Tag Archives: Blackbird Cigar Co.

by Craig Vanderslice | November 3, 2024 · 9:29 am

A Special Blackbird Cigar and Some New Macanudos

I had the opportunity to purchase some cigars a few weeks in advance of their release thanks to Tyler Caldwell at Smokingpipes.com. I met Tyler a few years ago at the Stillwell Star release event at Low Country Pipe & Cigars in South Carolina. I hung out with him again at the last PCA show I attended, super nice dude. He had a hand in blending the new Blackbird Cigars Flamingo, which is a Smokingpipes.com exclusive. You may recall that Smokingpipes.com (Low Country is their retail outlet) is owned by Laudisi Enterprises, and recently acquired Caldwell Cigars (Tyler Caldwell/Caldwell Cigars? No relation, but it’s a bit funny!). They have a great shop if you find yourself in the Myrtle Beach area. Anyway, the cigar is called the Flamingo, has a pink band and a really nice hat if you’re a hat guy. I might have to become a hat guy, they are piling up over here. It’s a 7″ x 38 lancero format, has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, Connecticut Broadleaf binder, and Broadleaf, Nicaraguan and Dominican in the filler. That’s a lot going on in a Lancero! It’s made in Jonas Santana’s Blackbird factory in the DR. I like Jonas, I like his cigars, this should be a treat. If I had a complaint, it would be that it’s too short! This is a delicious cigar, it’s bold, has some warm, savory spices, and some light floral notes in the background. I smoked a couple of these and really enjoyed them. Smoking time was around an hour and fifteen nimues, and I was careful not to oversmoke it, but it was so darned tasty I might have smoked faster than usual (puffs per hour, not overdrawing). Jump on these when they become available later this month, all parties involved did a great job. Thanks to Tyler for allowing me to purchase cigars early!

I recently received some new Macanudo cigars from the folks at General Cigar Co., and I was excited to try them. The first one that jumped out at me was the Macanudo Emissary España Limited Edition Torpedo. I really thought the Emissary España in the robusto was a great cigar, not at all what one expects from a Macanudo. This cigar has a U.S. Connecticut Broadleaf Claro wrapper, aged 5 years, a Nicaraguan Condega binder, aged 6 years, with Dominican Piloto (aged 5 years), Colombian (aged 5 years), Nicaraguan ASP (aged 6 years), and Havana seed tobacco grown in Riolobos, Spain (aged 10 years). The wrapper is described as Claro, but I thought it was pretty dark, not maduro dark, but not light). The torpedo is 6″ x 52. The Broadleaf is apparent, it’s loaded with cocoa, and I get a citrus tang. It’s a heavy cigar, recommended unless you’re expecting a Macanudo Legacy or Inspirado experience. If you don’t go stronger than than an Inspirado White, this one might be troublesome. Great cigar, I really like it, and want to try it in a Churchill.

The Macanudo Estate Reserve Flint Knoll series has eluded me until the No. 3, which means they didn’t send me No.s 1 and 2. I wouldn’t have gone looking for these, being a non-drinker I don’t hunt down cigar with any liquor associations. I will try them when they are presented to me, but I certainly have no frame of reference for anything alcohol related. These aren’t flavored, of course, but have tobacco that is aged in French Oak barrels that was used for Flint Knoll’s 2021 Royal Appointment Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s offered in a beefy 7″ x 52 double corona they call a “Churchill”. The blend is Ecuadorian Connecticut wrapper, US Broadleaf binder and Brazilian, Dominican, Nicaraguan, Dominican fillers. I only smoked one sample so far, I had a strange time with it. Flavors were delightful, it had some sweet wood and baking spices. Perhaps this needed to be a little bit dryer, is alternated between producing rich mouthfuls of smoke, to requiring double/triple puffs to get anything. very strange. At some point I’ll dry one down a little and give it a try, from what I could tell it was a delicious, sophisticated, medium bodied cigar. Folks with better palates than I rave about it.

