Wrapper: Nicaraguan Corojo ’99 Rosado
Binder: Nicaraguan Corojo ’99, Nicaraguan Criollo ‘98
Filler: Nicaraguan Ligero (Jalapa & Esteli)
Size: 6.25 x 52
Body: Medium
Price: $8.95

The cigar made its debut in mid-2014.
From the Blessed Leaf Press Release:
“Kairos is defined as a specific moment in time when the Divine intervenes directly into your life. To us, there is a duel application. Obviously, as a person smokes the cigar they will have a “heavenly” smoking experience. Secondly, that the support raised for Christian missions will impact people’s lives with the gospel of Christ.”

From Cigar Federation:
“First the cigar details. This micro-batch limited edition has a total production of 4000 cigars! That’s it! Made in Miami, Florida in the Casa Fernandez factory, the Blessed Leaf Kairos uses a silky vintage Corojo 99 Rosado wrapper. A true Nicaraguan puro, the Blessed Leaf Kairos features two ligeros in the filler from Esteli and Jalapa.

“You can feel good knowing that when you purchase the Blessed Leaf Kairos you become a part of something greater than yourself!”

I found something unusual when taking photos. On one side of the band, there are Hebrew letters that are meant to spell “Shalom” in Hebrew. This is what the Hebrew Shalom looks like: שָׁלוֹם. Hebrew is written right to left. Unlike English, which is written left to right. So the Blessed Leaf spelled it backwards. On top of that, they misspelled it by leaving out a couple vowels that appears as dots and dashes in the long hand spelling.

I’m sure they meant no harm, but for chrissakes, go to Google and type in the right translation of the word before some idiot in the office says he knows how to spell Shalom in Hebrew. Which of course, means Peace, Hello, and Goodbye. Like Aloha.

The wrapper is a nicely mottled brown that comes close to being the color of butterscotch. In the right light, there is a bit of oiliness. The wrapper feels very sandy to the touch. The cigar is a sloppy box press. More misshaped than box press. Seams are tight. A shit load of veins. A nicely done triple cap. Between the mottling and the vein count, it has a rustic look. The stick is very hard.

I clip the cap and find aromas of caramel, cocoa, cedar, spice, leather, and sweetness.
Time to light up.

The first puff flavors creep up on me. At first, there is sweetness and meatiness. Then a wallop of red pepper. The following flavor is a big dose of espresso latte. And the flavors keep piling on: Red pepper, creaminess, nuts, caramel, sweetness, cocoa, coffee, cedar, and leather.

Some wrapper comes loose at the cap. In the front.

The draw is perfect. The char line gets wavy and needs a touch up. And the strength is classic medium bodied.

I like the cigar, so far. Although, the wrapper issue at the cap dismays me. I merely used a simple V cut and it should not have caused a meltdown. Looks terrible in the photos. I only have four sticks. And at $9 a stick, I’m not lighting up another to see if it is any different. A friend sent me two and I bought one in sampler at CF and got one free as a mystery cigar for spending over $50.

The buildup of flavors is a bit stalled. Except for the sweetness, caramel, and cocoa and coffee, the other flavors have become mute. The spiciness is all but gone now. The other flavors are well in the background now.

The blend teeter totters on the fence trying to decide if it is old school blending or New Breed Tattooed One’s style of blending. I’ve allowed the first two sticks I received as a gift to humidor age for 3 weeks. Possibly not long enough.

The second third begins and no flavor bomb. It is extremely pleasant but either this is the way it tastes or it needs some serious humidor time. I had not smoked one prior to this review. But even if I am only smoking the potential, I am impressed.

The flavor profile changes: Creaminess, nuts, coffee, cocoa, cedar, and leather. I expected some dried fruit as most Nic puros contain, but nada.

The spice is just about through with this cigar. The strength remains at medium bodied.

Some additional wrapper issues appear near the foot. I am disappointed. Or did I get a real stinkeroo as a sample to review? I just can’t afford to smoke a lot of expensive sticks prior to a review. I’m on a budget like most of you, dear readers.

