Memoirs of a Cigar

I have been smoking the Alec Bradley Family Blend No 1 for a while now, but I have yet to give it a proper review. I first tried the Family Blend pig-tailed robusto at a cigar tasting a few years back, before they were officially released. I recall drinking a coca-cola while smoking, and found the sweetness in the cigar to pair well with the soda.

The Family Blend has been expanded to many additional shapes, sizes and blends, most notably the Alex Bradley Family Blend T11 Torpedo that recieved 94 points in Cigar Aficionado (see my review here: http://www.memoirsofacigar.com/2010/05/20/alec-bradley-family-blend-t11/), but the Family Blend No 1 is the cigar that started it all.

The Alec Bradley Family Blend No 1 is a 90 point smoke that makes for a satisfying Saturday morning smoke. It’s mild and flavorful and pairs well with coffee and croissant. It starts of with creamy flavors of earth and nuts. There is also a molasses sweetness that runs through the entire cigar. The center of the cigar adds leather and cedar wood, and a light but long lasting pepper spice on the finish. The final third is predominately leather and cedar wood, with the sweetness still hanging in there.

All in all, the Alec Bradley Family Blend No 1 is smooth and creamy smoke with core flavors of leather, earth, nuts and sweetness. It’s a perfect choice for when you want a nice balanced cigar that’s not too strong, and not overwhelming. It’s clearly their core blend, and they have added additional strength and flavors to their subsequent blends of this cigar, if your in search of more of a punch with your smoke. Sometimes it’s nice to go back to the original flavors in a successful cigar line-up, and the Alex Bradley Family Blend No 1 is exactly that.

The Cohiba Esplendido is, in my opinion, a smoke best served poolside. For me this majestic smoke evokes memories of lounging by the pool at Atlantis in the Bahamas. Its a long smooth relaxing smoke that starts off light and flavorful and ends up putting you to sleep for a short nap in the sun. It’s dressed up in the finest wrapper leaf, Colorado Medio, from Cuba’s premier tobacco growing region, Vuelta Abajo. This silky, creamy, milk chocolate wrapper is extremely fragile however, so it’s common to have some burn issues with a little wind or by smoking too quickly which overheats the tobacco. But take it nice and slow, as you lay out by the pool, under your umbrella, order another mojito, or two, and you be rewarded with the king of kings, the Cohiba Esplendido.

The Cohiba Esplendido starts off with delicious light flavors of creamy cocoa and roasted coffee. Rich tobacco and smooth earthiness are expertly blended with a dried fruit musky taste, and hints of roasted nuts. Its deceptively smooth at first, and slowly, but elegantly, the Esplendido transforms into a fairly full bodied cigar. Its core flavor profile of sweet wood and earthiness are present throughout, along with cream, rich tobacco, roasted nuts and a floral aroma. At around the mid-point you can’t help but stop taking notes, as you completely and utterly surrender to it’s amazing flavors and relaxing qualities.

As with all big, strong Cuban Cigars, the Esplendido requires a minimum of 3 years aging. If smoked earlier than that, the cigar will undoubtably be harsh and bitter, still consumed with the ammonia taste of premature tobacco fermentation. In fact, the box I have now bears a 2008 stamp, and although the cigar I’m smoking now, in 2011, is perfect, all the ones I have smoked prior to today were too young, and left me perplexed and disappointed.

Additionally, the Esplendido carries the unfortunate title of Worlds Most Counterfitted Cigar, and so when you take into account it’s high demand, required aging, and propensity to counterfitting, you are more than likely to smoke an Esplendido that doesn’t live up to the hype. However, if your careful, educated and patient, the cigar gods will bestow upon you a magnificent smoke which you will never forget, the Cohiba Esplendido.