Smoked: Alec & Bradley Kintsugi

Smoked at: Fairfield, Ohio

Alec & Bradley Kintsugi has an interesting back story. Alec and Bradley are the sons of Alec Bradley cigar maker Alan Rubin. Yes, he named his cigar brand after his sons. Now the sons have struck out on their own. The Kintsugi is named for an ancient Japanese ceramic artwork technique restoring pottery. The cigar features two bands. One is blue and reads “Kintsugi.” The other is notched-windowed and snuggly fit into this band and states the brand and Japanese writing. It’s quite a unique work-of-art cigar band.

The Kintsugi’s filler and binder are Honduran and Nicaraguan. It’s covered in a medium brown smooth Honduran Habano wrapper with invisible seams and veins. CCedar, hay, grass, pepper and citrus start the flavor parade. The citrus is interesting. It’s somehow both sweet and tart. Earth, mineral and vegetal notes emerge with the citrus. There might be molasses and honey or honey Graham crackers in the sweet and tart balance. Hard to identify – as is the spice. Let’s just call it kitchen cabinet spices. Honduran tobacco has a unique earthy taste that is melding with the other flavors. Into the second third, I’m also tasting milk chocolate, almonds and cashews. The retrohale was short on pepper and long on earth, herbal and leather. It’s rather mild as retrohales go.

The draw was a little tight, but a toothpick poke opened it up. The draw was fine the rest of the smoke. Solid smoke output and the ash held tight – like Gorilla Glue tight – up to 2 inches at one point. You have to roll off the ash occasionally or it will hang on for most of the smoke, I suspect. The burn line was dead even. No touchups necessary. This is a solidly constructed cigar.

There’s a subtle complexity to the Alec & Bradley Kintsugi despite my inability to fully identify all the flavors. It’s medium bodied and strength. It has some unique flavors and a cool back story. I like this cigar.