The only thing I can do at this point is wait a few weeks and torch one up again and report back. The construction issues up to this point would keep me from purchasing another stick.

Which is a shame because this is a nice tasting stick. Not flavor bomb, mind you, but very nice. I’m betting that by the halfway point, the stick will blossom and find its sweet spot.

The cocoa and coffee make a surge for the front of the line. Even moving the creaminess out of the way. Nuts are right behind. It is hard not to like that trifecta of flavors. But if I had to guess the cost of the cigar, I would say it is in the $6-$7 price range.

A note on the photos. Anything very light in color is washed out because of my $1 Instamatic camera. So you are not missing out on any design or text but it does have an unappealing look. My fault, not the cigar’s.

I’m at the halfway point and the cigar is struggling to become a flavor bomb.

No new flavors. The ones that I’ve listed have just become super potent. The cigar becomes complex. The balance of flavors is great. And now has a long finish. Even syrupy.

I’m conflicted about this cigar. It has nice flavoring. But I got really nice flavoring from the inexpensive La Aurora Escogidos that is a La Aurora event cigar and one given to people taking the La Aurora factory tour. And this cigar is $2.25. And has no wrapper issues.

The char line needs more attention. If I don’t touch it up, there will be trouble in paradise.

The strength moves to medium/full in the last portion of the cigar.

If the price point was in the $6-$7 range, I’d say go for it and let the cigars rest a month or longer before lighting one up. Although, the only improvement to the flavor profile possible is that it becomes a flavor bomb earlier. I have no issues with the flavor.

As a Jew, I find it somewhat insulting that this company did not take the time to get the Hebrew right. That’s just damn lazy. And disrespectful.
NOTE 5-23-14:
I contacted the company and told them how they screwed up. Guess what? Not even the courtesy of a reply. Real Christian of them.

The other thing I’m wary of is that they don’t say how much of the profits go to the Christian missionary work. You know how you get those dinner time phone calls from the police or fire fighter’s associations? They guilt you into contributing. Well, as it turns out, less than 5% of the money you donate actually goes to those two organizations. The rest goes to overhead. So it is a scam.

I’m not saying that the sale of this cigar’s profits that go to the charity is a scam but why not divulge how much is going to the charity? Transparency. More important these days than in any other time.

The last portion of the cigar is a real candy bar.

The cigar is not holding its own with maybe 1-1/2” to go. It is just disintegrating.

And now for something completely different:

I was 15. My grandfather took me to Israel and Europe for the summer. It was 1965 and the Middle East was in serious turmoil. Only two years away from the seven day war in 1967.

Regardless of religion, everyone should make at least one trip to Israel. It is just not the home of all things Judaica but the home of Christianity. While there, I took the church tour and saw some marvelous, and ancient, Christian churches. We also went to places that Jesus spent time. And where the last supper took place. Gives you the shivers.

I don’t know about now, but when Friday night comes along, everything shuts down for the Sabbath. My friends and I went up to Mt. Zion in Jerusalem. It was closed but you could still wander around. We walked into a dirt floored room where the tomb of King David was. Talk about getting the shivers.

Soon, it was too dark to see anything and we beat feet to get out of there but we were lost. The place is huge.
Thankfully, a Palestinian saw us and walked us out of the place and we were able to get back to the King David Hotel.

The next morning, I was rocked out of my bed because of an early morning attack on the hotel. One moment, I was sleeping. And the next, I was laying on the floor with my ears ringing.

At that time, Jerusalem was still split in two. Israel had one half and Jordan had the other half.

We walked through Mt. Zion, during the day, and next to the Jerusalem Wall, Jordanian soldiers were encamped in machine gun nests right next to the open windows of the building. Their wall was maybe 3 feet taller and you had to stick your head out of the open window and look up.

The soldiers were very friendly and posed for photos for all of the tourists. That was really strange.
We saw things that truly stunned us. As Americans, we see buildings that are 200 years old and think we are looking into the past. But go to the Middle East and you look at things over 2000 years old. It gives you some perspective.

Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS

Tags: Blessed Leaf Kairos Cigar Review, cigar review, cigar reviews by the katman, cigars