That’s all for today. I have some cool plans for this coming weekend, involving hockey, cigars, a cigar factory and a farm. Guesses can go in the comments, maybe I’ll have a giveaway for a correct answer! Next Sunday’s post may be a little late. Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Blackbird, Blackbird Cigar Co., cigar, cigars, Emissary, España, Estate Reserve, Flamingo, Flint Knoll, Low Country Pipe and Cigar, macanudo, SmokingPipes.com

by Craig Vanderslice | May 12, 2024 · 10:13 am

Blackbird, Sobremesa, Cohiba and Brickhouse Cigars

First off, I’m really looking forward to going to the Smokonos event at Best Cigar Prices in Drums, PA next Saturday. There’s going to be a lot of the A-list cigar celebrities there, and a bunch of friends I haven’t seen in a long time. Unfortunately it’s sold out, but I hope to see some of you there! It’s a shame that it’s the same day as the Atlantic City Cigar Social, we had a nice time at that event last year. If you happen to be attending that event, say hello to my friend Dan at Bucksco Barrels! Wednesday evening we went to Parings Cigar Bar in Media, PA to visit with Jonas Santana of Blackbird Cigars, and his area broker Mark Weissenburger. We didn’t stay around for it, but he was hosting a tasting session with puritos and rum. I picked up some of my favorite Blackbird cigars, the Crow, and some of the new Superb in toro. I smoked a Supurb there, and had one Thursday night at home. This is a 6″ x 52 toro, where most of their toros are 54 ring gauge. It has a Habano wrapper and undisclosed binder and fillers. Jonas is very tight lipped about the blend, claiming he forgets, which I don’t buy for a minute. I speculated that it had Dominican Olor, and got nothing…I find it has a dryness that I associate with that tobacco. It also has some sweet spice, and was a very nice cigar. I generally don’t smoke the same cigar twice in a row unless it’s really good. It’s always nice to see Jonas and Mark, and the staff at Pairings is top notch. It’s one of the few cigar bars around the area, so if having a drink with your cigar is something you enjoy, check this place out if you’re in the Philadelphia area.

Friday evening came around and I decided it was the right time to smoke the Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust Sobremesa Brûlée Wagashi that was a generous Secret Santa gift from a fellow Craig. This is from the original CigarDojo release, not the new regular production. If I have to smoke a shade wrapped cigar, there are a short list of ones I’m attracted to, and the Brulee blend is one of them. I’ve had the Brulee and Brulee Blue, and I’d heard this was milder. Maybe so, but it was packed with sweet, nutty tobacco flavor right off the start. This is a box pressed, 6″ x 50 with a bun type pigtail cap. I think I liked this better than the previous two iterations of Brulee, and I like them a lot. Highly recommended.

I noticed that my friends at CigarMojo’s The Grove location (the one close to me) decided to use one of my pictures in an Instagram reel. I don’t mind, but a photo credit would be nice. Remember people, when you use someone’s intellectual property, it’s the right thing to do to give them credit. I left a snarky comment, but I might have to stop in and have a talk with them! Anyway, yesterday afternoon I watched some TV on the porch with a Cohiba Riviera Lancero, which, admittedly, had just arrived the day before. I let it rest overnight, it seemed fine, and I gave it the old Humidimeter test, but the prongs on the meter are ever so slightly narrower than the cigar, so it was really only reading from between the binder and wrapper. This is a box pressed 7″ x 38 with a San Andrés wrapper, Honduran grown Connecticut shade binder, and fillers from Honduras and Nicaragua, made at STG’s factory in Esteli. The box press makes it seems slimmer than 38 ring gauge. I really liked the Robusto size in this line, so I felt compelled to smoke this lancero. I really liked it. It has dark chocolate and espresso, and since I figured out that dark chocolate gives me migraines, I seek it out in cigars. The Lancero is actually the most affordable in the Riviera line at $15, the rest of them are in the $20 range, which means I won’t be smoking them. $15 I can handle and it’s a very nice smoke. It surprises me that it took this long for General to make a Cohiba in the Lancero size, considering how iconic the Cuban Cohiba Lancero. is.

