Cigar Extra: La Careme and Coffee

• Vitola: Robusto
• 5” x 50 ring gauge 
• MSRP $8.25
• Purchased at Burns Tobacconist

Background

I’ve already declared it “Year of the Broadleaf,” and as if to prove me right, the men of Crowned Heads have added a new Broadleaf blend as a regular release. La Careme is the seventh regular full-line release (after Four Kicks, Headley Grange, J.D. Howard Reserve, Jericho Hill, La Imperiosa, and Las Mareas) and the first since the J.D Howard Reserve to use E.P. Carrillo’s Tabacalera La Alianza factory in the Dominican Republic.

For this blend, they used Nicaraguan fillers and an Ecuadorian Sumatra binder, before covering it all with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. According to halfwheel, the cigar’s name “pays tribute to Marie Antoine Carême, a pioneer in French cuisine during the 1800s whose long list of accomplishments includes the establishing of mother sauces, prolific documentation of French cuisine and popularizing the soufflé.”

I originally picked up the Cosacos vitola, basically a box-pressed Short Corona, and really didn’t get much out of the cigar. It could have been the exact age of the stick when it hit the shelf (early August), or it could have just been the size. Either way, I opted next for a Robusto in early September and really enjoyed it. Except it didn’t really hit me like most Broadleaf-wrapped cigars do.

Most of the Broadleaf sticks I’ve had in the past have been medium, medium-full, or even full-bodied, making them most suitable for mid-day or evening smokes. But I found La Careme to be a milder expression of the wrapper that should make it more suitable as a morning smoke…at a time when most people would choose another wrapper from Connecticut. So that’s why I’m hitting this first look at the blend as a Cigar Extra pairing.

This review sample is the third time I’ve smoked this blend and I bought all of them at Burns. Also, Keith did a Cigar Preview of this blend, using an IPCPR show sample…you can read it HERE.

Notes

The wrapper of La Careme was wonderfully dark and rough. It had a dry cocoa powder aroma to it, along with a little earth. The foot had a richer earth note and an abundance of natural tobacco aroma. The cold draw was sweet, with just a touch of pepper.

Once lit, the cigar had a definite earth flavor right in the front, with touches of semi-sweet chocolate and espresso bean and red pepper coming in behind. The retrohale had more earth, some cedar and a stronger pepper note.

La Careme is interesting…even with all the “regular” notes you would expect from a Nicaraguan-based, Broadleaf-wrapper blend, it didn’t sit full-bodied on the palate…or really even medium-bodied. Instead, it started off as mild-to-medium in body, with some darker flavors, but nothing that felt oily or mouth-coating, and with a very short finish.

I had my usual black coffee with plenty of Splenda, French Roast from Eight O’Clock Coffee, brewed on the fairly strong side. I have to say this was an inspired pairing. I wouldn’t normally pair a Maduro cigar with coffee first thing in the morning, but this cigar is light enough (not really “light” though) and sweet enough on its own to really go great with the morning brew.

I don’t do this “morning cigar and coffee” thing often enough. When I do, it’s usually some version of a Connecticut Shade wrapped cigar and they do almost always pair well with coffee. This is the first time I can remember doing it with a Broadleaf Maduro cigar, though, and it was pretty great. I would especially recommend this during winter months when the morning air is much cooler and drier…which would tend to cause Shade wrappers to break…this Broadleaf wrapper is moist and supple enough that it shouldn’t pop and tear during smoking in those conditions.

La Careme is a very good cigar and I’ll probably re-visit it for a full review sometime in the next month or two. Along with Las Mareas, Crowned Heads really delivered a one-two punch of goodness this year (and if you consider The Angel’s Anvil 2016 and Las Calaveras 2016 releases, I guess it’s a four-punch combo they’ve thrown at us).