Alec Bradley American Classic robusto
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When I went on my quest for a great Pennsylvania cigar last summer, this is what I was hoping to find. Hay stacked in the fields, broadleaf hung in the drying sheds, Percheons working, under late summer sun in Amish country.
Instead, I got this stick from TomTom Tom, the same fellow who left me the Quorum. A strong brown wrapper. Thick. Shiny but not glossy. Tightly wrapped with a flat cap. A woodsy Connecticut odor, hay in the foot, tasting like toast. Naturally, when you get a strong leaf like that you do get some veins. But nothing knobby at all. Tight yet light.
She uncapped easily with one swipe of the knife. The draw was free, tasting of dry grass and toast. A single match toasted the foot. Immediately, I got a good volume of thick beige smoke. Creamy taste. Nuts, cedar, with a bitter bread finish. Very smooth. Plenty of flavor; but not a spicy, peppery, or coffee tone anywhere. If it's possible to imagine loads of mild flavor, this is it. Honest broadleaf American cigar flavor.
Now, note that I smoked this from the same humidor and in the same garage as the Artemis I previously slammed for a bad burn. There were still puddles on the floor underneath the motorcycle I rode the day before and where my rain gear had dripped the evening before Walking across the back yard is like walking on a sponge. So, same conditions. Yet the burn on this was razor sharp and unremitting. The only flaw in the whole package is that the thick wrapper would curl up and drop a shard from time to time, and the ash would fall when you least expected it. So this is no indoor smoke. Other than that, perfection.
Halfway down, all of a sudden I get cocoa! Then slowly back to your honest nuts, cedar, and bitter toast. Makes you wonder what got into that broadleaf for a ten minute span there. Coors made the perfect mouthwash for it.
At a mere hour and a quarter, I was down to the hot nub. Don't you hate it when you regret reaching the nub? Wish I had another to light off of it.
Then came the stinkfinger. Delightful. Roasty toasty. Next morning, a mild toast morning mouth. No wheeze.
I rate this a solid five stars out of five. Alec Bradley American Classic is on my wish list now. It's not complex, spicy, floral, fermented, exotic nor fancy in any way. All it does is exactly what it sets out to do, and it does that just right. Ulysses Grant would smoke this cigar.
Instead, I got this stick from TomTom Tom, the same fellow who left me the Quorum. A strong brown wrapper. Thick. Shiny but not glossy. Tightly wrapped with a flat cap. A woodsy Connecticut odor, hay in the foot, tasting like toast. Naturally, when you get a strong leaf like that you do get some veins. But nothing knobby at all. Tight yet light.
She uncapped easily with one swipe of the knife. The draw was free, tasting of dry grass and toast. A single match toasted the foot. Immediately, I got a good volume of thick beige smoke. Creamy taste. Nuts, cedar, with a bitter bread finish. Very smooth. Plenty of flavor; but not a spicy, peppery, or coffee tone anywhere. If it's possible to imagine loads of mild flavor, this is it. Honest broadleaf American cigar flavor.
Now, note that I smoked this from the same humidor and in the same garage as the Artemis I previously slammed for a bad burn. There were still puddles on the floor underneath the motorcycle I rode the day before and where my rain gear had dripped the evening before Walking across the back yard is like walking on a sponge. So, same conditions. Yet the burn on this was razor sharp and unremitting. The only flaw in the whole package is that the thick wrapper would curl up and drop a shard from time to time, and the ash would fall when you least expected it. So this is no indoor smoke. Other than that, perfection.
Halfway down, all of a sudden I get cocoa! Then slowly back to your honest nuts, cedar, and bitter toast. Makes you wonder what got into that broadleaf for a ten minute span there. Coors made the perfect mouthwash for it.
At a mere hour and a quarter, I was down to the hot nub. Don't you hate it when you regret reaching the nub? Wish I had another to light off of it.
Then came the stinkfinger. Delightful. Roasty toasty. Next morning, a mild toast morning mouth. No wheeze.
I rate this a solid five stars out of five. Alec Bradley American Classic is on my wish list now. It's not complex, spicy, floral, fermented, exotic nor fancy in any way. All it does is exactly what it sets out to do, and it does that just right. Ulysses Grant would smoke this cigar.
“It has been a source of great pain to me to have met with so many among [my] opponents who had not the liberality to distinguish between political and social opposition; who transferred at once to the person, the hatred they bore to his political opinions.” —Thomas Jefferson (1808)
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Comments
That's exactly what my impression of this cigar was too! No-nonsense, kinda plain, and simple, but never bland. Woody, creamy, and good all the way down.
I smoked mine in the car, and ashes did drop off at inopportune times.
I think this would be a great morning or lunch time smoke throughout the summer.