Alec Bradley Harvest Selection 1997 Habano
Monday, March 21st, 2011We originally planned on posting a video review today, but this asshole made us change our plans slightly. Stay tuned, within a couple weeks Mike, Ed, and I will have a review up. Anyhow…
A couple samples of the Harvest Selection were included in a cigar bomb Mike from MikesStogies.com sent me awhile back. It looks like this cigar is only available online, and more information can be found at Cigars International and a couple other online stores. What I care about is how it performs, and for such a great price point, I was eager to get smoking. I paired this cigar with water.
Wrapper: Habano
Binder: ???
Filler: Dominican, Nicaraguan, Mexican
Size: Robusto 5 x 50
Price: $3.00
Pre-Smoke & Construction:
The dark wrapper was shiny with invisible seams and some medium sized veins. The wrapper and foot had a slight odor of earthiness. The cigar was pretty packed, and had a minor soft spot or two. The pre-light draw had slight resistance, and had a mild earthy tobacco flavor.
The burn required one touch up, and the ash held for 1.5 inches.
Flavor:
The first third opened up with an earthy and almost floral note. Through the nose, there was a nice peppery spice. I had a hard time telling if there was a tinge of sweetness way back inside of the spice. After the first inch, I picked up a very nice coffee flavor. It also had a sweetness to it, similar to having sugar in your coffee. Not over the top sweetness, but it was there.
The second third kept the same flavors. The earthy and floral notes were still there. At times the coffee was black, and at times it was like coffee and sugar. Basically, the sweetness was detached from the coffee, and at other times it was mixed in with it. The spice became less peppery and more sweet. The smoke volume seemed to increase as well.
The last third saw a slight decrease in the floral and earthy notes. The sweetness picked up in strength. Like before, sometimes the coffee was separate from the sweetness, and other times it was mixed in with it. Passing smoke through the nose, it pretty much stayed the same as before.
Conclusion:
This was a good medium bodied cigar. For $3.00, it easily delivers to it’s price point. Like most cheaper cigars, there obviously was no wow factor. You could even call it one dimensional. On the other hand, there were no bad flavors either. Everything fit together nicely. Thanks to Mike from MikesStogies.com for sending these to me. I may have found a new morning budget cigar. I think these are worth a try.