I wanted to include a fourth cigar today, and I was hunting around the humidors for something I hadn’t written about yet, and it occured to me that I hadn’t talked about the Brickhouse Crystal Churchill from J.C.Newman. I’ve had a box in the humidor for a year or so and have smoked half a dozen. This is the 7¼” x 50 Habano wrapped Brickhouse in a glass tube. They come ten per box and run just under $10 each. I quite enjoy the Brickhouse line, they are Nicaraguan cigars that aren’t terribly expensive, but provide a good smoking experience. It’s on the leathery side, but I like it anyway! The tube doesn’t do much for me, although it’s a nice presentation, I worry about carrying glass around in my pocket, so would prefer aluminum tubes for portability. I like Churchills, and this is a good one (although it’s a couple rings oversized!).

That’s all for now, happy Mother’s Day to all who celebrate. Don’t forget the Smokin Tabacco Raffle for The CFCF! Until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as Blackbird Cigar Co., Brickhouse, Brulee, cigar, cigars, cohiba, Dunbarton Tobacco and Trust, J.C.Newman, lancero, Pairings, Riviera, Sobremesa, Supurb, Wagashi

by Craig Vanderslice | January 18, 2024 · 2:00 pm

News: Blackbird Announces Superb Addition to Core Line

I’ve been very selective about the news items I post, some of it is laziness, I admit. This one caught my eye and I can’t wait to tery them. I’ve been a Blackbird fan since talking to Jonas and his crew at the TPE four years ago, and they make some really good cigars that I enjoy quite frequently. Hopefully these find their way to a shop near me (Mark W? Tell me where!).

‘‘A TRIP TO PARADISE’’

After years of hard work and dedication, we at BLACKBIRD continue to strive to make sure our customers have the best experience with each and every cigar we produce. With this mindset, we realized that we needed a bigger space, better bands, better boxes and of course… better cigars. As a company we took a big step and built a new factory to achieve the goal and at the same time support our community in the Dominican Republic by creating more jobs.

The first goal was achieved. Every single cigar that was being made at the factory during 2023 was in flawless conditions. Since our focus had been in continuing to perfect our production, Blackbird had not added a new cigar to our core line. We have produced several other products but no new additions to our core line.

However since we succeeded with our 1st goal, it was now time to add a new blend to our core line. So in the 3rd quarter of 2023 we started tobacco hunting in different countries and meeting with different tobacco growers until we found the ones that understood the quality that we were looking to have on every single cigar produced at the Blackbird Factory. One of the growers showed us an Ecuadorian Habano Wrapper with incredible quality that put a smile on our faces because we didn’t have any habano wrapper on our core line.

We started blending with that wrapper and the challenge began… We did too many blends, mixed with too many tobaccos in the filler that, honestly it was exhausting. But one day, after several tests, a burned out palate, at 3 in the morning we decided to try the last blend… suddenly the room went silent… we all realized that THIS blend felt like we had just arrived in Paradise!

We named this cigar SUPERB in reference to the Bird of the Paradise and because of how it felt when we lit up the final blend.

SUPERB It’s a medium strength bodied cigar, designed to create a savory and lingering taste of nut meg but creamy to the palate. Also some hints of cedar can be captured which when combined with the white pepper, will turn your most dull day into a paradise.

This new addition will become available during TPE 2024 in our re- designed core line wooden boxes of 21 count.

