Last night I had the pleasure of being among the fifteen lucky attendees of a guided tasting of the Black Works Studio NBK, hosted by Mick Grant, the Northeast territory rep for Oveja Negra Brands. The venue was the CigarCigars Shop in Downingtown, PA. managed by my friend Kevin Sirman. This was a bit of a different experience, as it involved three puritos of the components of the blend of the NBK. The NBK is a box pressed Gran Corona, measuring 6″ x 46 with an Ecuador Habano Oscuro wrapper and Nicaraguan Binder and filler. Mick had us light the NBK first, in my experience an unusual first step. He then passed out the first purito, the viso in the filler blend, which is from Jalapa. I admit, when I lit the cigar I had a thought that there was Jalapa tobacco in the blend. There’s a 
sweetness to the Jalapa tobacco that is distinctive, and smoking it separately makes it quite noticeable. Now we find the brilliance in smoking the finished cigar side by side with the individual leaf. The second puro was the seco, which is from Ometepe. I rather expected a bland, papery taste, but this Ometepe seco was very flavorful! There was a citrus or almost floral flavor. I found it drying, which Mick validated when he likened it to black tea, 
with the tannins being drying on the palate. Finally, the last tobacco in the blend was the Esteli ligero. Of course, this tobacco was rich, dense, and full of flavor. I found that after smoking the ligero Purito for a bit, going back to the NBK took a little adjustment, as it seemed much lighter in comparison. Throughout the tasting, Mick answered questions about the cigar making and tobacco growing process, he was extremely knowledgeable and did a great job of leading this very educational experience.
I’ve done a lot of these kind of events, and I always learn something from them and enjoy them a lot, and I thank Kevin, the manager at CigarCigars in Downingtown for giving me the heads up on this! One of my favorite things to do though, is to bring a friend who may not have experienced this kind of thing before. My friend Greg, who I’ve known for 40+ years, loves cigars, and is a regular shopper at CigarCigars in Downingtown, but hadn’t had a chance to go into the lounge and have a smoke, let alone attend an event like this. Since we rarely get together, I invited him to this and enjoyed seeing how breaking down how a cigar is made, and 
what makes them taste the way they taste made sense to him. He seemed to get a lot out of the experience and I think it will enhance his appreciation of cigars. I encourage everyone to go to an event like this! Not everyone can go to a factory, this gets you a little closer to all the steps that goes into making a cigar. Finally, Thanks to Mick Grant for the great presentation. Mick just announced that he will be leaving Oveja Negra to move and pursue some personal family goals, and I wish him and his wife (who was also there last night) all the best and he will be missed! I’ve known Mick for a few years, with a couple of brands, and he’s the best.
On a side note, I wandered into Nat Sherman‘s Townhouse on 42nd Street in Manhattan on Tuesday and had their Panamericana in the 4″ x 54 Robustico size. I wasn’t sure how much time I was going to have, and it worked out that that was exactly the right size for the time I had. It was a really great tasting cigar, and I had gone to the city without the expectation of having a cigar, so this visit was a bonus. It was also a $14 cigar, but it’s NYC, where you can walk down the street smoking a joint and it’s OK, but you’ll get all kinds of crap if you smoke a cigar. what a world…that’s all for today! Until the next time,
CigarCraig
Last Rites Viaticum
