Wrapper: Ecuadorian Shade
Binder: USA Connecticut (Aged 4 Years)
Filler: Dominican, Peruvian (Aged 4 Years)
Size: 5.5 x 52 Toro
Strength: Mild/Medium
Price: $17.60
My cigars received two months of naked humidor time.
BACKGROUND:
I asked Jeremy Casdagli what makes Hendrik Kelner so special. This is his response.
“Hi Phil
The long and the short of it is as follows…
The overriding characteristic of Davidoff, Zino, Casdagli, and Cubans is to create full bodied full, flavour mild/medium strength cigars. This is the very essence of what the Kelners strive for.
Davidoff joined up with the Kelners after they arrived from Cuba. Davidoff was looking to get close to Cuban characteristics. After all, this is what their client base expected. It was certainly true in my case as well.
This mysterious cigar characteristic of full body but mild strength is not easy and seems to contradict itself. A perplexing dichotomy.
How many mild but boring cigars have you tasted recently, Phil – reading some of your reviews, quite a few.
The secret to achieving the impossible is the tobacco you can procure. Peruvian is a great blending tobacco that takes the edge off stronger tobaccos you choose to marry it with…but Peruvian is particularly difficult to get a hold of as only one commercial plantation exists. Even more importantly is developing your own proprietary tobacco which Casdagli Cigars prides itself in. The Kelners have both these attributes in spades.
Davidoff has the buying power to get hold of very rare tobaccos due to their huge influence over the last 33 years.
And as for developing the tobacco … well “Henke” is a master at marrying hybrids to the best terroir – and I believe that the Cibao Valley (Dominican Republic) has the most diverse terroirs for tobacco in the world.
To get the Cubanesque characteristic, without using Cuban tobacco, is a difficult puzzle that we try to solve every time we bring a new blend into the world. I’d like to humbly think that we solve that riddle with each new cigar blend. The Kelners are the answer to that conundrum.
Hope that helps, Phil.
Jeremy”
THE WHOLE MEGILLAH:
I have a slightly plugged cigar. What do I do? No idea.
Chocolate start with vanilla cream latte. Nice. Mild strength. Tasty. I’m done.
3 days later. I’m in the church vestibule begging for forgiveness. The pastor asks me to genuflect. I tell him my knees are bad. He tells me to get out.
Back at the ranch…a lovely lemon citrus arrives that is typical of a good Dominican. Kelner is present and accounted for. The four years of aging finds a score of incidental nuances. It is a pleasant valley Sunday…or will be.
By now, a Casdagli blend would be soaring. At a quick 1” burned, the richness is there but the complexity is not. The Scepter Series takes its time to build. Not a cheap cigar. Wasting time puts the cigar back on the 10 yard line on 2nd down.
Davidoff and Zino cigars can be very good. But they rarely shoot out of the gate like gangbusters. They like to grow. Which is OK if you like that sort of thing. For a $10 cigar, it is an acceptable premise. When a cigar is priced at a couple sawbucks or more, I want the fool to be dancing while I plug away at its feet with my pistola. In this analogy, the pistola is my PerfecDraw…and the plugging is tobacco detritus. Or the plugging is mentioning my PerfecDraw. And my pistola is my…now I’m confused.
Sophisticated smokers with dough will pish posh my impatience. Their prerogative. I want it now. I want to be sated immediately. I want my cigar to scream with passion from the start. I’m paying for it, so I want what I want. I therefore must choose wisely…ah, there’s the rub. Choosing wisely. So hard.
There are flashes of brilliance. If I wanted flashes, I’d have taken more acid when I was younger.
Construction meets my standards. The char line is pithy. No, I don’t have a lisp.
Dominican blends don’t become flavor bombs. They rely on their complexity, richness, nuances, subtleties, and inference of opinion to impress. Again, this is OK. But it puts a lot of strain on the blender. You basically get one chance to get it right. You spank together your best shot and then sit back and wait for the naysayers to take you down…assholes all. I guess that includes me. Critics are sad sacks. If we had more meaningful lives, we wouldn’t be picking on blenders.
This Zino is very good. But not eventful. The crawl is slow. Tasty. Not exciting or hectic.
After our first concert, I thought Sonja took me into the closet to show me her wares, which she did…instead it was to show me the tracks on her arms. I was disappointed that there was no happy ending for Philly. I had no idea what waited for me.
The halfway point is upon me. Do I slog on with another 867 words…or do I edit myself.
A good friend had his foot amputated but still attacks the drums with cool composure.
Being an achiever is a good thing. Being a super achiever means you are all fucked up in the head while you are spending your well-earned dough.
I want to report something special and that Zino knocked it out of the park. You expect better things from these folks…especially when Kelner is involved. After taxes, you are spending $20+ for the stick. Life is all about expectations. Not to be ignored.
Casdagli Lite.
Are you going to be in my dreams tonight? Nope. The love you take is equal to the love you make.
Well, they give me all kinds of warnings to save me from ruin. I’m just sittin’ here doing time.
Did I just waste a good Casdagli quote. Dunno.
You can purchase this blend plus other Zinos from sponsors Small Batch Cigar (10% off with promo code ‘katman’), Luxury Cigar Club (15% off with promo code ‘katman’), and Cigar Page.
RATING: 91
Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS
Cigar Reviews by the Katman 
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