Thinking back, I suppose I should have smoked an Alec Bradley Black Market to complete the thematic trilogy, honestly, I wasn’t even thinking about both of these cigars having anything in common. Let’s start out with the Cigar Prop Back In Black By Espinosa (not a sponsored link). This cigar might be lesser known outside of certain circles. It’s a collaboration between Kevin Shahan at Cigar Prop and Espinosa Cigars, and was/is exclusive to Smoke Inn. This was the third one of these I’ve smoked, the first out of the production run, and the first I’ve been able to talk about. Kevin had sent me some samples of prototypes for my feedback some time ago, and there were two blends, this excellent blend which, obviously went into production, and another even better blend, which 
better fit the theme of the project (in my opinion), which ended up not being sustainable due to material shortages. Kevin likes barber pole style cigars. This one has a Habano (the wrapper Espinosa uses on the La Bomba line) and a San Andrés, and a Jalapa binder and viso and ligero fillers from Estelí and Condega. It’s a 6″ x 52, which we all know is a size I like, and has a simple black band. Funny that Kevin doesn’t usually like powerful cigars, not that this one is super strong, but it does have a little kick to it, it isn’t mild! I loved the samples I smoked, and I am glad I bought a box when they were finally released. These are suited to my palate, they are rich, with cocoa/espresso flavors like I enjoy. I’ve yet to have a barber pole cigar that I could detect any flavor changes, I mean, the wrappers are spiralled, they are both burning at the same time through the course of the cigar, but it’s a neat look, and as long as it burns well, I’m happy, and these have. Congratulations to Cigar Prop on his first collaboration! It’s fun to see the name on a box, isn’t it? I remember when he was but a simple CigarCraig.com reader…
I followed the Back in Black later in the day with the HVC Black Friday 2021. Maybe there’s a subconscious connection to my mood this time of year. I seemed to be in a better frame of mind back in the days when I could spend the two weeks leading up to Christmas giving away tons of cigars and swag. Can you believe 2015 was the last year I had one of my mega-day giveaways? On the other hand it was a major time suck, but a great one! Anyway, I have a few goodies stashed away for next week, stay tuned. So a normal person might have smoked the HVC 
Black Friday on the day after Thanksgiving, but I forgot about it. I probably have a few of them around, one from last year, a couple Firecrackers, and then this one I picked up a few weeks back on the recommendation of Brian at Son’s. This keeps happening with HVC cigars and the guys at Son’s, they ask me if I’ve tried one yet, I say know and take the one from them and buy it. I should always buy more than one. Either they need to learn or I do. The Black Friday 2021 is a 4 3/8″ x 54 short, chubby robusto, with a mottled broadleaf wrapper. Last years was a Corona Gorda, now that I think of it, I just saw one when rooting through the humidor. The rest of the blend is Nicaraguan, made at the Aganorsa Factory in Esteli. I was told it was strong, to smoke it after a hearty meal. I prepared by eating a leftover slice of Sicilian pizza with sausage and bacon. It was good. I’ll reiterate my failure to buy/Son’s failure to sell additional examples of this cigar. This is a friggen outstanding cigar. Yeah, it’s got some power, but not porcelain hugging level power. The size is good for a little over an hour for me, I could have smoked it in a toro last night as it was fairly mild for a december evening, but it was still quite satisfying. As I think about it, maybe a toro would have been too much and would have ratcheted it up to an uncomfortable level. This is going on my list of cigars to grab a few more of (box of 50? let’s not get carried away). The Corona Gorda and Firecrackers better hide.
Everyone who signed up for the Secret Santa should have gotten their assignments. I am to understand at least one person signed up and for whatever reason it didn’t take in the system. It seems like there’s always something that goes wrong when I try to do these things! I sent mine out yesterday, and posted a small rant on Facebook and Instagram about how the USPS sets the expectation of 2 day shipping right on the label, I didn’t ask for it. It’s their idea, they should make goo on it, right? Anyway, we’ll see how that goes…that’s al for today, until the next time,
CigarCraig
