Foundation Cigars The Grasshopper Candela | Cigar Reviews by the Katman
Wrapper: Candela
Binder: Nicaraguan Jalapa
Filler: Nicaraguan Jalapa, Estelí
Size: 5.25 x 52 Torpedo Box Pressed
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $15.00
My cigars received 3 months of naked humidor time.
THE WHOLE MEGILLAH:
Extreme floral notes intoxicate this defacto old man. But also, a deeply rich honey perfume. Lastly, thick notes of cinnamon, black coffee, spiced lemon, and dark chocolate.
The draw is vibe altering with warm shades of dark cocoa and marshmallows, lemongrass, espresso, almonds, coconut, and cinnamon.
There is no free air in Mudville. A couple of dainty swooshes and my PerfecDraw explains the rule of law to this snausage. Now it is free to roam amongst its peers.
I’ve only found two candela blends worth my dough: Illusione Original Documents Candela and the La Flor Dominicana Double Claro. Good cigars and affordable. But let ‘em sleep.
A grassy knoll kind of start. Instant way back machine of fresh cut grass from the front lawn of my childhood home. I earned my one-dollar allowance by using a push mower and a mechanical edger. To make things even worse for a middle-class white kid was the requirement to clean our backyard built-in pool. In 1962, my gramps gave my dad $1200 to build a beautiful pool for teenage Philly. I was always a skinny kid…but after doing 100 laps every day, I’d turn sideways, stick out my tongue, and I was a human zipper.
The candela wrapper gives the Nic blend some sweetness that needles the edge of the dark binder and fillers. Chocolate babka and herbal tea with floral honey.
This is a stout little torpedo that is packed and labeled. A slow burn for your fifteen bucks.
I’ve gotten a kick from readers who swear there’s a Paul is Dead conspiracy. ‘You’re not the katman. Someone forced a hostile takeover.’ The modest answer is that my writing style changed many times over the last 15 years and notably, over the last couple. My experience is not the same as the typical young cigar reviewer. Sure, they too grow…but it’s not the same. I’ve gone through dozens of phases and stages while the young guys are working on just a few. If I was a wordsmith, I’d tell you about the wonderful clarity I see that makes certain things important and other things irrelevant. Most understand this but some readers will always be very confused. It’s simple. Either we evolve or we stagnate. I bought another bass guitar at 75. Tell me that’s not pretty cool.
I’m thinking of a million AJ blends. Some of the sweetness dissipates from the heavy handedness of the Nic stuff.
Now and again, a cigar tastes round. I envision a multi-layered circle wrapping my palate. All of it is covered by flavor points from the tobaccy. When this happens, it means my ears widen and I arise from everyday cigar stupor.
The strength of the first inch was moderately medium. Shortly thereafter, its medium/full character kicked in. As I hit the halfway point, I feel my shorts tightening and my balls shrinking. This also happens when I get my tongue stuck in a beer bottle.
The second half is what I’m talkin about. Very rich and satisfying. I imagine with another 3-6 months of humidor time; the first half will see more forward development.
In 1966, my buddy Skip and I spent an afternoon recording our own version of the song ‘Yellow Submarine.’ Skip on guitar and me on bass. We lined up our homemade special effects and went crazy. This was before smoking weed…but clearly an inevitable step.
The rough edges are completely gone. The cigar enters its slar phase. Totally smooth and approachable. The strength feels harmless.
No musician escapes the ‘what is it all for’ stage…at least a hundred times. The worst is when you see someone you love in concert and watch the guy playing your instrument and absolutely killing it. Thereby allowing you to go home and stare, without blinking, at the fish tank.
Flavors: lemongrass, creaminess, dark chocolate, espresso, almonds, honey, black pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, and fried lice.
A solid cigar but not as good as the Illusione Original Documents Candela or the La Flor Dominicana Double Claro.
You can purchase The Grasshopper from sponsor Small Batch Cigar. Take 10% off with promo code KATMAN.
