Alec Bradley
Black Market
WRAPPER: Nicaraguan
BINDER: Ecuadorian
FILLER: Honduran, Panamanian
FORMAT: Gordo
ORIGIN: Honduras
INTENSITY: Medium
NOTES:
Cuban coffee | Chocolate | Spiced rum
Flavors start out w/ a bang then muffle all to heck. *spoiler-alert* a one-pot meal simmered too long, melange'd all-together. Watered down on the re-heat. Between that gate-to-wire run (turned staggering walk) some promise is shown, however. Italian-roasted beans become Cuban coffee. Chocolate approaches "Death by" status. Spiced rum.
Spiced rum holds the longest & most alluringly. The saddest to see go. Vanilla bean, orange peel, cinnamon stick. Clove, nutmeg, black peppercorn. Earthen & boozy. Then, as w/ the rest-of profile -- engulfed in leathery-meaty-hidey watery-earth. A house of cards of notes in a wind-storm -- but the deck is B I G, stage-prop sized.
& (as spoiled) even that earthiness thins, becomes linear, picks up a twangy fennel-caraway note on-ahead. Zero complexities beyond the first-third. Nuances trail off mid-second-third. Smokes tiredly. Combustion & construction are fine. Draw is snug, lending to the thinning-out. Smokes like attempting a marathon sans training. Like standing in line at the DMV.
TASTE: B-
DRAW: B-
BURN: B
BUILD: B+
FINAL GRADE: B-
A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79 D 60-69 F 0-59
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