Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano

Binder: Dominican

Filler: Dominican, Nicaraguan

Size: 5.5 x 54  “Robusto”

Body: Medium/Full

Price: $4.00

I rarely do house cigars or very inexpensive cigars. Why? Because I am an effete snob. And this cigar sounds interesting to me.

The Obsidian has been around a long time on CI and cigar.com. And it’s not a bad cigar. Now comes the White Noise which has a totally different blend and sounds terrific on paper.

I’ve let them sleep for over a month now and it should be safe to light up and get either its full potential or of things to come.

There is no info on the web about this cigar; only the descriptions on the cigar stores’ sell page. The huge white paper tube looks like a condom. But it has no end so its ability to stop children from sprouting seems minimal.

Construction is excellent. Very firm in the hand. Seams are pretty tight except for one instance. There are lots of veins. And the wrapper has a tawny brown color with a reddish hue. It looks like a triple cap but there is no info to confirm it.

I sniff around and detect only the smallest hint of any aroma; but mostly cedar and cocoa.

So I clip it and light up.

The first puffs bring sweetness and earthiness to the table. Cedar is apparent as well. The body is mild. The draw is spot on and so is the char line. Smoke spews from the foot.

A bit of cocoa arrives. But no spice until I write the words. Its red pepper and it has only the smallest of impact.

The sweetness is the fuel running the machine during the first inch. This flavor profile is not what I expected. The mild body begins to rise….it is just shy of medium.

I didn’t expect to like this cigar that much. House brands tend to be mediocre, at best. Look at Famous. Their catalog is mostly the advertising of house brands. And I reviewed quite a bit of them. And I didn’t like most of them. So that traumatic experience has made me shy away from reviewing house brands the best I could.

I have this puppy in my open maw and am enjoying it. It is a big cigar for a robusto. When I first saw it, I thought it was a 6 x 60. I don’t like big cigars. The exception? Paul Stulac cigars. I have 3 boxes marinating and treat myself to one three to four times a week and they are just gorgeous cigars to smoke and they are 6 x 60. But they work around the size issue and are very flavorful.

Back to the White Noise. This stick is packed to the gills with tobacco and therefore, is a slow burner. It is taking forever to get past the 1” mark.

I get a heavy cream component. Which increases the sweetness. And the cocoa really begins to define itself. I haven’t smoked the original Obsidian in some time but I can say unequivocally, that this stick is much more flavorful.

The new breed of cigars coming from young men with lots of tattoos has two things in common: Spiciness and flavor bombs. They are training us to get used to that profile. And I am all the happier for it. The last 10 cigars I’ve reviewed have been, for the most part, flavor bombs. It appears to be the new wave in cigar blending. The old school sticks from the big companies are lagging behind the tattooed guys. The big difference is that the new breed cigars are expensive. While the Old School cigars can be had much cheaper. New Breed likes to charge $8-$10 a stick. I know, I know…small batches, hard to get tobacco, blah, blah, blah.

The first third ends without much change to the flavors. The body continues to be medium. I’m hoping that the second third wakes me up.

I’m beginning to think that this cigar needs a lot of humidor time. Its pedigree of leaves is good but the cigar is sort of blah.

The flavor profile hasn’t changed since the first inch. The spiciness has gotten a little stronger but that’s it.

I hit the halfway point and while the cigar isn’t bad, it sure isn’t earth shattering. I’m going to finish the cigar to see if the last third brings some surprise. I also think that I will revisit the review in a month or two, giving the cigars a chance to rest some more. The flavors I am getting are just potential and not the blender’s intentions.

The thing is…this cigar is not unpleasant. The sweetness is what is carrying the cigar so far and keeping me from putting it down. This cigar is on the right track and time will correct the blah component.

The cigar, is beginning to taste like a cigar now. Flavors are popping out. And I feel a bit light headed.

The sweetness and earthiness are running the show with cocoa just behind them. The body is moving towards full. While this stick is not as good as I hoped because I have smoked it a little too soon, it has great potential. You can score these cigars much cheaper on Cbid. Probably for around $3 a stick. The char line has been spot on.

And now for something completely different:

I played in a 5 piece band back in 1972. A black lead singer who thought he was Lou Rawls, keys, guitar, drums and me on bass.

We got a gig at Chino State Prison. The woman’s side.

Getting through the security with a van full of musical equipment went much better than expected; especially considering we had lots of personal weed on board.

They had a combo auditorium/gym. It was a very nice stage about 4 tall with a curtain. We took our time setting up and a few women showed up. One sneaked on to the stage begging for any fruit or veggies we might have. We had some apples. And we gave them to her. She told us that they drop the fruit in a metal pail, covered it with gauze and let it sit for a couple of months. Then, they would pour off the liquid and drink it to get a buzz. The fruit fermented into liquor. She also asked for pot but we weren’t that stupid.

The gig started.

There must have been a hundred women and they were all dancing. During a break, I talked to a guard and said it was nice that they allowed some men in to dance with the chicks. He looked at me like I was a moron. “There aren’t any men in here except the guards.”

Whoa. Dykes. Bull dykes.

Our singer, Ron, was a good looking guy. And the chicks went wild over him. But he was startled when they began to grab his legs from the edge of the stage. This really shook him up. So he moved back a few feet.

We were a cover band but we had good taste. Lots of classic R & B. And lots of Stevie Wonder.

I saw the Manson chicks at the back of the gym standing against the wall. During a break they came up to me to talk. The tattoos between their eyes freaked me out. And remember, this was only 4 years after the Tate murders. They told me how much they liked our music and how much they liked me. They told me that Charlie would like me because I was a good bassist. Whoa. I was getting really freaked out. How many people do you know that the Manson women told them Charlie would like them? I could have lived without that comment.

We played four sets. And the girls were all good natured; except for the bull dykes who didn’t like us looking at the women. Obviously, some of the good looking chicks were theirs. It would have taken three guards to pull one of those bull dykes off of me.

During breaks, we would step outside without a guard nearby and lit up a joint. In retrospect, I can’t believe we did that.

And then I got the shock of my life. The great Brazilian singer, Flora Purim, was here. I thought she was at Terminal Island Prison in Long Beach. But for some reason, she spent some time at Chino. You would have to be into Latin jazz to know who Flora was. She got busted for marijuana possession. Her husband, Airto, is a jazz legend.

She came up to me towards the end of the evening and spoke to me. She complimented the band. And she said I reminded her of bassist, Stanley Clarke. Wow.

I asked a guard if Flora could come on stage and sing with us.

“NO.”

Damn.

Check her out on Amazon. This woman was born to sing. And I idolized her and her husband. They cranked out some wonderful tunes.

The gig was over and we began to pack up. The women were loitering by the stage. All of them making obscene overtures to the band. It was a hell of an ego boost for a cover band.

We got searched one more time. And then we drove away. We played there one more time.

We brought extra fruit.

Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS