Micallef Black

Purchased: 2 Toro (6 X 52)
Store: Henry’s Cigar Lounge, Mansfield, TX
Price: $11.25 ea
Buy Again: Yes
Box Worthy: Possibly… this stick needs quite a bit of humidor time. So I will get a few more to sit for several months before I make a definitive decision.
Experience Rating: 90

I first tried this cigar at Henry’s Cigar Lounge in Mansfield, TX and I didn’t like it much. The burn was horrible. I had to make all sorts of corrections throughout the smoke, and once I got the burn line to settle down, the damn thing tunneled on me, and I had to smoke through that. The flavor wasn’t bad but there was a slight chemical taste to it. That alone told me that it should’ve laid down for a while before being ready to smoke.

The chemical taste was not that bad in mine, but I’ve heard of others complaining of it being more pronounced. And looking back, it was probably residual ammonia left over from the fermentation process. And the only way to get rid of it is to let the cigar rest for some time.

So, this morning when I went to get a cigar to smoke, I saw the Micallef Black in one of my boxes and wondered if it was ready. I removed it from its cellophane and detected no off-putting aromas – something that I now realize I didn’t do with the first one. I figured at the time that since the purple smoked so well that the Black would as well. Oh well… In any case, I decided to smoke it.

And what about the burn? Take a look…

It’s razor-straight! I did have to make one correction in the first third, but I attributed that to the slightly breezy conditions at the time. With the wind died down, the burn has been straight.

So, what about the flavor? It’s growing on me. Part of me says I’ve tasted this profile many times before, so ho hum. But then another part of me has been enjoying the complexity of the smoke. Here are the flavors I’ve run across: espresso, roasted cacao beans, leather, wood, malt, nectarine, burnt sugar, pastry bread, cream, oak, molasses, and of course, black pepper. Like I said, it’s a collection of familiar flavors.

The cigar started off with a dry blast of black pepper, roasted cashews, and wood. Then immediately after that it became creamy. Then the other flavors I detected just built up from there. From the second third, the cigar started doing the transition dance and becoming quite unpredictable. And unfortunately, the flavor combinations aren’t always pleasing. I just can’t seem to get the blender’s intent, to coin a phrase from the venerable Phil “Katman” Kohn.

For instance, right before the final third, I was picking up dark Italian roast coffee, some roasted nuts, but also a distinct floral quality. On paper, that seems like an interesting combination. But believe me, it wasn’t. Luckily, that only lasted a couple puffs. On the other hand, after I got through that, it transitioned to black pepper, oak, dark coffee, with a meaty quality. I immediately thought of the barbecue brisket I smoked a couple of days ago. Now those puffs were amazing! But honestly, the cigar didn’t seem to get its act together until the last inch and a half and down to the nub. It’s spectacular.

All this tells me that this is a cigar that needs extended humidor time. Really extended humidor time. For some, that’s not a problem. And it’s really not a problem for me either, but it’s a factor that would make me reconsider the box worthiness of this stick. I’m thinking that the minimum time I need to lay this down is three to four months. But it probably could benefit from six months to a year of rest. With that in mind, I’d probably only buy a 5er to see how it smokes after an extended period of rest before buying a box. Hopefully by then I can truly get the blender’s intent.

What’s the final verdict? It won’t be out any time soon. I can see the potential this stick has. But at this point, even though it has several moments of brilliance, those are offset by some less than pleasing ones. That said, hoping that my intuition is correct, I will buy a few more and see what’s what.