The Good Stuff: Making it’s debut during St. Patrick’s day 2013, Alec Bradley’s Filthy hooligan is the follow up to the well-received Black Market blend. Keeping with the St. Patrick’s day theme Alec Bradley decided to wrap the Filthy Hooligan with a Nicaraguan Candela wrapper giving it a bright green allure. These limited edition cigars are the exact same blend as last year’s only with one extra year of age on them. The Filthy Hooligan comes packed with Nicaraguan, Honduran, and Panamanian tobaccos and Nicaraguan and Honduran binders. The Filthy Hooligan only comes in one size, a 6 x 50 toro and is priced around $8.00 a stick. I picked these up at my local El Paso cigar lounge, La Casa Del Puro.  He’s been rotating his stock a lot lately so check in which him if you haven’t lately.

Size: 6 x 50
Wrapper: Nicaraguan Candela
Binder: Nicaraguan/Honduran
Filler: Nicaraguan/Honduran/Panamanian
Strength: Mild
Body: Mild
Price: $8.00
Pairing: Magner’s Irish Cider (Hard Cider 4.5% ABV)

Prelight: The Alec Bradley Black Market Filthy Hooligan starts off with the obvious, a candela wrapper. Instead of the standard shades of brown we are all used to the Filthy Hooligan carries a very light, almost pastel/mint green wrapper. The wrapped if very webby and sports some darker green areas especially around the cap as well some brown areas scattered throughout the leaf. The wrapper is very smooth and oily. Light just shines off this thing. There are a few larger veins, but nothing too concerning. The cigar is polished of with a very round, double cap. This cigar feels incredibly dense and it’s heavy as hell. It almost feels as if it was filled with hard rubber. Like all the Black Market series the Filthy Hooligan has a brown, recycled cardboard band that runs from the center of the cigar down to the foot. It has the standard Black Market logo as well as the Alec Bradley crest with the addition of a green clover and the Filthy Hooligan banners. When you slide that huge band off there is a smaller one underneath with similar markings.

The wrapper of the Black Market Filthy Hooligan gives off a very slight aroma of tobacco and moss while the foot of the cigar carries much stronger notes of tobacco mixed with some soft spice. The cold draw produces some mild woodsy/earthy notes along with a lot of natural tobacco. I also got a lot of saltiness from the wrapper on my lips.

First Smoke: Alec Bradley’s Black Market Filthy Hooligan started out rather on the mild side with lots of natural tobacco and grassy notes backed my a bit of moss and cedar with just a splash of sweetness. I was surprised that there wasn’t any pepper or spice off the initial light up. I did however, continue to pull some saltiness from the wrapper onto my lips. The draw was a bit snug, but nothing too annoying. The burnline was all sorts of crazy with two really large waves forming right off the bat. I thought they may had been due to poor lighting techniques, but they continued to burn at a much faster rate than the rest of the burnline. The ash was pretty flaky mixed with both medium and dark gray which held on for about an inch before falling into my ashtray.

Halfway There: Not quite keeping with the theme a very nice floral flavor has began to introduce itself into the flavor experience of the Filthy Hooligan. The rest of the flavors remained pretty consistent with the soft cedar and moss, natural tobacco, and grassiness. The sweetness has completely dropped out. On the plus side, not only has the draw really opened up in the second third but after my first ash dropped the burnline has somehow corrected itself. It’s still not perfect, but I didn’t think anything short of my lighter would be able to fix that thing. The retrohale is really mild and coats my nasal passage with cedar and earthiness. It actually adds quite a bit to the flavor profile making it a bit bolder. I am feeling zero in the nicotine department as I close out the second third.

Finish: The finish of the Filthy Hooligan was identical to the second third. Lots of mild cedar and moss, earthiness and natural tobacco with some floral sprinkled over it. The flavor profile really didn’t change up much at all. The draw has been perfect and was great all the way through the cigar minus the tightness at the beginning. The burnline was solid after that point as well and astonishingly enough never required any extra attention from my lighter. The Filthy Hooligan burns at an incredibly slow rate. It took me over 2 hours to take this entire toro down. There was only a tiny bit of harshness in the final inch or so of the cigar.

Overview: I wasn’t really impressed with the Filthy Hooligan, but that’s not to say that it was a bad cigar. I think the main reason I didn’t enjoy this cigar more was the lack of flavors. It’s a pretty damn mild cigar and I knew that going into the experience being that it carried a candela wrapper. Outside of the first inch or so the burn actually preformed really well and the draw really opened up after the first half. The floral flavor really helped bring the body up a bit while the rest of the flavors remained mild and consistent. Now, in comparison to a lot of other candela wrapper cigars I have smoked in my short time on this planet, and the Filthy Hooligan is actually ranked pretty far up there. It was a lot more finished than other candela wrappers I have had and was actually a decent experience. If you are looking for something different or if you enjoy mild cigars and shy away from more complex experiences I think the Filthy Hooligan is perfect for you. If you are like me and like a little more body, or some body at all in your experience then this probably won’t do much for you. Stick with the standard Black Market.

