Originally published at Tiki Bar Online
Toro, 6” x 50 ring gauge / approx. $8, Burns
I decided not to play the “review a candela for St. Patrick’s Day” game this year…instead opting for the “review a silly flavored, machine-made ‘cigar’ for April Fools Day” gig. That could have been a mistake…after all, I was the one who had to suffer about 3 or 4 minutes of a grape-flavored “cigar.” Anyway, around St. Patrick’s Day, the local Alec Bradley rep had an event at Burns in Chattanooga (home of the 2013 Chattanooga Tweet-Up and Cigar Festival, on August 1-3…Buy your tickets now! Commercial over…). I had smoked the Black Market previously and I had another that evening and I have to be honest…the blend just doesn’t do much for me. I lump most Alec Bradley releases into what I call “Honduran Heavy” blends…meaning that a good portion of the cigar is made up of Honduran tobacco. Some Honduran leaf is impeccable, to be sure, but most is just “smokeable” to me and not much more (again, emphasis in the last sentence is on the “to me” part…you may love Honduran leaf and that’s your perogative). One blog lists a fairly complex country-of-origin makeup for the Black Market, but the Alec Bradley official website lists that it has fillers from Honduras and Panama, a Sumatran binder, and a Nicaraguan wrapper. This special St. Patrick’s Day limited edition is called the “Filthy Hooligan,” bringing to mind Officer O’Malley chasing ne’er-do-wells through the streets of Boston, waving his billy-club, and threatening to throw them in the paddy-wagon, perhaps getting distracted by a neighborhood pub during the chase and stopping in for a pint of Guinness or Harp. The Filthy Hooligan is said to have a bit more Panamanian in the filler blend and utilizes a Candela wrapper, although it is still said to be from Nicaragua. This is my first (and perhaps only, since this is a limited edition) Filthy Hooligan; since I had not had the best of luck with the regular Black Market blend, I decided to up the ante a bit for this one and smoke it with some coffee…that had some Carolan’s Irish Cream dumped into it…scratch that…using Bulleit Bourbon instead of Irish Cream since it seems my wife drank all the Carolan’s.
We’ve had traditional band placement, we’ve seen foot bands…we’ve seen usage of both! What’s left? Well, the Black Market covers the entire bottom half of the cigar with a paper sleeve, somewhat reminiscent of the cedar sleeves used by some makers…but not smelling as good. When you take the sleeve off, you’re left with a mid-band…a regular-looking cigar band right around the middle of the length of the smoke. I didn’t see much point, so I took off the band right away and it took a chunk of wrapper with it. The wrapper was a nice pale green shade. Not as pale as some I’ve seen, but not nearly as bright a green as others (like last year’s LFD Double Claro, for instance…the Incredible Hulk Candela). Giving the cigar a sniff, I picked up a subtle, muted earthiness on the green leaf, while the foot had a strong, more pungent earthiness. After cutting, the pre-light draw was excellent and had flavors of earth and sweet hay.
I expected this to be an easy light, but it really wasn’t…I had to apply quite a bit of flame to get it evenly burning, but when I did, I was rewarded by a mix of citrus, hay, and earth on the palate, along with a good dose of pepper spice on the nose. The first 20 minutes held to that profile and I enjoyed the cigar more than I had expected to. The flavor changed quite a bit soon after I tapped off the first time, though, midway through the first third. It seemed to get a little flatter, with a higher influence of the hay and grassier notes. The pepper spice diminished quickly, too, and the other flavors became muted.
That muted flavor continued through the second third, although there were some brighter citrus notes coming through from time to time, as well. Construction was good for the most part. The draw was adequate, if not brilliant. The burn line needed only a couple minor touch-ups. The ash was solid. The problem with construction went back to the beginning when I took off the band it broke the wrapper. By the end of the second third, that crack had become a full-blown split and getting through the end of the cigar was in question.
As I started the last third of the Filthy Hooligan, though, I was surprised on a couple counts. First, the potentially devastating crack had not ruined the rest of the cigar. It took some extra care, but didn’t prevent me from enjoying the rest of the cigar. Second, I was enjoying the rest of the cigar! After the flavors went kind of flat in the second third, I was shocked that they came back with more clarity in the final one. I got a more intense earth, stronger citrus notes, and a resurgence of pepper spice, all of which made for an enjoyable end to this smoke.The body was straight-ahead medium and the strength was about the same. I probably would have enjoyed the entire smoke more if I was more a fan of Honduran leaf, and that is who I would recommend this cigar to: hardcore Honduran aficionados.
Body: 5/10
Strength: 5/10
Complexity: 6/10
AFP Scale
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 1.5/2
Flavor: 3.5/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 8/10
I smoked this one a while back I picked up the LFD, AB, and the Illusion Candela I had the LFD and the AB both were very underwhelming for me Not much of a Candela smoker, although I really enjoyed the Black Market core line.