Initial Thoughts
First off I love the Alec Bradley brand, so that’s going to make this review difficult to write. After enjoying the AB Family Blend, Prensado, and Tempus, I thought this was going to be a sure fire out of the ballpark cigar. However I was let down as soon as I began to prep the cigar to smoke. Keep in mind when reading that I only smoked one of these cigars and I plan on getting another and updating this review, but you also only get one chance to make a a first impression and this is mine.
Looks
Don’t get me wrong, I love the packaging on the Alec Bradley Black Market, the grey textured sleeve looks great and it’s different from other packaging I’ve seen. After that, the experience with this cigar just went down hill for me. That grey band that looks so great… Well it’s also the equivalent of trying to break into a safe at Ft. Knox. I had an incredibly difficult time just removing this sleeve and I was afraid I was going to break the cigar in half. I used everything short of a chainsaw to remove this wrapper, finally after the loss of a few fingers I was able to see the barrel of the cigar. The wrapper was beautiful, dark and oily. It looked great and I was ready to dive in.
Function
The cigar seemed a little heavy to me and very densely packed. I had a feeling this cigar was going to be tough to draw. I nipped the cap to test the draw. The first dry draw was very difficult, this wasn’t a good sign. So I nipped some more off the head to see if that would help, it didn’t. So I figured third time is charm right? Nope, even after the third cut I was barely able to draw enough to get it to light up.
Smoking
Because the draw was so difficult on this cigar it made it difficult to have a good smoking experience. What smoke I did pull through was light gray and not very thick. The burn on this stick was fairly straight, I never had to touch it up which is always nice. This cigar was definitely a slow burner, between the draw and the density of the filler it took me close to 1 and 1/2 hours to finish it.
Flavor
The flavor profile on this cigar was incredibly smooth. I wasn’t able to pick out a lot of individual notes from it, but the overall blend was creamy and delicious. Typically a Nicaraguan wrapper will provide some spice to the smoke, but this wrapper mellowed everything out and blended it together really well. The wrapper reminded me more of a maduro than your typical Nicaraguan. So it might be some sort of hybrid seed. Either way the flavor on this cigar was delightful.
Would I Buy It Again?
Yes, and I plan on it. I’m fairly sure I just got a bum stick with the draw being so poor for this guy.
Is It an Every Day Smoke?
Not for me, between the price tag and the difficulty I had smoking it I don’t believe I could smoke one of these everyday.
Would I Buy a Box?
Possibly, I would have to buy a few more individually to see some consistency with the draw before I go and buy 20+ sticks. Could be a great gift someone that loves the Alec Bradley brand though!
