The Serie Gran Reserva 1988 received a 95 rating from Cigar Aficionado and earned the #3 spot in their top 25 list for 2019, offering a medium bodied experience with notes of cinnamon, molasses, barnyard, stone fruit, and coffee. The GR88 blend was created to commemorate Kyle Gellis' birth year, representing a milestone cigar that took years to develop before he was accepting of the blend bearing his birth year. The blend is a mélange of Nicaraguan tobaccos grown by agricultural giant Aganorsa that come together brilliantly with a balanced profile of malted chocolate, coffee bean and an earthy undertone. The Serie Gran Reserva 1988 is composed entirely of Nicaraguan tobacco and is being produced at the Tabacos Valle de Jalapa S.A. factory in Estelí, Nicaragua. The Serie Gran Reserva 1988 is comprised of a Nicaraguan Corojo '99 wrapper, Nicaragua Corojo '99 and Criollo '98 fillers, and Nicaraguan binders. This boutique offering reflects Warped's commitment to traditional craftsmanship and their "exclusively different" philosophy, maintaining focus on smaller ring gauge cigars that emphasize nuanced flavor profiles over brute strength. The Serie Gran Reserva 1988 delivers a full-flavored, medium-bodied smoking experience with a profile that is full of both richness and nuance, with a wonderful ever-present white pepper note on the retrohale and maple sweetness on the finish, while the dominant flavors shift from earth to almonds and oak as the smoke progresses with an exceedingly creamy profile throughout. There's a decent amount of complexity and the transitions are somewhat subtle, but it carries a great balance of rich flavors on a medium body, making for a very enjoyable experience that can easily be smoked at various times of the day and will appeal to a wide range of smokers.