Wrapper: Brazilian Mata Fina
Binder: Honduran
Filler: Nicaraguan, Colombian
Size: 5 x 50
Body: Medium/Full
Price: $4.00-6.00

This is a house brand that Alec Bradley makes for Famous Smoke. I’ve had this stick stored in my humidor for a month.

The cigar is pretty solid. There are a lot of veins, both big and small. The single cap is expertly crafted. The Mata Fina wrapper is the color of very dark chocolate. It has a nice oily sheen and a bit of tooth.

The cigar has double bands. The main band is sort of psychedelic. And the secondary band merely states the name of the blend.

I clip the cap and find aromas of spice and cocoa. Or more precisely, chocolate nougat. Like a Three Musketeers bar. There are aromas of very dark espresso, some very potent cedar, and new leather.
Time to light up.

The first puffs are very sweet. And chock full of cocoa. The espresso translates from aroma to taste. The stick is nice and solid but yet the draw is spot on. The char line is the slightest bit wavy. There is a beefiness to the cigar, in that, it has a masculine quality. This means it whines a lot and doesn’t like babysitting the kids.

Very early on in the cigar and the flavors are really pretty expressive. Very bold and very delicious. The cigar does need its time in your humidor. I bought a 5 pack on Cigar Monster and tried a couple way too soon and therefore wasted them. A month is perfect.

I try to stay away from house brands because they always seem to come up short. They are the poor orphan child of the real thing. But I have been intrigued by this cigar and thought, what the hell, and pulled the trigger.

The spiciness finally shows itself after an inch. It is mild but tongue tingling. Gotta’ have spice in my cigars.

I’ve also switched to smoking robustos almost exclusively now. When I was rich and good looking, I had the dough to allow my cigars to rest for 6 months, a year, two years. But now that I am poor and funny looking, I need my cigars to present themselves with the blender’s intent tout suite.
At the one inch point, the char line is dead nuts perfect. I can feel the pride of the rollers in this cigar. The excellent construction just radiates through your hands and your mouth.

I hit the end of the first third and the sweetness moves to the front of the line. There should be a fruity component, but I cannot detect one yet. The leaf blend is an interesting one. The Bradley folks weren’t screwing around with this stick. They took it serious; even if it is a house brand. And that’s the feeling I don’t get with most house brands from any online store. They seem slapped together for the sole purpose of getting something in the catalog. This cigar betrays that short sighted vision.

The cigar gets nutty now. It isn’t a specific nut. It is a combo of several. I can’t seem to detect a specific one. Maybe a little almond or marzipan, some hazelnut, some cashew. Hard to tell for sure.

Some subtle creaminess appears in the second third. And not much more is going on.

At the halfway mark, the flavors take off. The creamy flavor goes from timid to bold. The cocoa, coffee, nuts, sweetness, red pepper, cedar and leather spew specificity. Each flavor is distinct and to the point. Houston, we have a flavor bomb.

Yet, so far, no complexity. There is a trend for the new cigars coming out in this price range to be flavor bombs, mostly Nicaraguan leaves, and not terribly complex. This cigar falls into this category. There are dozens and dozens of cigars in this price range just like it. It’s not a bad thing. It just means that we have another good choice in the lineup of $5 sticks.

I should add that very few of the cigars in this category have such a near perfect burn line. It doesn’t mean anything particularly. Just another notch in the construction process that ratchets the quality of the cigar.

The last third begins and the double cigar bands must come off. The secondary band comes off without a hitch. I decide to leave the main band on for a bit.

Well, fellow cigar smokers, this is a fine cigar. The draw actually gets better during the last third. And it is here, that some complexity kicks in. The flavors are still very distinct, and none have gone away or diminished. But there is that richness and finesse that connects through my palate to my brain that says this cigar is a wonderfully blended cigar. An earthiness becomes the baseline for the other flavors.

That fruity flavor I could not detect is raisin. Not an unusual flavor for this blend mixture. But for some reason, it was too subtle, early on, for me to detect.

I grab a Diet Coke because the cocoa and the creaminess demand I experience my egg cream fantasy. Making the whole mishegos taste like a chocolate soda with milk instead of ice cream. My friends in NY, and my landsmen, will know what I am talking about.

The main cigar band comes of easily, as well.

Well, these last few inches of cigar are just a wet dream of flavors. While the price point is $4-$6 retail with Famous, I wonder what they go for on their other site, Cigar Auctioneer? I bet you can shave a buck or two off of each cigar.

I’ve failed to note that throughout the process of smoking the cigar, the body has been a static classic medium. The PR on Famous’ web site says it is a full bodied cigar. I will have to change that classification to medium/full. And that is assuming that in the last couple of inches, it ratchets up the power.

The char line leaves the land of perfection and becomes wavy. No big deal. No corrections are needed.

I’m truly digging this cigar.

Pow! My vision blurs. I begin making typos. My hand/eye coordination begins to fail me. Full body has been attained.

The flavor profile becomes even more intense. There is a very nice complexity now. The cigar oozes richness and nuance.
I had to wait on this cigar for a month for it to blossom but now seems worth the wait. It straddles the line of old school and New Breed blending.

I can highly recommend this cigar. It is chock full of flavor. Its construction is near perfect. And best of all, it is a very satisfying smoke. Kudos Alec Bradley.

Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS