The Good Stuff:

As we all should know by now, Caldwell cigars is founded by Robert Caldwell who is best know for his work with Christina Eiroa at Wynwood cigars. The King is Dead is the third cigar in the Caldwell portfolio (with more on the way). We’ve taken on the Long Live the King and the Eastern Standard and will do what we can to review the new blends on the way. Caldwell Cigars separates themselves from other cigar manufacturers by utilizing rare and vintage tobaccos in their blends. The King is Dead features a Negrito Dominican wrapper from 2008 with a Corojo Dominican binder from 2006 around Dominical Corojo Ligero from 2006, Dominican Negrito Viso from 2008 and HVA 20/20 from 2010. The Negrito tobacco isn’t used very often in other blends out today, and Caldwell states that it’s difficult to get this tobacco to play nice with other tobaccos in the blend, but the team over at Tabacalera Ventura made it happen. (Thanks Cigar Coop for the info). The King is Dead is packaged in boxes of 24 with the exception of the Broken Sword which comes in a box of 37. The blend is offered in four sizes: Broken Sword Negrito (40 x 5), Premier Negrito (50 x 5), the Last Pay Day Negrito (52 x 6 Torpedo) and the Supreme Negrito (52 x 7) running between $7 and $12 a stick. I got mine over from our good friends at Fox Cigar Bar in Gilbert, Arizona.

Size: 5 x 50
Wrapper: Negrito Dominicano 2008
Binder: Corojo Dominicano 2006
Filler: Corojo Ligero Dominicano 2006 (30%), Negrito Viso Dominicano 2008 (20%), and HVA 20/20 2010 (50%)
Body: Full
Strength: Medium/Full
Price: $9
Pairing: Stone Farking Wheaton w00tStout (Imperial Stout 13% ABV)

Prelight:

Caldwell’s The King is Dead starts out with a very consistent medium-brown wrapper. The wrapper carries a few average sizes veins and a small amount of natural tobacco leaf webbing. The wrapper is laid seamlessly over itself with a very smooth texture, almost no tooth, and a decent amount of oils. The wrapper feels pretty thin a delicate while the cigar itself has a slight sponge feel to it as it leads up to a beautifully round, stubby, pigtail cap. The King is Dead is polished off with a manilla and gold band with gold metallic accents and “The King Is Dead” printed in black ink.

The wrapper on the King is Dead gives off a magnificent spice and syrup aroma while the foot of the cigar is just a bold with lots of pepper and spice over the same syrup and natural tobacco. The cap cut like butter under my Palio double bladed cutter. The cold draw is extremely bold featuring some pepper, spice, lots of musk, and some sweetness.

First Third:

Caldwell’s The King is Dead starts off with a decent little black pepper blast which quickly fades away as the cigar lets loose a crazy amount of bold flavor leading with some musky molasses, strong spice, brown sugar, and oak. The draw is perfect. Each little puff kicks out a great amount of thick white smoke while the cigar releases only a mild amount of stationary smoke as it rests in my ashtray. The burn line is thin and solid leaving behind a trail of compacted medium gray and white ash which held on for an inch before giving way.

Second Third:

Into the second third of Caldwell’s The King is Dead and the flavors have started to mellow out a bit, but are still a bold bunch. The oak and dark chocolate lead the way with a good amount of espresso, spice, and sweetness over a great musk. The retrohale is very sharp with strong spice and oak. It’s a bit rough so I don’t find myself doing it too often. The cigar is burning like a champ, dead even, and I close out the second third with only a very slight nicotine kick.

Finish:

The strength and pepper really ramped up into the final third of the King is Dead. The flavors are still real bold and the oak and dark chocolate still lead the way accompanied by musk, molasses, espresso and some slight sweetness. It took me a little over an hour and a half to take the King is Dead down to the nub and I experienced absolutely no harshness. In fact, I am impressed with how balanced the cigar finished off. It left me with a little nicotine kick too, but nothing too bad.

Overview:

I’m only 3 blends deep into Caldwell’s portfolio but I’ve been impressed with each and every one so far. The King is Dead is a big, bold cigar that isn’t overpowering in any direction. The flavors are great, and complex but not overdone. It’s a great departure from the norm in terms of flavor while the burn experience was flawless. Caldwell mentioned that the Negrito tobacco didn’t play nice with others, but you wouldn’t be able to tell. The King is Dead burned like a dream. This cigar is a bit pricey, but as with most of Caldwell’s blends the tobacco is rare and hard to find so you kind of expect the higher price tag. The question is, “is it worth it?”. In the case of the King is Dead is most certainly is. This is a perfect cigar from seasoned smokers looking for something slightly different, but solid while this may be a bit more cigar than I would comfortably recommend to novice cigar smokers. Either way, they will easily find a way into my regular rotation.

Pairing:

Stone’s Farking Wheaton w00tStout has a strange name. But when you realize Drew Curtis (founder of fark.com), Wil Wheaton (yes, THAT Wil Wheaton), and Greg Koch (CEO &  Co-Founder of Stone) is behind this beer, it starts to make a little more sense. Coming in at 13% ABV this massive Imperial Stout isn’t for the faint of heart. Stone’s Farking Wheaton w00tStout leads with a very bold palate of dark chocolate, roasted malt, espresso, and spice with a very heavy mouthfeel before finishing just as bold with loads more dark chocolate, espresso, and a bit of booze with a cocoa aftertaste. This beer is bold, and strong, and I love it. It paired wonderfully with the bold presence of the King is Dead while the chocolate, spice, and espresso all married up flawlessly. In most cases, this beer can easily overpower cigars but since the King is Dead carries such a heavy body it was able to compliment it without overpowering.

The post Caldwell The King is Dead appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.

