Sweet Jane, Murcielago and Alec Bradley Filthy Ghooligan Cigars

As October moves along, we get closer to Halloween (and eventually winter, ugh), so I figured I’d string together a few cigars following that theme. I’m omitting the obvious, mostly because I haven’t gotten out and found any yet, but there are other options. It brings up the question: do we really need holiday themed cigars? No, of course not, but it gives the marketing guys something to do. Drew Estate recently added the Sweet Jane Dia de los Muerto cigar to the very popular Deadwood line. It’s a 6″ x 50 box-pressed toro, with a Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper with binder and fillers from Nicaragua (although some sources say “undisclosed”, we are pretty sure there’s some tobaccos more usually associated with pipe tobacco). This has a sweet cap, and is aromatic. There are some baking spices, some cocoa, and it’s a nice change of pace. The sample I picked up locally, and at $12 I only grabbed one to try, ended up with a tunnel about half way in, but it eventually worked itself out. This is frustrating with any cigar, but more so as the price goes up. A $12 cigar should always burn right. I do enjoy the Deadwood line once in a while, and I see the appeal to the occasional smoker.

My local TAA shop had the Espinosa Murcielago de Oro TAA 2023 in stock, so I grabbed one of those on my last visit. I’ve been a fan of the Murcielago line going back to 2011 or so, when it was still Espinosa and Ortega (EO Brands). I miss Eddie Ortega, I need to see what he’s up to. It’s not meant to be Halloween themed, but I figured the bat thing would fit in here. The original has a San Andrés wrapper, This one, and the name gives it away a little, has a shade wrapper. I thought it seemed darker than usual, but that’s OK. It’s presented in a 6″ x 54 oval-pressed toro format, made at A.J. Fernandez’ San Lotano factory. This was a bold cigar, not as mild as one might think. I liked it, but it sorta seemed like a strong cigar with a shade wrapper, maybe some Cafe con Leche flavors? Nice cigar, probably another cigar that’s near $12, I think I’ll stick with the maduro version. I’ll have to stop back in and see what other TAA cigars they have that I haven’t tried.

Finally, Alec Bradley has added a cigar to their holiday offerings. They have had success with the Filthy Hooligan, which started out in 2012 as a Candela cigar (I still have one someplace), and morphed into a Candela/Jalapa barber pole with Honduran and Panamanian fillers, a Sumatra binder. Then they added the Shamrock, with Honduran Candela, Habano and Habano Maduro triple wrap. This year they decided to jump on the Halloween bandwagon with the Filthy Ghooligan. These are all in the Alec Bradley Black Market family and are limited releases. First, I think it’s silly. I get the play on words, but Ghoul is spelled with a U, and while the band is cute, it pushes “Marketing to children” to the line a bit. I know this isn’t the case, but I’m more of a traditionalist. That being said, I don’t mind a Barber Pole style cigar. This one has Ecuadorian Habano and US Broadleaf wrappers, making a nice light vs. dark brown spiral. It has Indonesian Besuki binder and Nicaraguan Jalapa,Estelí, and Condega fillers alongside Dominican Piloto. It smoked well, has a decent flavor, some leather and dark chocolate with some spice. I did smoke a Shamrock later in the day and I can see the family resemblance. The Candela makes the shamrock a little brighter in flavor. I do. find myself wanting to smoke more maduros in the fall, so I suppose this is a good choice. Overall, not a bad smoke