Vitola: Robusto- 5” x 52 ring gauge
- MSRP $10
- Purchased at Burns Tobacconist
Background
Hard to believe it’s been 6 years since Caldwell Cigars’ Blind Man’s Bluff made its first appearance…for that matter it’s hard to believe that Caldwell Cigar lasted in business for more than 6 years! (Just kidding, Robert…all in good fun…could you please get a shirt that buttons all the way up? Thanks.) That original BMB was made in Davidoff’s Camacho factory in Honduras and leaned heavily on Honduran Criollo leaf, along with some Dominican filler and an Ecuadorian binder. A BMB Maduro did hit the market, as well, with Dominican fillers, a Sumatra binder, and a Pennsylvania Maduro wrapper.
This year, a Limited Edition Blind Man’s Bluff Maduro showed up in stores. “This is Trouble” was made in a single Robusto size, uses 3 kinds of Dominican fillers (Corojo, Double Ligero (which is curious…I’ve never heard a priming called “Double Ligero”…just a cigar referred to as such because it uses twice the regular amount of Ligero…or Ligero in the filler and wrapper…or something like that), and Habano), a Dominican binder, and a Mexican San Andres wrapper. The bands indicate that this blend is still made in Danli, Honduras, which is at least the same city as the original BMB…so you can probably safely assume the same factory. But the blend itself is vastly different from any BMB before it.
These come in 20-count boxes, they only made 1,000 of those boxes, and this is intended to be a one-time-only release. I bought several at Burns Tobacconist and this is my third time smoking the blend, I believe. If your local shop doesn’t carry Caldwell, you may still be able to find them at Small Batch Cigar, a Leaf Enthusiast sponsor.
Prelight
The boxes and overall packaging haven’t changed much in 6 years. The boxes are still plain wood with a lacquered finish and artwork and lettering burned into the wood. The bands still feature the “blind man” with the bowler hat. This version with the gold background and burgundy trim is attractive. The secondary band has “This Is Trouble” blind embossed (I see what you did there!) on it.
For a Mexican San Andres Maduro, this wrapper isn’t really all that dark, maybe somewhere between milk and dark chocolate brown. It was oily with a touch of toothy roughness under my fingertips and an aroma of leather, earth, and anise. The foot of the cigar had notes of grassy earthiness and wood mostly, with maybe just a hint of cocoa powder.
The prelight draw was excellent and had flavors of hay and earth, espresso bean and a touch of semisweet chocolate.
Flavor
Starting off, the Blind Man’s Bluff Maduro “This Is Trouble” had dry cocoa powder, earth, and leather up front, followed by anise, hay, and black pepper. The retrohale was woody and earthy with red pepper heat. It was full-bodied from the start with an “aggressive” stance that is usually more in line with Nicaraguan tobacco. I would guess that comes from the “double-Ligero” aspect of the blend. The first third continued with a nice mix of earthy and sweet and pepper.
The second third got mildly sweeter while still being full-bodied. Espresso bean emerged to take the place of the earthier flavors and I still got a good amount of semisweet chocolate backed up by a lesser amount of pepper.
The last third of the BMB Maduro This Is Trouble had a resurgence of pepper along with more sweet chocolate, backed up solidly by coffee notes.
Construction
I had a great draw, very even burn line, and solid ash.
Value
Very good cigar and average sale price, so good value.
Conclusions
This Is Trouble is a really good addition to the Blind Man’s Bluff line and in the Caldwell catalog as a whole. Too bad it’s just a limited edition. It was full-bodied while being very flavorful and complex enough to keep my interest from end to end. It definitely showed off the bittersweet notes of the Mexican wrapper while being nicely balanced.
By-The-Numbers
Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10