The Good Stuff:

Well, thanks to a great friend I finally got my hands on some Caldwell cigars. They are pretty hard to find in these parts. Robert Caldwell, owner of Caldwell cigars is best known for his partnership with Christian Eiroa running Wynwood cigars. Last year the partnership had dissolved and Robert has since teamed up with Henderson and William Ventura of Tabacalera Ventura in the Dominican Republic to create his newest blends. One note is that Caldwell cigars often uses rare tobaccos and vintages to create their blends. The Long Live the King features a Dominican Corojo wrapper from 2008, and Dominican Corojo Binder from 2009, and a flock of rare fillers: Dominican Corojo Ligero from 2006 (50%), Viso Pelo Oro Peruno from 2008 (10%), and a Nicaraguan Habano from 2007 (40%).

The Caldwell Long Live the Kings is offered in 4 sizes: The Heater: (5 3/4 x 46), The Petit Double Wide Short Churchill: (6 x 52), The Marquis: (6 x 60) and the My Style is Jalapeño: (7 1/4 x 40). Each size comes in boxes of 24 and run from $9 to $12 a stick. I got a handful of these from out great friends over at Fox Cigar Bar in Gilbert, Arizona.

Size: 5 3/4 x 46
Wrapper: 2008 Dominican Corojo
Binder: 2009 Dominican Corojo
Filler: 2006 Dominican Corojo Ligero, 2008 Viso Pelo de Oro Peruno, 2007 Nicaraguan Habano
Body: Full
Strength: Full
Price: $9
Pairing: Ninkasi Vanilla Oatis (Oatmeal Stout 7.2% ABV)

Prelight:

The Caldwell Long Live the King starts out with an absolutely gorgeous, consistent dark brown wrapper. There are a few noticeable darker areas surrounding the foot and the natural webbing in the cigar. The cigar carries a very rugged texture with some soft tooth, and a whole ass-ton of oils. The wrapper sports only a few smaller veins through its slender body as it leads up to a beautiful round, triple cap with a stubby little pig tail at the end of it. The cigar feels very firm, and very tightly packed with no soft spots at all while the wrapper feels pretty stable and thick.

The wrapper on the Caldwell Long Live the King gives off a bold pepper, spice, and cashew aroma while the foot of the cigar releases a very sharp pepper which made my nose tingle with some great cedar underneath. The cap cut very clean and easily using my Palio double bladed cutter. The cold draw wasn’t nearly as pepper-filled as I was expecting as it produced a more nutty/grassy flavor with some slight spice and pepper underneath.

First Third:

The Caldwell Long Live the King starts out with some smooth cayenne pepper, which like the cold draw wasn’t nearly as potent as I was expecting. The pepper quickly made it’s exit and I was left with a lot of cashew, cocoa, vanilla, spice and cedar. The cigar starts out very bold right off the bat in both the flavor, and strength departments. The draw is perfect despite how tightly this thing it packed. Each little puff kicks out a thick cloud of white smoke. The burn line has a ton of small waves, but if you average them all out it’s burning pretty solid and I don’t see any immediate problem areas. The ash left behind is a bit flaky and medium gray in color. It only held on for about 3/4 of an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Second Third:

Into the second third of the Caldwell Long Live the King and I’m impressed with how bold this cigar is. The flavors haven’t really switched up much, still leading with lots of cedar, cashew, vanilla and cocoa with some nice pepper, spice, and some great honey. I’m not picking up the sweetness from honey, only the flavor, in fact the flavor profile of the cigar is quite dry (like dry wine, not dry as in moisture). The burn line is still a bit wacky, and probably do to the amount of Ligero in the cigar it has gone out on me twice. I’m not bothered by that at all, but I need to remember to pick up the pace to keep this bad boy lit. The retrohale is really bold showcasing a lot of the pepper I picked up in the pre-light. I am already feeling a decent little nicotine kick as I close out the second third of the Caldwell Long Live the King.

Finish:

The Caldwell Long Live the King is still rocking hard. The flavors are still very much the same. Lots of cocoa, cedar, vanilla, and cashew with some nice spice and honey but there has also been the introduction of a very bold musk into the final third which adds an unbelievable amount of character to the profile. It took me an hour and forty five minute to smoke this thing, it burns really, really slow and I experienced absolutely no harshness build up into the final inch. The Long Live the King left me with a hell of a nicotine kick, so be ready for it.

Overview:

This is the first of many Caldwell cigars I hope to review in the near future, and it was a great one. I’m all about full flavor/full strength cigars that don’t overwhelm you in either direction and the Long Live the King did just that. The bold flavors with a slight complexity made for an interesting experience that kept me wanting more while the full strength kept me wide awake. It’s not a cigar for the faint of heart and would probably be a bit too powerful for the novice cigar smoker, but I really think that more seasoned cigar smokers would love to take this cigar for a spin. It’s a bit pricey, the it delivered enough for the price and I expect this cigar to have a place in my regular rotation.

Pairing:

Our partner Jeff and I have been trading beers left and right over the course of the last year or so, and this is one of the many he has sent my way. Big thanks Jeff, I’m all about trying beers I would never really get a chance to otherwise. The Ninkasi Vanilla Oatis is a 7.2% ABV Oatmeal Stout with vanilla bean added at different intervals throughout the brewing process. The beer starts out with heavy chocolate, coffee, and roasted malt with a very heavy mouthfeel finishing with a slight hop, mild vanilla, a ton of brown sugar and malty goodness. The pairing was easy as I knew the chocolate and vanilla would match up well with the cocoa and vanilla in the Long Live the King, while the beer was bold enough to keep up with the pace the cigar was setting. I think the Long Live the King would also pair great with a bold, black coffee, rich tawny port, or a bold porter.

The post Caldwell Cigars Long Live the King appeared first on Cigar Reviews | Beer Pairings | Casas Fumando.