It has been a minute since I have done a review. A major part of this is exactly because of what I am working on today. My free time has been consumed by a toy cubby build I have been working on that started with some very rough walnut. This is my first attempt at cleaning up lumber completely by hand and creating traditional joinery with all hand tools. I always smoke while I work, but because of the attention this project has entailed, I haven’t felt up to reviewing a cigar, as that would steal some focus. However, I only had a couple easy joints left, and a little extra time to do them, so I grabbed this Bad Principles from Principle Cigars to smoke for review.
Country of Origin: Dominican Republic
Factory: Kelner Boutique Factory
Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano
Binder: Dominican Republic (Monte Plata)
Filler: Dominican Republic
Vitola: 6 x 54 Magnum
Price: $6.00 MSRP
Link to Purchase: Guitars & Cigars Farm
Release Date: 2013
Company Website: www.principlecigars.com
This cigar has a dark brown, blotchy wrapper with an eye-catching, yet a bit cheesy, band. The cigar is dense and mostly firm. It smells of earth, cedar, and some dark fruit. The cold draw echoes the dark fruit, but with some musty grains alongside. First light brings about medium bodied smoke with medium flavors of pastry dough, baking spices, some brown sugar, and leather. About midway into the first third the flavor profile is plenty of dark fruits, leather, and oil. The retrohale adds a little baking spice and creaminess. The performance has been perfect as I approach the halfway point. There’s a bit of a bitter coffee coming in, joining the pastry dough and brown sugar from the first light flavors. It’s a nice combination of bitterness and sweetness. Entering the final third the flavors are coming up to full, along with the body. There’s still some bitter cough, dough, and brown sugar. However, there’s now some earthiness and pepper heat that have joined the profile. Into the band the flavors have turned more towards primarily earth and pepper. There’s a slight touch up needed as the ash drops. Coming to an end at an hour and 42 minutes the performance was perfectly fine to the end and the profile rolled along unchanged.
Overall Experience
Overall I don’t know how this cigar is only $6. It didn’t blow you away with a dozen flavors or incredible nuance and complexity, but it offered a super solid profile with notes of pastry dough, brown sugar, coffee, dark fruit, leather, earth, and pepper. It performed very well throughout the experience as well. It is well worth its price, and honestly out punches plenty of cigars at higher price points. It is also worth noting the fairly lengthy smoke time from this cigar. This is something I will happily smoke again, and definitely one I recommend picking up. I think the flavor profile can be enjoyed by most smokers, and the price point makes it approachable for newer smokers, and a daily driver for experienced smokers.
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