Cigar Reviewed: Caldwell Lost & Found Instant Classic

Smoked at: West Chester, Ohio

I finally secured a Caldwell Lost & Found Instant Classic, which I have been looking to try for some time. Morning smoke with coffee. I was drinking coffee when I fired it up. Hey, it was morning…like early morning. So now did I taste coffee in the cigar or because I was drinking coffee as a de factp pairing? I always wonder about how pairings affect each other whether it’s coffee, scotch or whatever I have just eaten during an after dinner smoke. How do you know? And does it matter?

I can try the cigar again later without the coffee to find out if it’s a flavor note in the stick, but now I have the impression of the coffee flavor burned in my mind from this first time I smoked this cigar. I need one of those Men In Black memory eraser neutralizer devices. Maybe I can get a loaner from Tommy Lee Jones.

Medium strength. Medium body. There’s one long vein in the smooth, silky wrapper. Good construction. The burn line was somewhat inconsistent but it only needed a couple of touchups. The white ash held tight throughout. Even difficult to roll off the ash. It may have been held on with Gorilla Glue. Finally had to tap it off. As with many Caldwells, the Instant Classic puts out a generous volume of smoke.

The Instant Classic is a decent, pleasant stick with fair complexity, spice, some pepper, wood, a little sweet cream (more like milk) and the aforementioned coffee notes (but maybe it’s from pairing it with coffee). This is not a coffee pairing smoke. I was just anxious to try it. In retrospect, I would probably pair it with The Balvenie Doublewood 12 or an Oban 14 to balance the flavors as an evening smoke.

I’m putting out a bounty on finding a Pepper Cream Soda and a Caldwell Long Live The Queen Ace of Hearts. My Caldwell obsession and curiosity has the best of me. I’ll find them and review when, not if, I find them. Not only am I curious, I am tenacious.