Smoked: Tabernacle Havana Seed CT #142

Smoked at: West Chester, Ohio

I would have never thought I’d smoke – or review – a cigar with a band featuring the likeness of Hailie Selassie – the King of Ethiopia/Abyssinia in 1936 as I recall from my history class – knocked out of power by Benito Mussolini. The Tabernacle cigar band depictions are supposed to relate to Biblical themes. Selassie was hailed at the time as a descendant of King Solomon. The Ark of the Covenant was kept at the Tabernacle in Solomon’s Temple. For you Biblical scholars, history buffs and fans of Indiana Jones films, there’s the connection. But I digress. Blame the cigar band.

More AJ Fernandez craftsmanship with this stick – this time for Foundation Cigars. The Tabernacle Havana Seed CT #142 Corona is dressed in a smooth to the touch, rich, dark Sun Grown Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper. The filler is Nicaraguan Esteli-Jalapa plus a little Honduran tobacco. The wrapper tobacco is supposedly fermented for 3 years so let’s see what it’s got.

The Connecticut Broadleaf wrapper works wonderfully with the binder and filler tobacco – sweet and salty balanced with just enough spice. The flavors also include pepper, wood (cedar, hickory), leather, earth, cream, dark coffee, dark chocolate, nutty, and a touch of that metallic taste you can get from Broadleaf. There’s a rich harvest of flavors going on one more pronounced than another with each puff. A lot of Oh Wow moments with this cigar. Dark is the word for this stick from the look of the wrapper to the dark chocolate and coffee – like a chocolate with coffee after dinner desert rolled into a cigar.

The construction is also exceptional – straight even burn, tight solid light grey ash that holds well, cool draw, ample smoke output.

Foundation makes some excellent cigars. This is one of their best. FYI: This was aged for two months in the humidor for those who keep track of such things.