CIGAR COMPOSITION
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Undisclosed
Filler: Undisclosed

OFFERINGS
Robusto Gordo 54×5, Box of 21 (MSRP $196.56 Box / $9.36 Per cigar)
Toro 52×6, Box of 21 (MSRP $225.28 Box / $10.72 Per cigar)

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Tagged as Blackbird, Blackbird Cigar Co., cigar, cigars, Superb

by Craig Vanderslice | July 16, 2023 · 10:14 am

Some Blackbird Cigars and Some Villiger Cigars

I had a different idea of what today’s post was going to be, but that plan changed at the last minute. To be honest, the plan was tentative, at best. I’ve got some new and not so new cigars to talk about this week, lets start with the not so new, but great cigars. When I went to the TPE show in 2020, right before the world shut down, I met Jonas Santana and his crew from Blackbird Cigars. Jonas flattered me by knowing who I was, after 4 years of doing this it still takes me aback. Jonas had worked for Artista (then El Artista) who I had been working with, so he was familiar with my work. I’ve kept up with Jonas over the years and while this old white dude may not be able to keep up with a young, hip-hop cat, we connect on the cigar level, I dig his smokes. The Crow is my main jam, but this week I decided to take a wander through the range again as it’s been too long. What prompted this was one of my wife’s cigar band furniture projects, which required a bunch more Blackbird bands! So I had to by more cigars. I picked up some Toro singles locally, and bought a Robusto sampler from my friends at Trash Panda Cigars. Let’s talk about the Cuco first. This is probably the last cigar I’d go to because it has Criollo on the band and that tobacco usually doesn’t work for me. This is listed as a Brazilian wrapper, Indonesian binder and Dominican fillers, so I imagine it’s a Brazilian Criollo wrapper, perhaps that makes the difference for me, because I quite enjoyed this cigar in both Robusto and Gran Toro vitolas. It’s medium bodied with some cocoa and a hint of spice. very nice cigars.

The Finch from Blackbird is one of two Sumatra wrapped cigars in the portfolio, the other being the Rook. The Finch is only available in the Robusto size, has an Indonesian binder and US and Dominican fillers. It’s just me, but I think if I were going to have one cigar in my lineup that was just a robusto, I might call it the Rook, thinking like the chess piece, but I suppose finches are small birds so I get it. It’s a bird themed line, not a chess themed line, what am I thinking? I guess what I’m thinking is that while I really enjoyed the Finch I forgot to take any notes, so I don’t really have anything to say about it except that I found it quite enjoyable and it makes me want to pick up a few more. I do recall a bit of the sugar cane I get from Sumatra sometimes, along with a sweet spice, perhaps from whatever US tobacco (PA maybe?). Good smoke. As I type, I’m smoking the Unkind in Robusto, which has a dark Cubra (Brazil) wrapper and works exceptionally well with my black coffee. Even the shade Jackdaw has some pop to it and is quite tasty. It’s hard to go wrong with the Blackbird line, Jonas is doing some great things at his factory in the DR.

A few weeks ago I received a few new cigars from the folks at Villiger Cigars. I’ve had a very long history with Villiger. If you dig through my site (or YouTube channel), you’ll find interviews going back to 2012 I think. They have gone through some transitions, probably made some mis-steps, but they’ve always made good cigars. A few years ago they brought on René Casteñeda to head North American sales. René was previously with Miami Cigar and Co. and La Aurora, and is a super-nice guy. The Villiger Miami started out as a cigar for him to have to share with his friends and visitors to his office. It’s made in their ABAM factory in the DR, where they make Flor de Ynclan and a ton of cigar for the European market. Last year they put this out in a Lancero, this year it was released in a toro format. It has an Ecuador Habano wrapper, undisclosed binder and fillers, except that they say there is some Peruvian leaf in the filler blend. This is a really nice, complex blend, with some delicate flavors. It’s one of those cigars that you want to think about while you smoke it. I got a little citrus tang, with some nuts, light coffee, and a hint of cocoa.

