PROLOGUE
I don't mean to brag, but I'm on quite a hot-streak re: dominoes. Bones. My five year-old can barely keep up. Here's to victory. Here's to --
THE CIGAR
Caldwell Cigar Co.
Caldwell Collection
The King is Dead
"Premier"
50 x 5Capa: Negrito Dominicano – 2008
Banda: Corojo Dominicano – 2006
Tripa: Corojo Ligero Dominicano 30% – 2006
Tripa: Negrito Viso Dominicano 20% – 2008
Tripa: HVA 20/20 50% – 2010" - from www.CaldwellCigarCo.com
(That level of disclosure, I adore.)
Speaking disclosure, I get 5 1/2". I'm right, too. Ask me how, if yer curious.
PRELIGHT
I really like Caldwell's artwork. Even Tom Selleck's bearded mug on their Eastern Standard. All very nice and very unboringly "Caldwell." Excellent branding, that. Have I mentioned I like pigtails? As kosher as they ain't, I've a deep fondness nonetheless. This The King is Dead got one. The complexion of the stick is an even and light milk chocolate with not much, if any at all, under-tone. This offers up an interesting dull counter-balance to a decent 'nuff sheen. There is some yellowing surrounding a vein or two. Yes, there are veins (none impede upon the hand-feel), and spiders (some going across the shaft, not length-wise). Still, I don't foretell a burn bugaboo. I do get a carefully expressed "rustic." Seams are tight and even, darn near invisible. Pigtail is oinked upon a well-affixed cap. Foot tobacco is interesting. The binder is an almost loud orange hue; the rest is dull shades of auburn. Medium+ Eyeball'd density.
Hand-feel is a tick toward dry, but still oiled enough to feel of some life. Also has a trace bit of peach fuzz glide. Shaft is packed to a medium+ firmness as exhibited via a Charmin squeeze. Balance feels OK. Schnozzing the shaft, I get Some rather faint woods and smaller still pepper and chocolate. A little dusty. From the foot I get a stronger focus on chocolate and a cream attachment. Wood there is a sweet-spiced cedar.
I cut with my Xikar Xi2 cutter, after I schlep it out of its well-appointed box -- full review, coming soon. Get back in the box. Cold pull is on a smooth medium+ resistance and yields soft but flavorful mainly red spices, with a chocolate following that forefront. Throughout is a very nice tobacco core. Rich, but not deep. Mild-ish but flavorful. You know, nice.
LIGHT
3:40pm
Toasting the foot gives you a spicy zetz of wood array. Oak, cedar, and hickory (in that particular offer). The middling of the foot seems to burn quite differently than its surrounding leaf. darker and less hot. Slower. It catches up. Lots of dusty, musky pepper on the first hot pull. Dusty musky goes to mild spices, too. Like entering a room that's been closed off for a good while. The woods are there, as well. Cocoa goes to the finish. It's a sticky finish, as in sticks to yer ribs. Second hot one is retro-haled and sweet spices delineate from red pepper flake. Woods and tobacco core swirl around. Chocolate and cream seem to be joining forces underneath. Third hot draw is an already down-ticking pepper and the flavor profile is shuffling into place.
Strength and body, we'll call an early medium. Strength is vibed already, but just a vibe. Draw is a quite solidly medium+ resistance. Burn ribbons, but doth not waveth. Line is thin+. Ash is white to pale grey and is forming a thus far fragile sheath. Finish is very long. Mouth-feel is a clingy cream with not a tingle, but a zest.
ACT I
I work the draw on a few quick puffs, and it ticks down, but still remains in the medium+ spectrum of resistance. A stiff leather note pops in as red pepper drops way down low. Settling -- all notes are on par for a couple pulls. Then a milk chocolate/cream tandem takes to the forefront. Secondary is sweet cedar led seasoned hardwoods. A touch of hickory. A spicy tobacco fleshes out the middling. Underneath is a musky and leathery dusty earth.
Slow burner. Even burner. I'd like a tad less draw resistance, but I ain't lacking for flavor -- perhaps a bit of smoke, though. Out-put is an at-most medium. Room-note is a tobacco thing with fleeting traces of inherent sweet and spicy notes. Ash browns a bit and a spot on the char-line blisters.
Retro-hale gives a nice zetz of seasoned woods and sweet spices. As the first act closes, we're cruising ahead in terms of flavors. Burn evens on its own. Ash is rolled off in full to a nice density, although a tick dry. Profile is a robust medium, strength a -medium. Packaging holds true to its form.
