Originally published at Tiki Bar Online
This month’s cigar review is one I was very excited to dig into. Last weekend, I ventured over The Hill Cigar Company to meet a friend of mine for a cigar, only he never showed (he’s 82 – I’ll cut him some slack). Jay, the shop’s general manager, found me perusing their massive selection and immediately pointed me towards Sam Leccia’s new offerings: the Leccia Black Blend and the Leccia White Blend.
For those unfamiliar, Sam left Oliva Cigar Co. back in 2010 and attempted to release new cigars under his own name but was met with legal action, preventing him from rejoining the industry. Today, Sam has returned to share his new cigars with the public.
I found zero imperfections with the construction of this cigar. Notes of cedar and nuts greeted me pre-light. Using a punch and wooden match, I took my first couple draws and was met with immediate peppery, spicy full-bodied flavors all around the middle of my mouth which stayed for around 10–15 minutes. What was interesting was that the pepper and spice intensified a notch or two after that and began hitting into my sinuses. That lasted another 10 minutes. None of this was overbearing but I honestly can’t remember a cigar in recent memory that has that much pepper and spice and still be pleasant.
Soon after the pepper and spice went retreating from the palette came the hints of something similar to allspice. That flavor passed along just after the halfway point of the cigar and stayed quiet (no other extra flavors) for the rest of the burn time. Besides a very minor burn correction, I had no problems with this cigar.
My final thoughts on the Leccia White Label are thus:
- This is one of my favorite cigars this year. I would consider the strength of the cigar to be medium to medium-to-full with a complex and enjoyable flavor profile.
- I believe I paid between $8 and $9 for the 6×50 (Toro) for this at The Hill Cigar Company. Online pricing is a little under that doing a quick search. In my opinion, I would happily pay either of those prices for this cigar and will be buying more to share with friends.
As always, thank you very much for reading and I look forward to the next time I can share my thoughts with you.