Finally, I smoked the Villiger 1888 Nicaragua in both the Toro and Robusto. The 1888 was the first premium cigar that Villiger made back in 2009, and it was reissued around 2017 with updated blend and branding, made in the Dominican Republic. The 1888 Nicaraguan is made in the Villiger de Nicaragua factory, which in my imagination is somehow a part of the Joya de Nicaragua factory. I could ask around and verify this I suppose, but that seems like work. The cigar has an Ecuador Sumatra wrapper, Nicaraguan binder and Nicaraguan and Pennsylvanian fillers. I’m generally partial to cigars with PA tobacco, considering it’s grown within an hour from my home, and I tend to like Sumatra. This was a Medium bodied cigar in both vitolas, and had some sweet coffee/cocoa flavors. I don’t recall favoring one size over the other, but almost always like a toro over a robusto. I have a corona yet to try, but I expect that to have slightly sharper flavors.

That’s all I have for today, until the next time,

CigarCraig

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Tagged as 1888, Blackbird, Blackbird Cigar Co., cigar, cigars, Crow, Cuco, Finch, Jackdaw, miami, Unkind, Villiger

by Craig Vanderslice | February 16, 2023 · 11:00 pm

News: Blackbird launches New Cigar Line: the ‘’GLITCH’’

Here’s some news from the folks at Blackbird Cigars. I’m skipping the TPE this year, scheduling problems, but I’ll miss catching up with Jonas and his team. TPE is a good show for releasing more wallet friendly cigars, it seems, these are a very well priced cigar.

The Blackbird team launches new cigar line, the ‘’GLITCH’’, at TPE 2023.

Jonas Santana, Co-Founder of Blackbird Cigars, is excited to announce the newest addition to the company, the GLITCH. ‘‘On behalf of the Blackbird Team, we are more than happy to announce this new product. For us, the feeling of a new creation is always a great motivation to keep growing in the cigar industry. This is an example of… listen to what the team has to say!! We can’t wait for you to enjoy this affordable but great cigar’’. Said Jonas Santana.

How often a GLITCH becomes an opportunity?

In 2022, we were producing a particular blend at our factory, and everything was normal as usual but, after a few days of producing the cigars, our Master Blender arrived at the factory from a trip overseas to check on a tobacco crop. After performing his usual quality control procedures, he was taken by surprise. The blend was not exactly what he was expecting. The Master Blender immediately called for a team meeting at the factory. He questioned everyone to understand what happened.

He needed someone to elaborate how this was possible? Of course, no one had a response, now frustration levels were high. After a couple of minutes in the meeting, one of the new guys told the Master Blender, he didn’t know what was going on with the blend because he did everything correctly. He chose the right tobacco for the blend. Then, the new guy said: The day you left, we received two varieties of tobaccos. I wrote the code names on the bales as I was instructed. With this information, the Master Blender found out the error. The new guy mixed up the codes.

The Master Blender immediately called the partners of the company to explain the situation as he felt the issue was dire. He was wondering how to resolve the problem. This was not the blend the company were supposed to produce. Silence was in the room… Three gentlemen tasting the ‘‘mistaken blend’’ with a frustration that was noticeable on their faces. An inch later, one of the partners asked the Master Blender:

Did you really try this cigar? The Master Blender said: Yes, that is not the blend that I created. The partner asked another question: Did you dislike the flavor profile of the cigar? The Master Blender responded: I was not really thinking about it, why? The partner said: This is what we were looking for. We were looking for an affordable cigar that can compete in this market. The frustrated group turned into a room filled with laughter.

The other partner said: I think I have the name for this blend, we will call it the GLITCH!! The GLITCH is a mistake, a blip, a temporary technical malfunction. In this case, this GLITCH was a wonderful mistake.

This line’s offering will be Claro, Habano and Oscuro. Every box will have 20 cigars and it will be packed in a cardboard box to save the customers in shipping. Each blend will come in Robusto 50×5 (MSRP $6.10 each) and Toro 52×6 (MSRP $6.6 Each).

GLITCH Claro

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Connecticut

Binder: Mexican

Filler: Dominican & USA

GLITCH Habano