Cigar Review: KILO by Miami Cigar & Company

Originally published at Tiki Bar Online

Robusto, 5” x 50 ring gauge / price expected to be ~$8

So I had this dream. I was walking down some sun-soaked street. The buildings had art deco styling and bright paint. The palm trees swayed in the afternoon breeze. Suddenly a Ferrari Daytona slides around the corner ahead and heads in my direction. Some Jan Hammer synthesized drum beats fill the air and the Ferrari brakes to a screeching stop about 20 feet away. The door pops open and emerging from the car is a large man dressed in white pants, pastel pink shirt and a light-weight white jacket. Synthesized guitars scream as this man walks toward me, the sunlight gleaming off his Ray Bans and the breeze tugging at his handlebar mustache. He reaches into his jacket as if for a shoulder-holstered weapon. I get ready to duck behind the nearest cover but all he presents is a cigar. In a thick Brooklyn accent, he says, “Take this, brother, may it serve you well.” Then I hear modern disco start thumping from the building behind me. The large man dances past singing along with the song, “She’s up all night to the sun, I’m up all night to get some…” I don’t hear the rest as he moves much faster than it seems possible, but as I look down at the cigar he gave me, I see it is somewhat emblematic of South Beach: KILO, it reads. Then the mists that divide the land of waking and dreaming start to creep in. It’s all cloudy and hazy as my consciousness come back…

But it’s not all a dream. Several years ago, Barry Stein started a cigar blog. One reason was to talk about one of his favorite subjects in the world. Another was to use it as a launchpad to get a job in the industry. After several years of writing, he finally did get a full-time job with Miami Cigar & Company, working in marketing and media relations. After more than a year in Miami, he got to fulfill another dream of creating his own blend: KILO. Barry brought a few bundles of KILO to the 2013 Chattanooga Tweet-Up and Cigar Festival so a bunch of us could try it and he could get valuable “real customer” feedback to take back to Nestor Miranda and Jason Wood. Apparently everyone was pleased with the result because by this time KILO has been slated to get a regular release. Today, though, I am reviewing the Tweet-Up release, a Robusto, which features fillers from the Dominican Republic, Nicaraguan and United States, a Cameroon binder, and an Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper. Keith posted his review of the KILO last week.

First things first: the band looks cool. If I’m not mistaken, it’s simply a dull gold foil background with a brighter, shinier gold foil stamped onto it (with these same areas embossed). The only thing that doesn’t quite work is that the cigar is fairly veiny and this paper seems very thin as you can clearly see the veins making ridges and bumps in the foil. Not a major thing, but a detail that might possibly be improved in a regular production environment. The wrapper itself is quite oily to the touch and had a medium brown coloration with a hint of red. Giving the KILO a good sniff (that sounded bad…) I picked up notes of earth and wood from the wrapper, while the foot gave up chocolate, hay and earthy. I used my typical straight cut and found the test draw to be excellent; it had a flavor of earth, cedar and something sweet that I couldn’t quite identify.

After lighting, the first thing I noticed about the KILO was the metallic twang I often get from Ecuadorian Sumatra wrapper leaves…just faintly like sucking on a penny (c’mon, you know you did when you were a kid) or river rocks. It was fairly quickly displaced by a strong cedar and earth flavor. There was a good amount of pepper spice on the tongue, but the retrohale had the characteristic wasabi burn of the Cameroon leaf Barry used for the binder. As the first third continued, I got a nice mix of earthy sweetness, pepper burn and metallic twang.

As I moved into the second third of KILO, I noted that construction was very good so far. I had a great draw, fairly solid ash and a burn line that only needing a couple minor touch-ups. The only flaw I noticed was a hollow in the filler right as the second third started, but it didn’t cause any deviation that I noticed.

I am not the biggest fan of Sumatra wrapper; like Mexican wrapper it has a particular flavor that I don’t care for. In this case, it’s the metallic note. Like Mexican wrapper, though, when well balanced with other flavor elements, the flavor that I don’t like can be rendered a very interest overall component. Such is the case with KILO. Aside from the first few puffs, the coppery note did not overwhelm the flavor profile. Instead there was a nice balance and complexity with plenty of earth, cedar, pepper, and dried fruit sweetness. Overall a very good smoke that I would be certainly buy more of. The body was on the low end of full and the nicotine strength was about the same. I am interested to see what this blend will do with a few more months of resting for the flavors to marry even more. For Barry Stein, this cigar has got to be a dream come true.

Body: 8/10
Strength: 8/10
Complexity: 7/10

AFP Scale

Prelight: 2/2
Construction: 2/2
Flavor: 4/5
Value: 1/1
Total: 9/10