Wrapper: 10-year-aged Criollo 98
Binder: Undisclosed (Aged 6-12 years)
Filler: Undisclosed (Aged 6-12 years)
Size: 6 x 52 Torpedo Box Press
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $12.00

My cigars have had 3 months of naked humidor time.
With the advertised aging on the leaves, this baby should be ready to impress.

NOTE: I was diagnosed with Covid a few days ago…after I came down with what I thought was a cold virus. I can’t swallow. My taste-o-vision is gone. And I sound like Janis Joplin when I talk. Here is a review from a year ago.

BACKGROUND:
From Ezra Zion:
“Total Production: 495
Let me just tell you right away that SWORD DEMON SLAYER is NOT for the faint-of-heart!
This is our favorite kind of cigar…. where we go off the reservation and into the “Way-outta-sphere”…Pairing different combinations of tobaccos together that have never been tried before!

SWORD DEMON SLAYER features some of the richest and most decadent tobaccos from the EZHQ aging vault! We had to reach deep into our tobacco arsenal. This stuff has been aging and aging at the perfect humidity and temp for years! (And, yes, before you email us…it does have tons of Medio Tiempo ligero!)

SWORD DEMON SLAYER is a full-bodied, med/full-strength box-pressed 6×52 box-pressed torpedo. The wrapper is an 10-year-aged Criollo 98 leaf. Binder and filler tobaccos will remain a closely guarded secret….but they are all 6-12 years-aged.”

THE WHOLE MEGILLAH:
First, I was a fanboy of Ezra Zion starting in 2014 when hardly anyone knew about them. I wrote 26 EZ cigar reviews between 2014-2016. And then EZ started pumping out cigars like crazy. All of them with tiny release numbers. Same business model as Lost & Found.
I don’t have a problem with that if the cigars match up to their press releases.

Unfortunately, most did not going forward from 2017. Ezra Zion are their own best cheerleaders. Every blend had the same description maintaining that “this cigar” is their best yet. After a while, the disappointments came fast and furious. I couldn’t believe anything they described. They continue to use the same business model. Seasoned smokers are tired of the same ol’ same ol’. But who am I to judge. They are laughing all the way to the bank. And I live in Milwaukee.

I truly hope this is a great cigar. In my mind, this is the one that needs to come through with guns a’blazing. If not, well…as George W. Bush once said, “Fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.”

Enough brand bashing.
Aromas are lovely…dark chocolate, Almond Roca, black pepper, caramel, malt, cedar, and barnyard.

There is a plug. The body of the cigar, as opposed to its legs, is dense. My PerfecDraw draw adjustment tool hears me cursing in Latin and comes a’ running. A few masturbatory strokes and the cigar has been cleared to smoke.

The hilt of the dagger on the rubber band pokes me in the nose. It shall be released.

Very spicy. I taste aged tobacco immediately. A mustiness that comes with proper aging.
I allow it to just sit on my palate for a few moments to see how it travels. It books the ‘A Train’ and fills my mouth with dark chocolate, black pepper, almonds, caramel, and red pepper.

A chocolaty depth ensues that brings creaminess and nuts. So far, it is a very nice dessert cigar. Baking spices enhance the perimeter.

Lawdy, this cigar seems accurately true to the consistently crazy over the top P.R. by Ezra Zion. I am so glad that I don’t need to write a bummer review. I’m selfish about this. I want to be entertained by my first cigar of the day…not be pissed off. Yeah, I’m typically more entertaining when I’m pissed off, but it ruins my morning.

The burn is sharp. The cigar’s weight feels right. Nicely constructed.

The test will be the non-linear complexity I expect from this point forward.

Strength just barely touches medium/full almost from the start. Expect the usual whining as the cigar plans on giving me an out of body experience.

Warren Zevon. “Lawyers, Guns and Money.” Love that song. The shit has hit the fan.
Creaminess jumps in with both…it jumps in.

1-1/2” burned. 12 minutes. Nicht gut. It is running for its life.

The complexity is not what I had expected…by that, I mean it ain’t that complex.
Damn. Oh no. Have I been fooled again?

The cigar is nice. But the onslaught of flavors has ceased. Just like that. They quit on me. Damn.

Strength is medium/full with no overtones of impending death.

Sure, it is only a $12 stick. I need to keep that in mind. If the price point was $15-$25, I’d be bitching like your old lady. But pleasant is all this blend has to offer. Damn.

The dreaded linear quality begins at 1-3/4” burned.
I’ve been snookered once again.

You must consider that only 495 cigars were produced. I do believe this is a continuation of a ‘Sword’ line that Ezra Zion sells on certain occasions. It’s a lot of work to put out less than 500 cigars and make a profit. I must assume that these cigars sat in some factory’s storage facility and EZ found them. I can’t say for sure. But small quantities mean the cigars were already rolled when found…as opposed to finding disparate bunches of perfectly aged leaves, rolled, aged, and bundled. The path of least resistance is to find them underneath a beer cooler in the corner of the factory. Remember, these are just assumptions based upon experience but not confirmed.

EZ claims that the second third is where the money is. I now venture into that arena.
The mustiness reverses course and goes from tasty to just musty.

Flavors drop by the wayside and are no longer pungent with high expectations.

I smoked a couple sticks along the way to this review and experienced the exact same thing as I am subjected to now.

Flavors that remain conscious: Black pepper, dark chocolate, creaminess, and red pepper. That’s all folks. Maybe the EZ boys just have much better palates than me.

I am nearing the halfway point at 30 minutes. This should have been a 90–120-minute smoke.

With each puff, I’m being let down and yes, I’m getting pissed off.

Ezra Zion describes the second third as “Dark chocolate, dark roasted coffee bean, and toasted hazelnut emerge. Hints of spiced rum and cedar. Halfway, the complexity continues to build. Cocoa, whipped cream, red pepper, and walnut appear. Blasts of nougat, earth, and malt on the finish.”

Nothing is blasting from the cigar except for the high level of black pepper. The cigar is on a linear path that is ruining the experience for me.

Subtle notes and nuances are non-existent. The spiciness covers everything this cigar may have to offer.
Damn.

At least it is burning quickly.

The cigar tastes like an old cigar way past its expiration date. You know what I’m talking about. You find a gem hidden in your humidor and light it up and it tastes like crap. Some cigars just don’t age well.

For the untrained palate, this cigar may be acceptable. After all, that’s who EZ’s customer base is made up of. I wrote 26 very positive reviews from 2014-2016. These guys really had passionate souls about what they produced. I believe this factor is long gone only to be replaced by mass marketing mediocre cigar blends. Such a shame. These boys have real blending talent.

Bitterness and harshness appear. This is a terrible cigar. I am never going to trust this brand again. No more hopes and wishes that a new blend tastes like their enthusiastic descriptions.

There is zero complexity. Zero depth of field. Transitions are exempt. The finish is nothing more than powerful black pepper. Damn.

Nothing is going to change. No reason to punish myself. I give up with 2-1/2” to go.

RATING: 65
UPDATE: 2 months later. Bupkis. No change. Aged too much? Dunno. Flavorless.

Stay tuned for the next SWAG Daddy contest coming soon…
Check out Katman’s Kartel page at Small Batch Cigar and score deals on cigars from My Top 32 Cigars of 2023 ~ Rated 96 or Higher!

Categories: CIGAR REVIEWS

Tags: cigar reviews, cigar reviews by the katman, cigars, Ezra Zion Sword Demon Slayer | Cigar Reviews by the Katman, katman, phil kohn