Wrapper: Undisclosed Habano Seed
Binder: Undisclosed Sumatra Seed
Filler: Dominican
Size: 6 x 54 Toro Box Pressed
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $15.70
Released: June 2025
Quantity Released: 200 Boxes of 10

My cigars received one month of naked humidor time.

BACKGROUND:
From Caldwell Cigars:
“Caldwell’s Crafted and Curated series acts as a creative outlet for Robert Caldwell, offering unique blending and sizing experimentation to discerning connoisseurs. Some Crafted and Curated cigars tweak existing Caldwell blends with different components or process, while others are entirely distinctive blends. However, all are extremely limited in production and represent Robert’s personal tastes and artistry.”

The above proclamation is pure passive aggressive. In saying that Robert Caldwell only allows himself to be creative through the Crafted and Curated series, did it mean that everything else is pure crap for the masses? The Caldwell team needs to go back and rewrite this statement.

THE WHOLE MEGILLAH:
This ain’t a bad looking cigar. An oily bronze hue. The gold trifecta of cigar bands accent the color of this tiny barbell beautifully. The cigars I received have only a mild soft box press. I’m not sure how crisp the design was supposed to be but if not for the declaration by the manufacturer, I might not have noticed.

I always love taking the time to put schnoz to wrapper and inhale deeply…much like Dr. Rod does in the hyperbaric chamber he bought from the Michael Jackson estate. In reversing the aging process, Kurthy now looks like a young Mickey Rourke. Cool Daddy-O.

Aromas remind me of an aged blend in that the bouquet is faint. After doing several deep knee bends, my beak goes into afterburner mode. Notes of baking spices, potato chips, gentle caramel, lemon rind, creamed corn, and jalapeno pepper. Ignore the idiots that provide an opinion that this habit is not essential to the appreciation of every cigar. Believe it or not, there are so called cigar bloggers that don’t understand this important step. Savoring on all levels creates the buzz vital to a fleeting balls deep experience.

The cap is nearly flat like Charlie Schink’s forward progress of getting out of Dodge and once again seeing the world in his 1996 Land Cruiser. My PerfecPunch works beautifully with a scathing comment of ‘You rapscallion of a dog’ and cuffs the cap like a hot knife in butter.

The cold draw has an equivalency factor to the light aromas. Gentle banjo winds of lemon curd, spicy red pepper, potato chips again, caramel, graham cracker, and baking spices.

The stick has some weight as demonstrated by the cigar jettisoning itself from my lips several times. Either that, or the muscularity of my lip clenching is now on its way out. There are moral reasons why cunnilingus is good for you.

I gotta have my music when I write. I have a playlist that begins with Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart doing ‘People Get Ready.’ I met Beck during a Curved Air concert. He was in the audience and played during our encore. Stewart and I shined like stars. We never got the chance to really pull out the stops with CA. We played the same crap over and over. Copeland got fired nearly every gig for overplaying. But he was hitched to the lead singer and she would quit in protest. This went on ad nauseum the entire time I was in the band.

A light and spicy sweet start. Nothing can replace those first puffs. It tells us all but can also set us up for disappointment later. Thankfully, we have crocodilian brains that forget things easily. White chocolate, lemongrass, burnt toffee, creamy galore, black pepper, soft oatmeal cookies, and ripe oak. I think that the undisclosed wrapper might be Ecuadorian. In fact, both the wrapper and binder might be the same.

This lost world fallen logs plumps up nicely. Strength begins at very mild with no hints of its manifest destiny becoming medium/full. In my previous sticks, it wasn’t until the second half began that I lost my footing.

Construction is gorgeous. The char line is severe.

An enormous waft of floral aromas hits the airwaves. Wow. Totally unsuspected despite this cigar being my number three. As the first inch begins its death throe, the flavor profile opens with what I hope holds sustainability. It is so subtle that I missed it on previous cigars because my belly was full.

The sweet lemongrass is lush. Complexity begins without waiting for an introduction. A cultured approach finds another gear. Crafted and Curated begins to make sense. Imagine if Caldwell could make blends like this for the masses.

This is a lovely cigar. It goes down well with my morning coffee. Inch two is about simple intricacy and polished veneer. Smooth and creamy. The blend tastes aged and cultivated with a distillation of understated flavor memoranda. Subtle is the password.
This cigar will age beautifully. I’m rushing with this review because only 2,000 cigars were produced and they will be gone shortly.

Transitions are shrewd. They merge without any juxtapositions that might be sudden jerks. Everything slides into a continuously moving living thing.

Inch three begins. Flavors are upped. The floral quality is unrepentant. Both in taste and its dazzling aroma. It is going Bozo crazy. The condiments are as outlined here: Caramel, lemon crème pie, white chocolate, espresso, cinnamon graham cracker, malty nougat, black pepper, and Granny Smith apples.

I genuinely enjoyed the previous two cigars, but they were nothing like this morning’s fresh palate choice. I envy smokers whose palates are not comfortably numb as a result of their food and drink intake. Rarely am I able to discern subtleties after my first cigar of the day. Surely, I know if I like it or don’t. But it’s not the same. This is my favorite part of the day.

