Initial Thoughts
I know what most of you are thinking right now. Siz, you smoked and reviewed an Acid? A lot of cigar smoking purists would never touch these cigars because they are infused with flavors and they don’t let the natural tobacco flavors take you on a ride. Well to that I have to say, fooey. A lot of people start their cigar smoking journey with Acids and then move on to other cigars. So let’s not chop them down too much here. I mean everyone has to start somewhere. In fact I started my cigar smoking journey with Black n Milds way back in the day. There’s nothing wrong with flavor infused cigars and I’m about to tell show you why.
To be honest, I have smoked quite a few Acids up to date. One of my hockey team buddies always gets a sampler pack from Cigar.com and he always has some Acid Deep Dish, which is similar to this Acid Kuba Kuba just in a different vitola. I’ve probably smoked at least half a dozen of the deep dish cigars by now, and I gotta tell ya… I don’t hate em’.
So why am I reviewing this cigar now? Well to be honest a couple of reasons I’ve had some people email me recently asking why I haven’t reviewed any Acids. So it got me thinking, I should probably go ahead and do that. The second reason, Jeremy and I were sitting at our local shop last week and we sat and watched two different groups of college kids come in an buy a boat load Acids among them all. We chatted with those guys and I asked them why they bought them, and they said they really enjoyed the flavors and weren’t into the ‘harsh’ taste of other cigars. I told them I understand, mentioned the site and told them to look at some of our recommendations to find less ‘harsh’ tasting cigars. So after all of that I figured the least I could do is smoke one and review it to give those guys a shout out. So enough of all that, let’s infuse ourselves into this review… That doesn’t quite work, it seemed forced, but I’m not deleting it. So forgive me.
Looks
This Acid Kuba Kuba looks like your typical cigar. It’s a parejo shape at 5×54 it’s not too big it’s actually a good size. The wrapper is a beautiful Sumatra wrapper with no huge veins or anything really ugly going on. It’s a light brown that is very smooth and flat. It looks very similar to a silky smooth Cameroon wrapper in fact. No big flaws in the wrapper, actually I can’t even see the seams on where this wrapper has been placed so the construction appears to be excellent.
Taking a look at the band you’ll noticed it’s a nice shiny blue label that says Acid diagonally across it. There are a few different colored bands and each one has a different set of infused flavors. The blue band seems to be the most popular, but I don’t have any real hard numbers to back that up. Simply that’s mainly what I see everyone smoking. Each size has a different name, this one being the Kuba Kuba, also seems to be one of the more popular sizes alongside the Blondie belicoso.
What I love about this cigar is all the packaging. The Acid logo is pretty cool. It’s got some guy with what appears to be dread nubs, not dread locks because they’re not long enough. Standing next to his sport bike with a fading sunset behind him. Pretty cool image if you ask me. Now do I want to be this guy? Nah, I hate motorcycles and would never want to ride on one. I have enough trouble balancing on a bicycle, plus I like the protection of steel doors around me when I’m doing 75 mph down the interstate. So I’ll pass on the bike. However, I do think it’s a very cool logo and packaging and it’s definitely different from the other Drew Estate stuff you see on the shelves.
Function
Time for all the pre-game fireworks. I take this Acid Kuba Kuba and gently roll the barrel between my fingers to check for any soft spots. None to be found here. In fact this stick has a really nice bounce back in the filler tobaccos. The cap doesn’t appear to be a triple cap. At least I can’t see multiple lines so I’m going to assume it’s just a single cap. I could be wrong, but I call em’ like I see em’. Taking a look at the foot the tobacco appears to be adequately bunched and I can’t see any stems in the tobacco. So it looks like we have some nice long filler tobacco in there.
Time to nip the cap and give it a dry run. The cold draw is superb on this cigar. The flavor hits me right out the gate, but more on that later. It has an excellent draw and I have to say I’m actually surprised. I guess I just thought because this cigar was infused that it wouldn’t be taken care of like another premium cigar. So far I’ve been wrong though. Well let’s toast the foot!
Smoking
After I finished toasting the foot, and getting this Acid Kuba Kuba ready to smoke. I started picking up on a very nice aroma. The smoke production was excellent right out of the gate. I began puffing to draw some air through and this thing drew fantastically and the ash that was beginning to form looked great. The first third smoked like a dream. I held and ash just over an inch before I decided it was time to let it go. I was smoking at my local shop and I didn’t want to make a mess on the floor that someone would have to clean up. So I decided to just drop it in the tray and continue puffing away (I’m a good rhymer).
The second third of this stick continued the same way, not a single draw or burn issue. I was just going to town on this thing and burning through it. I can see why people enjoy these so often. Great flavors and great construction. What more could you want?
The final third on my Acid Kuba Kuba was just as good as the first two. Perfect burn, fantastic draw not a single issue. It was incredibly relaxing to just sit back and smoke and not worry about construction issues or have to touch up the burn line. Everything was going off without a hitch which is exactly how it should be! Now for the part you have all been waiting for, the flavors.
Flavor
I’m not gonna lie, it’s very difficult to pinpoint these flavors on this Acid Kuba Kuba. I have a feeling Drew Estate did that on purpose. As I was getting ready to smoke this I pulled it out of the cellophane and got hit with a very floral bouquet aroma. I told Jeremy it was like opening a bottle of Herbal Essences shampoo, that’s what the wife buys at the house, so yeah I know what it smells like. It was just hitting me right in the nose with this floral sense. I can’t pin point a precise flower, but it’s overwhelmingly floral. When I started the pre draw the wrapper hit my lips and instantly I get this sweet candy flavor on my lips. The infused wrapper is just dripping with flavor. It’s like I stuck my tongue into a fun dip packet. It’s a little overwhelming at first, but then I begin to enjoy it.
The first third was more of the same, the sweetness on the lips is the most noticeable flavor. It’s a very sweet yet floral flavor. I’ve picked out something similar to cloves and fun dip. Very interesting, but I’m really enjoying it. What was very interesting to me though is the retrohale. I’m gonna jump out onto a limb here and guess that people that generally smoke Acids don’t retrohale them. But they are missing out on the whole experience when they don’t. What I loved about the retrohale is the fact you get some real cigar flavors. I picked up a good dose of spice, coffee and earthy notes from the retrohale. The floral notes are still there, but it gains some umph behind it. So I was really excited to experience that.
The second and final third of this Acid Kuba Kuba was more of the same. I did notice that the coffee flavors really began to pick up more in the second third especially in the retrohale. That makes me think this filler leaf is Nicaraguan, because those are typically flavors I pick up from Nicaraguan sticks. Either way I’ve really enjoyed this cigar all the way through.
Would I Buy It Again?
Yeah I wouldn’t be opposed to it, although $9 / stick is a little pricy.
Is It an Every Day Smoke?
Potentially if you could get a deal on a box.
Would I Buy a Box?
Ehh maybe, I’d rather buy a 5 pack. I would probably have to get another humidor for these sticks because I don’t want their flavors rubbing off on my other cigars.
Conclusion
Don’t knock it til you try it, that’s all I have to say. This Acid Kuba Kuba is an incredibly well made cigar, that draws and burns perfectly. The flavors might not be in your wheelhouse, but I think everyone should give these a try at least once. You may decide you hate them, or you may decide you kind of like them and wouldn’t turn them down, or you could end up loving them. Who knows, but you should at least give them a try.