Pairing: So yeah, I wanted to do something a bit different here. I decided to stick with the Irish theme and pair this Filthy Hooligan with a 4.5% ABV hard cider straight out of Ireland. Magner’s is different than most ciders I have had. First of all, it’s not very sweet. It taste’s much closer to natural apple juice than most ciders. Secondly, it’s pretty bitter. Most ciders are smooth and lead with sugar while this one has a strong apple front and a rather salty, bitter finish. This may sound bad, but when you string it all together it actually makes for a pretty smooth drink. Now, normally I would have went straight for a good Irish beer. I’m not a cider guy. I’ll try them, but not more than once usually. But being as it’s St. Patrick’s day I wanted to make sure this pairing was a bit different. I’ve only had Magner’s a handful of times and it’s pretty hard to find in these parts. But Shamrock’s Irish pub in El Paso on Ft. Bliss carries it in bottles and on tap. In fact, they even have a pear version (which I have yet to try) and are the only bar in El Paso at this point that carries either of them. If you’re in the area, hit them up. They are in a badass little area called “Freedom Crossing”, have an awesome patio, and some really kick ass bratwursts along with some Irish eats.

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The Good Stuff: Black Market as one of the few releases Alan Rubin over at Alec Bradley kicked out last year. The Black market is composed of a Nicaraguan Wrapper, a Sumatran binder and Panamanian & Honduran fillers. This cigar was actually manufactured by Nestor Plasencia at the Tabacos de Oriente factory in Honduras. The black market comes in 5 sizes (The Gordo 6×60, The Churchill 7×50, the Robusto 5 1/4×52, the Toro 6×60 and the Torpedo 6 1/8 x 54) and are contained in these crazy “Black Market” looking, weapon boxes that hold 22 cigars each and run between $6.75 and $8.00. You can find these in stock over at GothamCigars.com.

Size: 5 1/4 x 52  –  Wrapper: Nicaraguan  –  Binder: Sumatran  –  Filler: Panamanian/Honduran  Body: Medium/Full

Prelight: First things first, let’s take this ginormous band off this Alec Bradley Black Market. Before I do, let me just take a minute to tell you how awesome I think this band is. I love it when companies do things a bit different. I know, this isn’t the first time that I have seen a ¾ length foot band, but I like it. It’s got this neat, recycled paper texture with black stencil ink with the Alec Bradley Name, the “AB” crest, along with the words “Black Market”. This definitely resembles the kind of artwork one would see at a Black Market. Anyways, not that the band is gone I am exposed to a nice added touch with a smaller band with an identically designed appearance. Under that is this just awesome looking, mean, meaty, toothy, webby wrapper. The wrapper itself is a very dark brown with patches of lighter brown along with a few oranges mixed in. There really isn’t any larger veins at all, only a ton of smaller ones making the cigar look as if it is wrapped in spider web. The wrapper feels really tough and durable, while the body of the cigar contains no soft spots all the way up to it’s round double cap.

The wrapper of this Black Market pumps out a very welcoming cedar, leather, and spice aroma while the foot is all spice and tobacco. The cap gave me a little trouble clipping using my double bladed Palio cutter, but once I pressed hard enough it came right off. The cold draw produces a really deep, dark chocolate, spice, and almost curry flavor each time I take a puff. It feels a bit tight, but I am hoping it opens up a bit once I actually fire the cigar up.

First Smoke: Alec Bradley’s Black Market starts out with some rich cedar, chocolate, leather, nutmeg, and just enough pepper to tease my tongue. The draw isn’t nearly as tight as it was before I lit it up, producing nice clouds of brown smoke with each puff. It does take a few to get to the desired limit, but it’s not plugged by any means. The burnline is pretty thick, but dead even. The ash left behind is very compacted (even with the winds I’m experiencing right now), and a bright white with lighter grey spots. The ash actually held on for well over an inch before giving way.

Halfway There: The pepper is now completely gone in this Black Market and in fact, most of the flavors seemed to have taken a nose dive. I am now left with a smooth chocolate, slight cedar, and a lot of just natural, earthy tobacco. The retrohale is still really potent though, priming with a very deep cedar. I am not feeling any nicotine and all at this point, in fact the only thing I am feeling is a little bit of dry mouth from the cigar. Luckily I have some juice to moisten that up.

Finish: Into the final third of this Alec Bradley Black Market and not much has changed. It’s still an all around smooth cigar, but the dampening of the flavors has really started to rain on this parade. The flavors have remained a slight cedar, slight spice, with lots of strong, natural tobacco flavors. There isn’t much body in this cigar either as even after an hour, which is how long it took me to take this cigar down to the nub, there isn’t any sign of a nicotine kick. The burn however, stayed dead even the entire time without any touch ups or relights. There was no harshness built up what so ever.

Overview: The Alec Bradley Black Market starts out with a ton of potential. Lots of upfront flavor, great construction and appearance, and a perfect burn. It was later in the experience that I realized just how one dimensional this cigar is. Nothing really changed from the start of the smoke through the end, except the smoothing out of the flavors. I would say this is a solid stick, but if you are looking for something that has more depth, this isn’t the cigar for you. There is nothing really wrong with this cigar, but at the same time nothing really stands out either. For the price the Black Market is perfect for the novice cigar smoker for the novice looking for a straight forward, enjoyable experience however, if you are looking for a cigar with some good switchups, and a lot of character, this isn’t for you.

Pairing: Well, as I stated last review I haven’t been feeling well. I have a kidney infection which I think, has pretty much passed at this point. I am still on meds so no alcohol until next weekend, so I paired with the next best thing. Some 100% Cranberry juice. I mention in my reviews a lot that I would pair certain cigars with juice, tea, or coffee outside of the normal libations but I think this is the first time I have actually done it in a posted review. The Cranberry juice added some nice fruity depth to the Black market while pairing in perfectly with some nice tart flavors. If you haven’t paired a cigar with apple, or cranberry juice then I highly suggest you do so.

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