Cigar Asylum Cigar Forum - BW Kent Cigar Co.

As of yesterday I'm no longer a guest reviewer over at The Cigar Nut...instead David has officially asked me to do reviews with him over there on a regular basis! I'm really excited and I think it's going to be a lot of fun. He posted my bio yesterday and my first non-guest review today. Here is the review...

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BW Kent Cigar Co. - Los Volcanes Salomon

Size: 7″ x 52
Wrapper/Binder/Filler: ?
Price: n/a

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Behind the Stick: There was a thread started on Cigar Asylum last year by a BW Kent Cigar Co rep who was offering samples to members of the forum of their new cigar called the Los Volcanes. Of course I signed up (hey, free cigars!) and three months later the samples, a robusto and this salomon, arrived in my mailbox. The robusto was smoked and reviewed a couple months after receiving them, and the salomon has been sitting in my humidor for right about six months now. The original post said that the company, BW Kent Cigar Co, was located in Mission, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley. The line was going to be called Los Volcanes and have several different blends. Unfortunately, their projected launch time of the summer of 2010 came and went, and not much was heard from them past that. The BW Kent website is little more than a front page with a single contact that I haven’t heard back from. Some on the forums say they’ve heard rumors that the company has gone under, which I can’t confirm or deny since I can’t get a response from the company themselves, but it appears this will be the first and last Los Volcanes Salomon that I will get to smoke.

Construction: This cigar is very well made. It is firm to the point that I am worried it is dried out (which turned out later to not be the case), no soft spots at all, a virtually seamless wrapper, and a beautiful salomon figurado shape. The maduro wrapper is so dark it’s almost black (you can see it almost blend into my ashtray), and is soft and slightly oily. After cutting the cigar the initial draw is actually quite easy for the salomon shape, which surprised me slightly.

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Flavor: The prelight draw assaults my tongue with very rich dark chocolate notes along with a very sweet tobacco flavor. After lighting the cigar, the chocolate notes are still a dominant force, coating my palate with a sweetness I didn’t expect. There are virtually no spice or pepper notes, and while I’m getting some nice flavors, it seems like this might mellow out to be a fairly mild cigar. There are some light nutty flavors with hints of licorice that are trying to peak out, but with as mild as this cigar is smoking they’re having a hard time of it. Occasionally I get a cigar that the smoke coming off the foot in between draws is more aromatic and enjoyable than the smoke drawn through the cigar. This happens to be the case here. About halfway through I’m getting hints of nutmeg and another spice I can’t place and the dark chocolate notes have been fairly consistent throughout.

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Overall: This mild and mellow flavor bomb was very enjoyable to smoke. The cigar ended up smoking as good as it looked and I would buy these in a heartbeat if they were available. The only complaint I had was the burn was a little weird, but it never got completely out of hand or crooked. Also of note, the artwork on the band with the metallic finish made the product look very finished. That combined with the quality of the cigar I think these could easily be priced around the $10 range. If they ever are released however, I hope it’s closer to the $5 price point, which would easily place these in my regular rotation.

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As a side note, after sending the review in I did get a call back from the company. It wasn’t BW Kent, but a holdings company and they said that as of this month BW Kent Cigar Co was no more, so it appears this might be the last we’ll ever see of this cigar.