Black Patch "Reserve 2003" Maduro Caldwell

[ColbyPants]

We found this cigar at a booth on the Kentucky Bourbon Festival Lawn while wandering around on Saturday, and decided to buy one on a whim. Now it gets the full review workup, now lets see if it was worth it:







Size: 5.5" X 52
Wrapper: Kentucky Broadleaf Sun Grown
Binder: Cibao Olor
Filler: Dominican Republic South Bonao Pilato Cubano, Villa Gonzales Seco, La Vega Carbonell/Havana Seed
Website: http://www.blackpatchcigarco.com/

Appearance: As you can see in the photos above, this is a bit of a rustic looking cigar. It isn't the smoothest cigar you have ever seen but it is not nearly the worst either. the wrapper is dark like french roast coffee, and equally as oily. Further perusal showed that the cigar was reasonably firmly packed and there did not seem to be any soft spots.

Pre-Light: Clipped very easily with my Credo Synchro Cutter. Nosing this cigar revealed a richness and some tangy notes, as well as a note that resembled charred oak barrels. The prelight draw was just right and revealed notes quite similar to the initial nosing.



Burn/Draw: This is an aspect where this cigar really shines. This cigar burned like a dream, long and slow and cool. the burn line was light and forget, it never really wandered much farther than the photo shown above, and this is a very good thing. The draw was just perfect, forgiving but providing just enough resistance to keep the burn cool. This cigar produced volumes of bright white fragrant smoke (earthy, and oaky with a sweet offsetting tanginess.). As far as the ash is concerned, it was light grey and a tiny bit flaky, but it held as long as I wanted it to.



Flavors: This was one intriguing cigar, where you have to put your preconceptions regarding American Cigar Tobacco aside. One might be tempted to discount a cigar with a wrapper from Kentucky, and this would be a mistake. For the baseline flavors, you have all the basics of any good maduro cigar. There are notes of coffee and earth, chocolate and a tangy note that provides a pleasant counterpoint and keeps the cigar from getting dull. this cigar is medium full in body and medium in strength. There is also some woodiness, and I think that this might be what makes this cigar special.

In most of the cigars I have smoked to this point, when I have mentioned that there was a woody note, it was usually cedar like in nature. That is not the case with this cigar. This cigar has a not that tastes almost exactly like that of toasted oak. Like the oak in bourbon barrels. I wonder if this is intentional, being the wrapper leaf is from Kentucky. Either way, this not definitely lends itself to being a bourbon drinking cigar. Overall this cigar reminds me very much of a richer, more refined version of the Helix Maduro (perhaps a bit stronger and with that fascinating oak note), which if you know me is not a bad thing. In my formative cigar days I went through several boxes of the Helix. Overall if you want a change of pace with your morning coffee or favorite Kentucky Whiskey, try this out. It has given me hope for the possibilities of American grown wrapper leaves from places outside the Connecticut River Valley.

TomC

PS The Four Roses Single Barrel is everything I could have hoped for, but thats for another post. . .

[macallan2]

An intriguing review.  That woody flavor you mention has me curious.  Here's another one to add to the "must try" list.  Or as I call it the, "cigars I haven't smoked yet!"