RATING: 89
Foundation Cigars The Grasshopper Mexican San Andrés | Cigar Reviews by the Katman
Wrapper: Mexican San Andrés
Binder: Nicaraguan Jalapa
Filler: Nicaraguan Jalapa, Estelí
Size: 5.25 x 52 Torpedo Box Pressed
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $15.00
My cigars received 3 months of naked humidor time.
THE WHOLE MEGILLAH:
I love the aroma. It’s sweet like candy. It’s dungy like barnyard.
The draw is dead in the water. Do I sing a dirge and wring my hands wailing to the gods? Sure…but after that, I use my PerfecDraw to clean the deranged tobacco choking the airflow. It took 5 seconds and now I have nothing to protest…the wailing picks up where it left off.
The cold draw is delightful: cotton candy, curry, cinnamon, red pepper, dark cocoa, espresso, and suggestions of my ferret’s litter box.
Charlotte’s 74th birthday was yesterday so I got her royal highness’s permission to have 74 seconds of sex. I had a good 30 seconds to spare so who’s laughing now?
It is very difficult to force the over used blend of Mexican wrapper with Nic guts to stand out in a crowded crowd. It seems that every other cigar on the market uses this combo. Blenders are chasing the coattails of AJ Fernandez who had an early start with this style and methodology of blending.
Assuming that the filler for the Mexican version of The Grasshopper is the same as the Candela, the San Andres wrapper seems to make all the difference in the world. The Mex starts off impressively with mild richness, a scoche of complexity, docile depth, and a blind eye’s view into a well-rounded flavor spectrum that is on the menu later in the cigar.
The ‘candy’ aspect is out front. Most Mexican wrappers aren’t this swell. Strength is a pleasant medium. The richness envelops my decaying palate and circles the working parts of my brain. This is a good cigar…but it needed every minute of the three months of naked humi time I gave it.
A snappy citrus element appears. Slightly tart but once again, the sweetness rounds off its sharp corners.
How often do you smoke a cigar that constantly surprises you? Yeah, I know. The Mex is squarely on top of the guessing game strategy. Like I said earlier, it is almost impossible to get a candela blend right. Much easier to snag your interest with a commonly used leaf like the San Andrés.
Always smell a cigar before you light up. Take in everything the cigar has to offer. It frustrates the hell out of me when I find a delightful aromatic cigar and I rush to my bride of Frankenstein’s side and tell her, “Smell this. Smell the flowers and the dark chocolate.” Every single time, she responds with, “Smells like equine shit!”
The cigar is a clean machine.
The first half was downright affable. Pleasant depth of field that noodged me to constantly puff…but as a responsible smoker, I regressed to fear and loathing so that I didn’t overload the experience with tar. Take your time. Refrain from huffing and puffing a good cigar. Ask any musician…space is the most important part of the creative endeavor.
Olive Oyl and Swee’ Pea.
Aromas are causing sedentary knee jerk reactions. I’m being lulled and wooed.
Strength is medium/full with an ass kicking on the way.
Are these blends worth $15 a pop? I don’t know. We’ve all been warned by the cigar manufacturers that they will be upping their profit margin in 2025. This year will see sales of $59 Billion. Average profit is 5%. That’s the number they use when they cook the books. Realistic profit is closer to 25%-30%. Do the math and it means they will get a margin of $17 billion this year alone. By 2030, it will double. So, take the blubbering of anguish from the cigar industry with a grain of salt. By 2026, the excellent $7 cigar will have all but vanished. The $15-$17 cigar will be the norm. Good luck to us all.
The second half is excellent. It reminds me of AJ’s San Lotano blends or the ATL Black or the Las Calaveras Edición Limitada 2018. Is the Grasshopper San Andres earth shattering? Nope. But it is an excellent source of materials that provides a serious and solid smoke.
You can purchase The Grasshopper from sponsor Small Batch Cigar. Take 10% off with promo code KATMAN.
RATING: 94
Foundation The Grasshopper Barber Pole | Cigar Reviews by the Katman
Wrapper: Mexican San Andrés/Candela
Binder: Nicaraguan Jalapa
Filler: Nicaraguan Jalapa, Estelí
Size: 5.25 x 52 Torpedo Box Pressed
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $15.00
My cigar received 3 months of naked humidor time.
