Black Works Studio Green Hornet Robusto is curiously named after an old radio show from 80-90 years ago so obviously I had to find this cigar. Black Works uses Nicaraguan filler, a Nicaraguan Habano binder and an interesting smooth dark brown slightly oily Ecuador Habano Maduro with a Candela circled cap to give it that beehive hornets’ nest look. It’s the candela that makes the hornet green I assume. The wrapper has few visibile veins. The band logo looks like a pentagram meets a nuclear fusion schematic diagram.

Although the candela is barely noticeable on the wrapper, it makes its presence known immediately after firing up this cigar. Initial notes are very candela – grass, hay, earth, pepper, and citrus. Within a few minutes, the maduro kicks in and the flavors shift to cedar, chocolate, coffee, and a creamy toffee and berry sweetness. The pepper is still there but that also mellows into a milder version. All of this isn’t so much a transition as it is a sudden change. Spices abound although I’m unable to recognize them all. There is some cinnamon in there. By the second third, add some dark chocolate to the milk chocolate, leather and herbal notes. The retrohale is interesting – wood, spices, mild pepper. The Green Hornet starts out mild-medium and builds to medium bodied. It’s medium strength start to finish.

Spot=on perfect draw with just the right amount of resistance, volumes of smoke, an even burn line and light & dark grey ash that held tight.

This is one tasty morsel. Black Label Trading Company and their alias-a/k/a-subsidiary-side hustle Black Works Studio are among my favorite small batch boutique brands. The Green Hornet is a line extension of another Black Works stick, The Killer Bee, which I reviewed last year. Both are very good cigars.

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