ACT II
Palate is a bit on the dry side and has a slight bit o' nice tingle. Cedar had been leading the woods, but now it's busted ahead and is in the primary notes with a creamy chocolate. Remaining woods stay in the secondary and the tobacco core stays with them, almost engulfing them. A graham cracker pie crust is there, as well. Same musky leathery earth is underneath, but some sun hits it and it rises up to carry the other notes a notch or two higher. A light and white fruit juice is on my tongue now. Some green grocer produce, a vegetal led by green belle pepper, too.
My Uncle Frank retired from commercial fishing and bought a green grocer in Coney Island, Brooklyn. It had a dirt floor with plywood thrown over it. I remember bouncing and running over it as a little kid.
Smoke out-put rises, as does smoke into my smoke-hole. Stay smoky, gentlepersons. NOT Smokey. Smokey is a name. A good name for a dog. Stay, Smokey. I roll off a bunch of ash and it's the same as the first. Citrus chimes in, an orange rind. Pace quickens, but still has a calmness. It's completely cedar led, now. All other notes dance in the middle. Backing remains. Packing softens a tick. Draw stays put. I take my garbage to the curb. Citrus soars. Graham, too, but less. Moisture level corrects and mouth-feel is kind. Still nicely clingy, and offers a long finish of sweet tobacco. Strength is a comfy medium now. Ash gets a darker streak or two. Throat gets some grit. Retro-hale is a tad coarse.
Some lemony oil is added into the citrus. Lots of playful flavors that don't sit still, but aren't erratic, either. The tobacco core drives them forward along that musky leather dusty earth backing. Graham subdues on account of lemon addition. Cedar is still out in front and is sweet and spicy and complex. Still, it's a singular note. Hickory is a whisper in the predominantly tobacco middling. I'm getting a sense of the pedestrian -- but in designer shoes. Let's say this Caldwell offering is of an attainable complexity. A very nice smoke. Very. At it's best, the cream and chocolate hit the primary and the tobacco and woods swell in the secondary...but this occurs in ebbs and flows. Retro-hale is kinder now and adds a red pepper and now a thin and finely ground white. Medium+ profile with a medium kick. Construction holds. Burn is a slight wavy, but fine.
ACT III
Legs maybe pull back but the mouth-feel remains not heavy -- full. Zestier thinner cream. That finish is a sweet tobacco tempered by a lemon oil. Cream pulls in some cocoa. I don't get a sense there will be much change. Flavor notes seem well-trained. Stay, Smokey, Stay. Construction is marvelous, and packing re-firms. Natural tobacco note mutes a tick, but its role isn't lessened. Ash clumps off in a first surprise manner. Misses my schmatta mockingly close, and hits my already in need of launder pants. No big whoop.
Lemon oil sweetens, and cream toasts. A very nice effect as the band looms nigh. Cedar, even when alone up-top does nicely there. Sweet and spicy in a goodly seasoned balance. Palate dries a bit again. A bit of white tea leaf is present. Graham is back as a quicker but more dense cracker. Hickory is back in full, too. The King is Dead, but going out quite well, it would seem.
Profile and strength remain a constant. The room-note spins off a light floral aroma. A roasted salt hits my lips. I almost detect a vague hard caramel candy vibe on the immediate draw. Retro-hale smooths more as white over-takes red. Smoke is cool and even as I reach for a toothpick. After that, it's all cedar and vegetal.
NOTES
If the King is so Dead, why does Caldwell want this one smoked before Long Live the King? Or am I missing something. Something I didn't miss was this offering's brilliant usage of Negrito. In short, it's an attainable complex cigar with near perfect construction which falls in the majority of wheelhouses insofar as profile. It's really pretty neat.
PAIRINGS
Lemonade. Sweet tea. From a gaudy goblet.
FINAL GRADE
****A-****
LESS SCHTICK MORE STICK
Letter grades are graded on a scale of K A P L O W I T Z.
K being the least, Z the greatest
Appearance W
Construction T
Combustion I
Flavors/Body I
Strength W
Combustion I
Flavors/Body I
Strength W
EPILOGUE
5:10pm
Ya know who's dead? Twitter. Ya know what I ain't a fan of? Instagram (kaplowitz.xyz).
Buy this stick from my tremendous pals and Kaplowitz Mishpucha members, CIGARS CITY. <-- that link'll take ya right there to it. An easy stick to recommend, this The King is Dead.
5:10pm
Ya know who's dead? Twitter. Ya know what I ain't a fan of? Instagram (kaplowitz.xyz).
Buy this stick from my tremendous pals and Kaplowitz Mishpucha members, CIGARS CITY. <-- that link'll take ya right there to it. An easy stick to recommend, this The King is Dead.