European-market profile deserved a North American address, and flew to Nicaragua to find a blender who could build it. He keeps the operation deliberately small: three blends carrying German names that honor his heritage, Originell meaning original, Exklusiv meaning exclusive, Dunkel meaning dark, one size each, black-and-white livery, and a signed letter from the family under every lid. Tradition everywhere, gimmicks nowhere.
BLC BLEND BREAKDOWN
BLEND SPECS
Two honest notes on that sheet. The binder origin and the pricing are the company’s own numbers, and Samuel has never publicly named his factory or his blender, the label says Nicaragua and the circle stays closed beyond that. For a one-man brand this young, that is not evasion. That is just how small the room still is.
ONE SIZE ONLY
| VITOLA | SIZE | FORMAT |
|---|---|---|
| Originell (reviewed) | 5⅞ × 52 | Parejo, triple cap |
There is no Originell Robusto and no Originell Gordo, this one 5⅞×52 is the entire line. Call it a toro and everyone will know what you mean: at 5⅞ inches with a 52 ring gauge, ring gauge being thickness in 64ths of an inch, it sits squarely in toro territory. Every Schöelen blend works the same way, one blend, one vitola, vitola being the industry word for a size and shape. The Exklusiv wears an Ecuador Habano wrapper, and the Dunkel, a San Andrés maduro, joined the family in February 2026. You do not choose your format here. You choose your wrapper.
THE COLD DRAW
The wrapper is a golden tan with a faint colorado tinge, colorado being the reddish-brown middle of the wrapper color scale, and it carries a silky sheen over fine veins. The head finishes in a triple cap, three overlapping caps of wrapper leaf in the Cuban style, not a detail you expect from a first-year brand. Off the foot you get sweet nut and cream, and the cold draw adds a faint dried-fruit sweetness behind them. A straight cut opens an easy, honest draw. Nothing about the presentation is loud, everything about it is deliberate.
BLC CIGAR PROFILE
Burn: an even line the whole way down, never once asking for the lighter.
Draw: easy and open, with steady smoke across a full 90 minutes.
Here is the shape of it: this is a Connecticut that refuses to behave like one. The opening is pepper, the middle is a dessert tray, the finish is milk chocolate, and the whole run takes about 90 minutes at a mild-to-medium weight. Samuel likes to say that even committed maduro smokers walk away from this cigar surprised. After a session with it, the sales pitch makes sense.
THE FIRST THIRD
The first light is not the creamy hello you expect from a golden wrapper. You get a genuine burst of pepper on the palate, a savory note underneath, and a sweet, nutty aroma riding the smoke. This is the Nicaraguan core talking before the wrapper calms it down. The strength stays polite through all of it, there is no nicotine bite, it is the flavor that opens loud, not the power. Give it half an inch and the edges start to round.
THE SECOND THIRD
The middle is where the Originell earns its shelf price. Dark chocolate and raisin step in first, then a vanilla-cream layer, then caramel, it stacks sweetness the way a maduro does while the body stays Connecticut-light. The pepper never leaves, it just climbs slowly in the background, and a touch of salinity, a faint salted edge on the lips, keeps all that dessert from going flat. These are real transitions, not one flavor wearing four names. For a first-year boutique, that is the impressive part.
THE FINAL THIRD
The last stretch softens the chocolate from dark to milk and lets a spicy-raisin finish carry the close. It stays sweet, it stays smooth, and it never turns hot or bitter as long as you keep the pace lazy. Total time lands right around 90 minutes, a generous sit for a 5⅞-inch cigar. The first puff is pepper, the last is milk chocolate. Not many Connecticuts travel that far.
OVERALL RATING
BLC OVERALL RATING
A 95, and the word is exceptional. Here is why: this is a Connecticut that refuses to smoke like one. It opens with a genuine pepper burst, swings through dark chocolate, raisin, and vanilla cream, and closes on milk chocolate, a full three-act arc in a category that usually plays one soft, creamy note the whole way. The construction never blinked across ninety minutes and the burn line stayed razor straight. $20 to $25 is serious money for a Connecticut and finding one takes actual effort, and it clears both bars. This is the cigar I chose again the next day with the maker’s whole lineup on the table. When a cigar rearranges what you thought a category could do, that is not a five-pack decision. That is a box.
WHO GRABS THIS CIGAR
This cigar is for the Connecticut smoker who is bored, the one who loves the mild ride but stopped being surprised by it years ago. It is also for the maduro devotee who swears off golden wrappers, the chocolate-raisin middle speaks your language at a lower volume. And it is for anyone who collects boutique finds, because a one-man German-heritage brand with a letter under the lid is exactly that.
Skip it if you want an everyday yard cigar, the price and the scarcity both argue against burning these on autopilot. Hunt it down if you want proof the Connecticut category still has new ideas in it. Most cigars are easy to find and hard to remember. This one flips both.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Common questions about the Schöelen Originell 5⅞×52.