If I was having any more fun, I’d be comatose. It is hard to believe that this blend tastes this good after only a month of home detention. Imagine 3-6 months from now. Before I hit the publish button, I’m buying more. I’m a selfish man.

Inch 4 is on the money with waves of sublime gingery suggestions. Smooth and subtle. Hints of zestitude. Seasonings and colors. I am struggling not to huff and puff.
Strength moves to medium/full gracefully. Roasted nuts appear. They might have been there all along. This thing is so delicate that my detectiveocity might be suspended in animation. Stunning blend. After you snag some, smoke the early Let’s See stick…but then let ‘em sleep for a few months. I intend to do so with my stash. My body stunk, but I kept my funk.

Construction is immaculate perception. No matter how long I allow the cigar to rest, it never goes out.

The end is near. I like brash and brazen blends as much as the next guy. The Katman/Stulac cigar is all about that. We lovely few love the panoramic view in everything we smoke. If impeccable, clever, cunning stunts, and tricky blends are out of your wheelhouse, this ain’t the cigar for you…but I know you guys. And this is something you will want to add to your swerving pottery wheel of delicacies.

Inch 5 and I’m at peace. The Dominican, and possible Ecuadorian, influences are major in this blend. I cannot use the word smooth enough to describe the last two hours. This has been a roll in the hay…without the slobber.

Not a lick of harshness or bitterness. No heat. This cigar might make it into my top 25. It’s a nubber.

You can purchase the Caldwell Crafted & Curated Savages Mal Caida from sponsor Small Batch Cigar. Take 10% off with promo code KATMAN.

RATING: 97

And now for something almost completely different:

The band was scheduled to tour Ireland in 1975. Things were beyond bad between the British government and the Irish Republican Army. The winter/spring/summer of 1974/1975 saw indiscriminate bombings in downtown London every day for the two weeks of the Christmas/New Year holiday. It was the scariest thing imaginable. But people carried on.
Bombs were placed in waist high trash bins on every high street. If your time was up and walked by a hidden bomb during its timed detonation, well…bye-bye. I remember two photos in the newspaper after one bombing. It showed a police officer bending over to look at a package on the street. Next photo showed him blown apart 30 feet away.

This following incident will stick with me til the day I die.

I had been fired from Curved Air. Andy Morris contacted me telling me he was associated with Ringo Starr. Mr. Starkey was putting a band together with plans to rehearse in L.A. Ringo wanted me as his bassist. I was thrilled so I called and told all my friends back in SoCal.

The guy Andy’s name was very familiar. But I just couldn’t place it.

Our first meeting took place at the London Hilton lobby at 1pm on September 4. We met, had coffee, and discussed details. He asked me to join for an appointment with his lawyer. I thought I’d be invited in on the discussion. Instead, I sat in the lobby cooling my heels for an hour. This was the first red flag.

Exactly 24 hours later, to the hour, a massive IRA bomb went off in the Hilton lobby killing dozens of people and injuring hundreds. I was in shock. For the grace of God, I could have been there.

A week passed and this guy was giving me excuses about meeting with Ringo.
He told me that he was an original member of the English band, “Badfinger.” These guys were big for a while but had broken up before this guy contacted me. The Beatles discovered them and McCartney wrote a couple of hit songs for them.
I needed to check out his story.

I went to record stores trying to find Badfinger records but they were out of print. I had to get creative.

I made a bold move and called Apple Records and asked to speak to Derek Taylor. He was the Beatles’ press agent. He was their guy for the entire time the Beatles were together. Taylor was a legend. I was thrilled just to talk to him but I had business to discuss with him.

Derek took my call and I asked about this guy Andy Morris. Derek told me he would check and call me back. True to his word, 15 minutes later, I got the call. Taylor said this guy was never in Badfinger. And then we chatted. He told me some inside Beatles stories and I was on Cloud 9. He confirmed to me the names of some of the famous musicians that played on their albums but were never given credit.

I realized I had been had by this piece of shit Andy Morris.

I got on the phone with Morris and called him out as a fraud. He became defensive and said Taylor was wrong, blah blah. It was the last time we spoke. I dreaded calling my friends who were over the moon happy for me. It was humiliating that I had been fooled.

A month later, I was listening to records at my Edgeware home (a suburb of London) and I grabbed a CA album that I played on. On the back of the Curved Air “Live” album, I noticed something. Down at the bottom of the liner notes were credits. And here was this guy’s name as a production assistant. The fucking fraud! A music assistant’s duties were merely being a gopher. He got us tea and coffee. And if necessary, cleaned the toilets. I felt disgust with myself.
Andy Morris went on to become the chauffeur for the president of France.

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Tags: caldwell cigars, Caldwell Crafted & Curated Savages Mal Caida | Cigar Reviews by the Katman, cigar reviews, cigar reviews by the katman, cigars, katman, phil kohn, robert caldwell