Wrapper: Nicaraguan Habano Oscuro
Binder: Nicaraguan
Filler: Nicaraguan
Size: 5.5 x 52 Box Pressed
Strength: Full
Price: $4.13
I don’t normally review $4 cigars because their heyday of possibly being good cigars disappeared 8-10 years ago. So, lay on Macduff…
BACKGROUND:
From Cigar Page:
“The long-awaited 2nd installment of Untitled just landed. Ironically for Untitled, this blend has a name…. Berserker. If you’re a fan of Nicaraguan tobacco and love cigars booming with richness and complexity, you’ll want to smoke this.
“Out of the gate, it’s as advertised – a spice bomb on the front of tongue with copious volumes of smoke and thick dark grey ash. Part way in it settles down slightly but remains full-bodied from foot to head.
“Very rich with an underlying nuttiness, spicy-sweet notes, and a subtle fruit-like quality. Untitled Berserker looks and smokes every bit the part of a $10+ cigar.”
THE WHOLE MEGILLAH:
The cigar is beautifully constructed. A uniform box press with soft corners. Full of sausage. Solid. A rare bird for $4.
My nose and brain work collegially to find aromas of potent dark chocolate, black coffee, spicy peppers, cloves, dark caramel, strong cedar, black licorice, barnyard, and strong malt.
I reviewed the J. London Pink Telephone Booth yesterday and the strength nearly deflated the balloon I use to hold my nutsack off the ground. I was swirling for a good 30 minutes after I finished. Today is another full-strength cigar. Oh boy.
The stick has a nice heft to it. The draw is a bit tight, but I shall cowboy through it until I feel the need to produce my PerfecDraw.
A very chocolaty start with a nice supply of espresso and several spicy elements beyond the usual singular black pepper influence.
Remember. I review a cigar in the morning on an empty stomach. I get more from a blend without food to taint the subtleties.
Creaminess piles on the scrum. How about that Aaron Rodgers? A less than dazzling start to a new season with a new team.
The blend hits the deck with a not fooling around medium/full strength. A portent of dangerous things to come.
The Nic puro is very much associated with AJ, and this cigar follows those breadcrumbs with an amenable similarity to Fernandez’s style of blending. Never a bad thing.
A generic tarted up fruitiness appears at half an inch burned. A citrusy element snuggles up to that summer fruit I taste in the back of my throat. Malt introduces itself.
A light richness makes itself available.
At 1-1/2” burned, the blend hits full tilt. I grab a defibrillator just in case. I let Charlotte use it on me once…almost. She put the paddles on each of my ears before I stopped her. (BTW- defibrillators are good for placement on your genitals as a substitute for Cialis. If your wife doesn’t mind the smell of smoked meat, you’re good to go).
I maintain my vision despite the cigar’s strength.
This inexpensive cigar is anything but linear. Flavors intensify. The rich notes become fatter. Transitions are on the muted side. The finish is lush. The spiciness that began with a bang settles down and plays nice. The balance of Sweet v. Savory is on point.
I begin to feel the strength as it wraps itself like a crown of thorns around my forehead.
The blend is very typical of a good Nic puro. It does not venture into uncharted territory. Nothing wrong with that. It wreaks of a solid AJ blend.
The char line is razor wire sharp.
The complexity isn’t earth shaking but the flavor profile is substantial and never boring.
Shit, for a $4 stick, you can’t beat this deal.
Usually, a cigar at this price level is light as a feather and the construction is ridiculously imperfect. Not this baby.
It takes 45 minutes to hit the halfway point.
My only criticism is that each cigar I’ve smoked had a cigar band that refused to cooperate.
Funny irrelevant fact…ever smoke a rectangular box press and you put the uncomfortable side in your mouth? I know. Silly.
Still on track: Chocolate, creaminess, malt, spicy, citrus, black licorice, smoked almonds, caramel, and a hint of steak sauce. A $4 stick. Ha.
I am impressed by the construction and the perfect burn line.
We lived in Mesa, AZ during the 1990’s. My dad had come to visit us from Palm Springs. We headed out on a 200-mile road trip west to Yuma. I had a structural project there a few years earlier. It was torture as it was dead center the middle of an Arizona summer. I don’t know what was worse…walking around in noon sunlight wearing a hard hat…or, walking underneath the galvanized sheet metal decking that was baking in the sun. I would have welcomed waterboarding.
We visited old Yuma Territorial Prison. It must have been hell on earth to be thrown into that place. The ceiling was so low in places, you had to hunch over to walk. The cells could cause a claustrophobic anxiety attack. Charlotte lost it when my dad thought it funny to hold the cell door shut so she couldn’t get out. She left and waited in the gift shop for us. Man, I never saw her so pissed off. A year later, she and I took a ride 200-mile journey east of Mesa to Bisbee. A tourist town that has been restored beautifully. If you love stories of the old west, a better place to hang for a day cannot be had. I’ve been to Dodge City. Bisbee is more fun.
As I inch towards the cigar’s demise, I hit sweet spot after sweet spot in minimalist approach mode. The second half is the money shot. I worked as a fluffer in London for a week. I didn’t like it. There was a shortage of Brits for the job because I know you’ve seen old photos of their scary teeth. The toothbrush wasn’t introduced to England until 1981.
A solid 90-minute smoke. And if you must toss it because the wife yells for you to get back to work, no biggie.
Cigar Page says that this blend rivals a $10 stick. I guess that can be true as I’ve reviewed $25 cigars that taste like $3 cigars…and $6 cigars that taste like $12 cigars.
This is an excellent go to cigar for the budget minded. I have a bundle that I keep at the ready. They do better with a few months of humidor time. But honestly, it is not a bad cigar and if I had blind taste tested it, I’d never have guessed it was a $4 stick.
You can purchase these cigars from Cigar Page. They have generously offered my readers 15% off on the Berserker. Use promo code BERSKERKOHN. Not sure how long the promo code will last, so don’t yell at me when it is gone.
I noticed that CP has a sale that will finish at the end of this Friday, September 15. It is called “Tune-Up 50-Brand Stacked Pack Stock up!”. Included in that sale is a Berserker Sampler of 10 cigars for $29.99. That’s a steal. But the Promo Code does not apply to this purchase. You’re getting the sticks for only $3 each.
RATING: 90
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