Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano Dark
Binder: Nicaraguan Ometepe Habano
Filler: Nicaraguan (Condega Viso, Esteli Ligero)
Size: 6 x 52 Toro
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $9.99
My fiver was bought from sponsor Small Batch Cigar 3-1/2 months ago.
THE WHOLE MEGILLAH:
This is a new company founded by ex-CAO Rick Rodriguez and ex-General Cigar Gus Martinez. The company began doing business in March 2022. Two releases named simply Black…and White. Even my readers can remember this. Both blends are regular production.
The cigar is very light in the hand. This could be a portent of things to come…translation: a Toro that doesn’t make it to 90 minutes. I could be wrong.
I toast the foot and as is usual with older toasters, I have to toast my bread 1-1/2 times.
We are off and running…a nice chocolatey start.
Also, a mild introduction.
A light spiciness that is black pepper in nature. I don’t know what’s wrong with me but ever since I was a teen, every time I’d go on a nature walk, I’d need to take a dump within 5 minutes. Must have been fear and exhilaration.
Very smooth. Like me, except for the limp.
Creamy, freshly baked bread, malt, a scoche of black licorice, and almonds.
The burn gets wonky, and I stare the cigar down in a no blink contest. The cigar wins. I’ve had the same issue with the previous Blacks I smoked prior to review. It will need a touch up very soon…like now.
My 6-minute impression is that this is just another unidentifiable catalog stick. Nothing special.
In fact, the early flavors disappear like a scared turtle. Damn. I smoked my previous cigars and experienced the same thing…this is the company’s first release from two pros in the cigar biz? Did they even smoke the thing before release? Or are their palates fakakta?
The cigar is woefully underfilled. And it needs another torch fest to keep the char line from going nuts.
I smoked 1-1/2” in 10 minutes. At this rate, the 90-minute Toro will be a withered husk in 40 minutes. Shame, shame, shame.
Zero complexity. Flavors have fucking disappeared completely. What the hell am I smoking…a broken branch from a fallen tree?
No subtleties, no nuances…and not a lick of transitions. The finish is burnt wood.
This cigar is going to piss me off.
I paid $50 for a fiver, and I want my money back. So far, I rate this cigar as a $2.50 bundle cigar. Nice cigar band, though.
Maybe one time out of 10 a new cigar company arises from the ashes of Covid and delivers the goods. The rest of the time, the new companies are selling total shit. And I hope the bosses at WTTC read this review.
I found a couple reviews and they heap some praise on this dog turd. And their palates ain’t any better than mine. Both are cigar industry sites. I guess you gotta come to me to get the real skinny.
This cigar is described as medium/full in strength. Balderdash. It is sitting comfy at barely medium.
If the profile was any blander, it would be a fresh tampon. Don’t ask.
If over 3 months of humidor time doesn’t bring the flavor profile to life, then it is doomed to obscurity for life.
I find it amazing how many cigar bosses release a piece of junk while proudly puffing up their chests with pride. Just shows you that it is OK to take advantage of smokers who want to try something new.
There is no way that Rodriguez and Martinez smoked this thing and said, “Wow!” And yet this was the final blend that they agreed upon. Fuck me.
$50 is dear. I don’t like flushing my money down the toilet. And that’s exactly what I did.
I am filibustering because there are no flavors worth mentioning…no complexity at all. Nothing even faintly resembling a premium cigar. Fuck me.
I prepared a nice after review rock n roll story for this review. Fuck that. I’m not wasting it on a cigar that will hit the bargain bins next month.
Someone gave this cigar a 91! Oh lawdy, lawdy, lawdy.
I’ve smoked premium cigars for 54 years. And I’m not senile despite what many readers think. Regardless of the sensitivity to different palates, I know a good cigar from a shit cigar…and this is a shit cigar.
Look up linear in the dictionary and you’ll see this cigar.
The char line needs constant touch ups. My level of being pissed off is rising as I hate wasting my time on a cigar that stinks.
I torch the foot again and the flame won’t go out! Maybe being blasted with a fire extinguisher will help the flavor profile.
And you wonder why the cigar industry hates me…or maybe you don’t.
I can’t get the billboard cigar band off, so I shred it. Should have taken a hammer to it.
Strength is upped at the halfway point. Wonderful. I betcha’ a dollar that this cigar is going to knock me unconscious with nicotine.
Black pepper, discarded wood chips, fried spleen with oxen gonads, toasted birth control pills, sauteed toilet brush, cooked babies that Hillary couldn’t finish, the cigar takes blotter acid, and it bums out the LSD, 3 oz. of Putin brains on rye bread, and finally…burnt water.
How am I doing? Yeah, I know.
The cigar ain’t going to get better so I have no idea why I am torturing myself and dragging you under with me.
With 2” to go, I’m raising the white flag. And then I take a volley of #9 balls to the naughty bits.
If you bought this cigar and enjoyed it…turn in your Quorum Badge.
If you haven’t purchased this cigar and I find you did…then my apologies for not reviewing this cigar sooner. My apologies.
RATING: 65
Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS
Cigar Reviews by Phil 'Katman' Kohn 
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