Monday, July 26 2010
This past Saturday, George Sosa, national sales director for Alec Bradley Cigars, and regional sales rep, Barry Blonder, stopped by the Famous Smoke Shop retail store for an in-store event. I'm sure they were glad to be inside, too. Pushing 98 degrees with killer humidity, I think it was the hottest day of the summer so far in the Lehigh Valley. Yet, despite the heat, the store had a pretty good turnout.
George offered me an Alec Bradley Family Blend VR1, a 5½" x 50 Robusto, and if my memory serves me correctly, that was the original and only size offered until April of this year when they expanded the line to five sizes. I hadn't smoked one in a while, so it was good to kick back and chat with George and Barry and some of the regulars while enjoying this rich-tasting, medium-bodied cigar.
Family
Blend is comprised of Honduran and Nicaraguan longfillers, an Indonesian
binder and an attractive Honduran Trojes
wrapper leaf finished with a Cuban-style pigtail
cap.
The cigar was nicely packed, and the cold draw offered an earthy-nutty flavor. After lighting the cigar drew well offering thick, creamy, yet very mild, almost bland, smoke with an earthy-woody character. I discussed this with Barry who assured me it would kick in soon enough, and he was right. This cigar really comes to life at about the second inch. The flavors are more prominent (some nuttiness and espresso notes creep in), the smoke is more robust, the balance is dead center, and an impressive sweetness becomes apparent that hangs in there through the last third.
Moreover, even in the last inch the cigar held up without going sour. I've noted this in other Alec Bradley reviews, too. This comes from the way they "front load" their cigars. IOW, they're rolled in such a way as to stand up well in the final inches, thereby giving you the most cigar for your buck. That may sound like marketing gibberish, but I'm pretty certain there's something to it.
Overall, a solid smoke with plenty of flavor, complex enough to attract experienced cigar smokers while making an ideal "move up" cigar for tyros. This could easily become an "everyday" cigar for a lot of smokers out there, too.
If you've smoked the VR1 or any of the other Alec Bradley Family Blend cigars, please leave a comment. I'd be curious to know how some of the other sizes stack up, too.
~ Gary Korb