THE WHOLE MEGILLAH:
Same guts…and now the same wrapper; sort of. Will the grassland of the candela and the roughness of the Mexican become team players? I hope so because when you buy the 13-count box, you only get one Barber Pole. But if you buy a fiver, you get one sweeney todd wrapper and two each of the Mexican and Candela. So, is the Barber Pole the holy grail blend?
The aroma is a lush savannah harvesting veggie burgers by the acre…and mocha java with just the right aromatic trace from your frowzy backyard.
The cigar is plugged like Norman Mailer after a 30-hour writing binge drinking bourbon and cough syrup. I’m now proficient using my PerfecDraw as surgical means to acquire the approved end result by carefully poking the tiny cap’s aperture. If there was no Dr. Rod, we’d all be raising our fists and proclaiming, “Why me?!” Dr. Rod’s teeth are swaddled in Lucite for all perpetuity.
The burn begins. Nice combination of red-hot spice, creaminess, and grassy lemonade. In fact, the creaminess builds to a near crescendo within the first couple minutes. As I only had the singular Barber Pole in my box, this is my one and only review stick; we all like surprises.
Without much ado, the cigar smacks of complexity. Richness is straightaway. On-the-spot depth that has me wondering if this blend can keep it up. Something I’ve been asked a squillion times.
Anytime I choose to listen to music, I love the option of choosing deep cuts. It’s a reminder that there is a musical landscape other than just the hits.
Hamburger Helper without the helper. It has a wonderful meaty taste. The Candela didn’t go this way, and neither did the Mex, but now as a dual wrapper, the cigar sings the tale of burgers past.
Before elation settles in, I have concern that the sexiness of this blend will fizzle. I hate glee interruptus.
Construction is not ideal, but the over packed snausage provides a long cool woman in a black and green dress.
The creaminess is over the top. The vibrancy is stellar. Transitionally, the blend is slow as she goes.
There are a gazillion jokes available for the cigar’s name. In the late 70s, I ran into David Carradine on a helicopter ride to Catalina Island. He had a couple Hippie chicks with him. We spoke a little and then parted company on arrival. An hour later, my buddies and I found the Carradine party in the hinterlands of the isle as a ruse to secretly smoke a joint. His weed was better than ours. Carradine was at the height of his career with the hit show ‘Kung Fu.’ But his creativity should have found a better way to thwack off without killing yourself in the process.
Sipping black coffee with this blend highlights both.
If blood ever spurts from your schlong during sex, it means you are having your first attack from a prostate infection. Running around the bedroom screaming like a parakeet was good exercise for me but watching your dick become a fire hose is unsettling. Know how a doc determines what kind of prostate infection you have? He makes you bend over and hands you a small plastic cup. You are instructed to inflate and deflate the living shit out of your schmekel while the doctor shoves his entire arm up your ass to pump your prostate like a Nike pump sneaker. Your responsibility is to get semen into the cup for the lab to analyze. I only remember this because I’ve never screamed at 4 octaves above my normal voice before this. The doc and I had drinks afterwards.
The second half is money (Early 2000 slang). The blend smooths out like a newborn marmot resting after its mom stops screaming for Dilaudid.
Flavors: lemongrass, the ultimate danger of extreme creaminess, In-N-Out Double-Double, the darkest of cocoa nibs, espresso, hay, Cap’n Crunch, mixed nuts, and both red and black pepper.
I love this cigar. I wish Foundation made the Barber Pole in buyable quantities, but I get that this is a special blend. I intend to send a telegram to the company asking for more.
Strength borders on terminal. Fortunately, the seat belts installed on my office chair are maintained in accordance with the Haig.
If you enjoy unique blends with a déjà vu quality, the Barber Pole is your soul mate.
This is a solid two-hour journey. I’d write more but the electrodes are timed to ignite if this continues ad infinitum.
You can purchase The Grasshopper from sponsor Small Batch Cigar. Take 10% off with promo code KATMAN.
RATING: 97
Check out Katman’s Kartel at Small Batch Cigar and score deals on cigars from My Top 32 Cigars of 2023 ~ Rated 96 or Higher! Use promo code: KATMAN for 10% off.
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