Cigar Review: Crux Bull & Bear

Cigar: Crux Bull & Bear
Size: Gordo Marblehead (6 x 60)
Wrapper: Habano Jalapa
Binder: Nicaragua
Filler: Nicaragua
Price: $43.75 for a five pack ($8.75 per stick) from Small Batch Cigar

Crux Cigars was one of the new brands that came to my attention last year. As they were kind enough to provide me some samples to try, I was more than happy to offer my thoughts on a few of their blends (David also offered his take on the Passport). If you visit Leaf Enthusiast with any sort of regularity, you will know that Small Batch Cigar is one of our advertisers. I bought a box of CroMagnons from them awhile back and got onto their mailing list. Recently, I got an email from them offering Crux Cigars at a 25% discount. Remembering my enjoyment of their cigars, I made my way to their website to browse their Crux Cigar offerings and found the Bull & Bear listing. Last year when I was reviewing the samples sent to me from Crux, the Bull & Bear had not yet been released. As I am always in need of cigars to review, I jumped at the chance to give them a try.

I actually found a tiny chip in the wrapper about halfway through smoking the Bull & Bear. I’m honestly not sure how I missed it initially but it was there. I can saw that it had zero bearing on the smoking of the cigar. The pre-light aromas were a blend of farmed soil, straw and cedar. Because of the shape of the cap, I elected to go with a cut and after lighting, I was greeted with an open draw. Starting flavor notes were of cedar and sharp spice that seemed to go right down the middle of my palette. Being a fan of Nicaraguan cigars and the varying levels of spice that can be blended from the country’s tobacco, this is the first cigar that I can recall that basically created a line of spice going right down the middle of my tongue. The spice mellowed greatly after 20 minutes but came back into play along with stronger woodlike notes at the halfway point in the cigar. The wood notes, couple with more moderate spice notes, finished out the cigar with a gradual increase in the overall strength. Crux defined the cigar as within the full bodied range. My personal opinion is that it starts around medium-to-full bodied and gradually move into full bodied by the end. Be prepared to take your time with this cigar as it took right at two hours to smoke.

Besides the tiny chip found in the wrapper, I encountered zero problems with the Crux & Bear. The burn, when lit with a match, stayed even all the way through until the end. I don’t recall needing any relights or touchups either.

By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9.5/10

To recap the Crux Bull & Bear:

• For those looking for a medium-to-full bodied cigar in a larger ring gauge, you’ll want to start here.
• The flavor profile of the Crux & Bear is enough to make seasoned cigar smokers happy, yet easy enough to not score any newer cigar smokers.
• Even without the deal that I had, the per-stick price on these is great, especially for how much smoking time you get per cigar.
• There will be more of these finding their way to my humidor in the future. Count on that.

As always, thank you very much for reading and I look forward to the next time I can share my thoughts with you.